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One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

G-Fafif Feb 22 2010 02:38 PM Edited 4 time(s), most recently on Mar 14 2010 11:44 PM

The following Mets (41) played exactly one full year as Mets, no more, no less. They were on the active roster for as long as there were Mets games in their one season, from Opening Day to the last out. No DL trips, no demotions, no reserves duty. If anyone has any addenda or observations, they are, as ever, welcome. (And thanks again to JCL for clearing up a couple on which I was foggy.) 1962: Richie Ashburn 1962: Felix Mantilla 1963: Norm Sherry 1963: Duke Snider 1964: Bill Wakefield 1964: George Altman 1966: Billy Murphy 1966: Eddie Bressoud 1966: Bill Hepler 1967: Tommy Davis 1967: John Sullivan 1967: Tommie Reynolds 1968: Billy Short 1970: Joe Foy 1971: Bob Aspromonte 1975: Gene Clines 1975: Randy Tate 1976: Mickey Lolich 1978: Tom Grieve 1979: Richie Hebner 1980: Jerry Morales 1980: Mark Bomback 1981: Mike Cubbage 1989: Don Aase 1991: Rick Cerone 1991: Doug Simons 1994: Fernando Vina 1994: Luis Rivera 1996: Brent Mayne 1999: Orel Hershiser 2000: Mike Hampton 2001: Desi Relaford 2001: Kevin Appier 2002: John Valentin 2002: Mark Guthrie 2003: Tony Clark 2003: Jay Bell 2006: Chad Bradford 2006: Darren Oliver 2007: Aaron Sele 2009: Jeremy Reed NOTES: • Derek Bell was on the roster all of 2000 but suffered an injury during the NLDS and was removed for the NLCS and World Series. • Mark Bradley and Doug Linton were recalled in the first week of 1983 and 1994, respectively, and stuck the entire season thereafter, but were not on the Opening Day roster. • Dick Schofield was obtained shortly after the 1992 season started and persevered for the rest of the year.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 22 2010 02:44 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

For some reason I thought of Aaron Sele when this topic was first brought up. I recently said in some thread here that Mark Guthrie was the broken-leg pitcher but turns out I'd conflated him with Mike DeJean.

Gwreck Feb 22 2010 04:20 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Do you know how many people were eliminated but for the "never on the DL" clause? -- ie. I was surprised to not see Miguel Cairo here but a review of the transaction logs tells me he spent 15 days on the DL in late June of '05 (had forgotten that) but otherwise qualified -- he was on the opening day and closing day rosters of '05.

Ashie62 Feb 22 2010 04:38 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Randy Tate 1975, his only year in the bigs..this is hard..poop

G-Fafif Feb 22 2010 05:00 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Great catch on Tate. I overlooked him probably because so many 1975 Mets made debuts ahead of him, but he indeed came north with the club and stayed around the whole year. Thanks.

G-Fafif Feb 22 2010 05:04 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Mar 14 2010 11:44 PM

Gwreck wrote: Do you know how many people were eliminated but for the "never on the DL" clause? -- ie. I was surprised to not see Miguel Cairo here but a review of the transaction logs tells me he spent 15 days on the DL in late June of '05 (had forgotten that) but otherwise qualified -- he was on the opening day and closing day rosters of '05. Among those DL inhabitants whose injuries caused them to miss out on this illustrious gathering are Cairo, Doug Mientkiewicz, Kurt Abbott, Bill Spiers, Pete Smith, Mike Draper, Dave Gallagher and, going way back, Elio Chacon.

G-Fafif Feb 22 2010 07:26 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Ted Schreiber was a mistaken listing, so we're back to 42; he spent time in the minors in 1963. His claim to fame is he took the very last swing in the history of the Polo Grounds, grounding into a double play. Bill Wakefield, Bill Helpler, Billy Murphy and Randy Tate have this in common: A single full uninterrupted year as Mets...and no other MLB experience. Nothin' but Met.

metirish Feb 23 2010 07:53 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Jay Bell was already seven years ago....wow.....found this looking at the wiki page for Desi Relaford, kinda cool and fits with the image I have of Desi. Six Hole Records Desi Relaford is the founder of 6 Hole Records, based out of Jacksonville, Florida. 6 Hole Records is the home of underground hip hop artists including 9th Wonder, Willie Evans Jr. and Therapy, as well as artists and groups like Asamov, L.E.G.A.C.Y., Rapper Big Pooh and The Away Team. The label specializes in releasing authentic & genuine hip-hop music that pays homage to the foundation and elements of hip-hop (DJing, B-Boying, MCing, & Graffiti).

G-Fafif Feb 23 2010 08:21 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Relaford's one-year run as key Met utility man was splendid, and his long-term legacy eventually became (give or take a waiver claim by the Tigers and a year in Japan) Pedro Feliciano, via the trade of Desi and Shinjo to San Francisco for Shawn Estes, who in turn brought Pedro here in 2002. As for Desi's hip-hop moguldom, he's obviously just an L Millz wannabe.

MFS62 Feb 23 2010 08:24 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

After I saw him play, I named a baseball malady "George Altman Syndrome". It describes a fairly young ballplayer who has had success elsewhere, comes to the Mets, has a really bad year, and never recovers his skills. Probably the most notable victim was Robbie Alomar. Later

G-Fafif Mar 15 2010 02:40 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

The end result of the recent compilation of the Mets who played One Full Year as Mets here. Upon further review, the list has been whittled to 41; turns out Pete Smith snuck onto the Disabled List in the summer of '94. Also, the most recent One-Year Wonder, Jeremy Reed, has an unenviable distinction: 126 games played, 24 starts. I can't find any Met in any season who played in that many games and started so rarely. Matt Franco in 1999 and Mike Jorgensen came close -- 122 games/17 starts and 120/15 starts games respectively -- but those guys had defined roles. Franco was a PH Deluxe and Jorgy was a defensive replacement for Dave Kingman, someone who needed all the defensive replacing he could get. Reed's role was never that clear, and it's not like there was a surfeit of healthy, qualified outfielders blocking his way into the lineup. Weird how Jerry Manuel disregarded him...and others.

Frayed Knot Mar 15 2010 07:43 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

It seemed that just as a job opened up for Reed* Jerry gave cut-sies in the line to the similarly-skilled Cory Sullivan and made him the #1 replacement instead - in effect giving Reed get less playing time after a job was open than he did before. Has anyone ever contributed less with a full season than Jay Bell? Is it even possible? * while typing this, I initially mis-spelled his name as 'Reek' and now wonder how it is no one here ever got around to hanging that moniker on him.

Edgy DC Mar 15 2010 07:47 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Frayed Knot wrote: Has anyone ever contributed less with a full season than Jay Bell? Is it even possible? Probably and probably, but I can't say who. I seem to remember Saladoc coming up with a list of some intended offensive middle-infield reserves who weren't offensive at all.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 15 2010 07:56 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

I'm thinking maybe Jerry was mad at Reed for lying to him about first base. That throw.... One of those moments that stays with ya...

Edgy DC Mar 15 2010 08:25 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

I hold that moment against Jerry for his "Murphy can't handle the outfield, how can we trust him in the infield?" attitude. Continuing to play Murphy in the outfield while putting Reed at first was Crazy Eddie-insane and he should have known it (and fortunately soon did, but only after that painful wakeup call).

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 15 2010 08:26 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

yup.

metirish Mar 15 2010 08:48 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Jay Bell had the story about his dad being a reporter out in LA....that was his contribution.....IIRC.

Frayed Knot Mar 15 2010 09:22 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

metirish wrote: Jay Bell had the story about his dad being a reporter out in LA....that was his contribution.....IIRC. That wasn't Bell. The even less used (74 ABs in 2007) David Newhan was the guy with the (HoF) father sportswriter.

Edgy DC Mar 15 2010 09:56 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

G-Fafif wrote: Relaford's one-year run as key Met utility man was splendid, and his long-term legacy eventually became (give or take a waiver claim by the Tigers and a year in Japan) Pedro Feliciano, via the trade of Desi and Shinjo to San Francisco for Shawn Estes, who in turn brought Pedro here in 2002. As for Desi's hip-hop moguldom, he's obviously just an L Millz wannabe. Desi's legacy also includes launching this thread, an historical watermark in the defense of the Mets internet from reactionary numbnuts.

metirish Mar 15 2010 10:01 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Frayed Knot wrote: metirish wrote: Jay Bell had the story about his dad being a reporter out in LA....that was his contribution.....IIRC. That wasn't Bell. The even less used (74 ABs in 2007) David Newhan was the guy with the (HoF) father sportswriter. Yeeeeeees, sorry to Jay Bell on that. How could I have mixed them up?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 15 2010 10:18 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Edgy DC wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Relaford's one-year run as key Met utility man was splendid, and his long-term legacy eventually became (give or take a waiver claim by the Tigers and a year in Japan) Pedro Feliciano, via the trade of Desi and Shinjo to San Francisco for Shawn Estes, who in turn brought Pedro here in 2002. As for Desi's hip-hop moguldom, he's obviously just an L Millz wannabe. Desi's legacy also includes launching this thread, an historical watermark in the defense of the Mets internet from reactionary numbnuts. Wow. No wonder 9-11 happened

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 15 2010 10:47 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

That thread makes me want to root for the terrorists.

Edgy DC Mar 15 2010 11:12 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Local boys in that thread: The Big Train : Edgy DC doc g : Salamander Q/Bret Sabermetric LEFTFIELD : Frayed Knot YGB : John Cougar Lunchbucket Young Lunchbucket giving us an early peek into the form that would go on to win him numerous internet writing awards, as well as more than a few restraining orders. If the purpose of the back-up is a little more stick, and negligible glove in the back-up SS, which I object to, then again there must be someone better out there. Just answer the question. And stop writing such mangled sentences. And dont bait me into making a joke about your mother.

Frayed Knot Mar 15 2010 11:46 AM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Relaford, as many will remember, went on to have a more than decent season that year ... and yet I somehow restrained myself from bringing that thread back from the depths in order to throw it in the faces of all the dummies involved. Wow. No wonder 9-11 happened No wonder this place did.

G-Fafif Jul 30 2010 03:05 PM Re: One Year Wonders, 1962-2009

Update: DL stints by Barajas (who seemed like a distinct possibility) and Bay (signed long-term, thus moot) whittle down the possible 2010 candidates for One-Year Wonderdom to Henry Blanco and Hisanori Takahashi. They are the only new Opening Day roster Mets who have been on the roster uninterrupted ever since. Wouldn't bet the ranch that either will be back in 2011. Catalanotto, Mejia, Tejada and Igarashi all eliminated from contention since April 5 by being released, disabled, sent down, whatever.