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Happy Anniversary, Straw

Fman99 May 06 2008 10:34 AM

... it was 25 years ago today that he made his Mets debut. Marty Noble has a nice little write up about it on [url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080506&content_id=2649642&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym&partnered=rss_nym]MLB.com.[/url]

AG/DC May 06 2008 10:35 AM

Deja pu!

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 06 2008 11:05 AM

Nice article. I remember that game very well. It was a Friday night, and I was to take the SATs the next day.

metirish May 06 2008 11:12 AM

Obviously I wasn't a Mets fan then but when I picture Straw in my mind and see it was 25 years ago that he debuted it's jarring.

AG/DC May 06 2008 11:37 AM

Came a few feet from winning the game in extra innings with a 480 footer or so. It went foul. The heroes that day were Danny Heep and Hubie Brooks, the two guys knocked out of the lineup by that day's callups, Darryl Strawberry and... name that other guy.

SteveJRogers May 06 2008 11:41 AM

Lets see, 3Bmen 1983...Tucker Ashford?

Valadius May 06 2008 11:53 AM

Am I the only person here who wasn't alive then?

Benjamin Grimm May 06 2008 11:56 AM

I think Namor was born that year...

AG/DC May 06 2008 11:57 AM

Yes, Steve, Tucker Campanella is correct.

seawolf17 May 06 2008 11:57 AM

Yeah. There's no way you pull Tucker Ashford out of your ass. Bob Bailor maybe, or Brian Giles. But not Tucker Freaking Ashford.

metirish May 06 2008 12:06 PM

Just admit that you cheated Steveo , you'll feel better believe me.

Benjamin Grimm May 06 2008 12:07 PM

A non-specific apology would suffice.

SteveJRogers May 06 2008 12:11 PM

Completely out of my ass. After typing I thought it would be wrong cause I think Ashford is in the players section of the first edition yearbook, which would only be the OD expected roster.

SteveJRogers May 06 2008 12:12 PM

Why was Ashford called up to replace Hubie? And what took them a month to pull the trigger on Straw?

AG/DC May 06 2008 12:17 PM

I believe Steve. I just hope, after looking the last one up, and hearing a little censure, that he'd have the self-awareness to back off for a bit and let somebody else play. We all, faced with quizzes, feel the temptation to look answers up. And if we do, we tend to have the honor to disqualify ourselves from submitting an answer, lest we ruin the fun for people still thinking the queston throuogh. The quizmaster puts some thought and/or work into this sort of thing.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 06 2008 12:40 PM

Jeter the Cheater! What a scandal. I figured he got it from reading the attached article but I think I'm the only guy who does that anymore, and I hardly ever do.

soupcan May 06 2008 12:40 PM

SteveJRogers wrote: Completely out of my ass. There's this story that kids are told about a little boy and he's constantly crying wolf to the point where when he finally does tell the truth... Well, let's just say that the story does not end well for the wolf cryer.

Benjamin Grimm May 06 2008 12:41 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I figured he got it from reading the attached article but I think I'm the only guy who does that anymore, and I hardly ever do. I too am much more likely to read a pasted article than a linked one.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 06 2008 12:41 PM

Yes, the Wolf eats his Tuesday-Friday Yankee Stadium season tickets.

soupcan May 06 2008 12:45 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yes, the Wolf eats his Tuesday-Friday Yankee Stadium season tickets. HA!

metirish May 06 2008 12:45 PM

Rogers hires Rusty in defamation lawsuit against the Crane Pool Forum.

G-Fafif May 06 2008 01:08 PM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on May 06 2008 01:10 PM

I'll always remember the absurdity of the double call-up; Strawberry and Ashford leapt to mind immediately when I saw "on this date," because it annoyed me that Hubie Brooks, one of my favorites, was being benched and/or made an example. The Mets were about as dreadful as they had been at any juncture in the entire 1977-1983 period (4-15 after winning their first two) and Darryl was there for the injection of life but Tucker Ashford? The ex-Padre? Granted, Hubie was (and this part I had to look up) batting .224 with 1 lonely homer and 6 stray RBI, but Tucker Ashford? It felt like some kind of strange "let's take the pressure off Darryl by bringing up somebody else while we're at it" gesture. You're benching the guy who finally solved the third base problem for Tucker Ashford? Seaver's return notwithstanding, 1983 from the beginning felt like we'll throw some guys on the field and hope the season is over soon and maybe nobody will notice how bad we're going to be (as did '79 and '80, come to think of it). That would change by September, but it was definitely the vibe of April and earliest May. Noble is right when he says no debut in Mets history was as anticipated as Strawberry's. Fine piece.

Willets Point May 06 2008 01:08 PM

Oooh, dueling Straw threads. The other one hasn't been Rogered yet.

AG/DC May 06 2008 02:37 PM

Bollux, my favorite Mets year is and may well remain 19, 19, 1983. I was in Manhattan visiting my sister and Jesse Orosco was wrapping up an extra-inning relief win. She insisted I put the radio away and we not be late for our matinee show (Risky Business, thank you very much) but I saw the walkoff as Mookie scored from second on a groundout, and when Tom Cruise had defeated the pimp and we got back to her railroad flat, Jesse was wrapping up another relief win in game two. It was the type of remarkable thing that didn't happen during my Mets formation from 1977-1982. I'd say the only oases in that desert were the Henderson game, Flynn's inside-the-parker (in a ten-run inning!) and Leach's one-hitter, plus Mazzilli's all-star moment. Eighty-three wasn't shy about handing out a lot of those moments that 77-82 had been so miserly about. Years later, Bill Mazer asked on the radio who the last Met to win both ends of a doubleheader was. I remembered the day vividly and I called in. He acted all suspicious-like and asked me which year. I chirpily replied 1983, of course. Orosco was third in Cy Young voting that year. What other year would it be? He got a litlle coarser and asked me what day. I was oblivious to his implication and I thought about the weather that day and the state of the team and when the movie might have been released and I guessed July 30th. "It was August first," Mazer cooly retorted. "Well, I guess I was cl..." "You know, if you people are going to just look thiis stuff up in almanacs, I don't see the point in doing these call-in contests." I started babbling on the air about my sister, and Tom Cruiise, and Mookie Wilson and he just cut me off curtly and said "Sheila will get your information about where to send the tickets." I meekly gave Sheila my address in Rockaway, while I dimly heard the Amazing in the next room on delay giving to me all over again. Thanks for nosebleeds, Bill.

HahnSolo May 06 2008 02:49 PM

[digression] I once chatted up a girl in Penn Station; turned out to be Bill Mazer's niece. Got her phone # but never ended up seeing her again. [end] Now back to Straw anniversary discussion. For instance, why did Mike Howard get one, and only one, start in right that year?

themetfairy May 06 2008 02:56 PM

Another digression - Strawberry came up just a couple of weeks before D-Dad and I got married. On our honeymoon, he gave me a little stuffed tiger and we named it Strawberry. We still have that little stuffed tiger in our home.

batmagadanleadoff May 06 2008 02:59 PM

HahnSolo wrote: Now back to Straw anniversary discussion. For instance, why did Mike Howard get one, and only one, start in right that year? I think that the Mets wanted to convert Howard to a catcher, and therefore sent him down to AAA where he could catch regularly. He never (ahem) caught on as a catcher, though.

Benjamin Grimm May 06 2008 03:01 PM

AG/DC wrote: Bollux, my favorite Mets year is and may well remain 19, 19, 1983. Mine is 1985, but I do understand the affection for 1983. It was the first year in a long time that it was fun to be a Mets fan again. (Seaver! Strawberry! HERNANDEZ!) I had a friend, a fellow Mets fan, who was away in the Air Force that year and pretty much missed the season. When he came home at Christmastime I told him the Mets had turned a corner and were about to become a good team. He thought I was crazy (we thought that EVERY year) but I finally managed to convince him that the feeling was different this time, genuine. Fortunately, 1984 proved me to be correct.

Kong76 May 06 2008 03:06 PM

I believe Stevie Jeets, he probably knows more obscure New York baseball stuff than he's given credit for. Wow, 25 years ago ... that kinda puts my age in perspective for some reason, my interests and priorities being sometimes out of whack. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get a life.

themetfairy May 06 2008 03:08 PM

You're catching up - just 23 years to go.

G-Fafif May 06 2008 03:22 PM

AG/DC wrote: Bollux, my favorite Mets year is and may well remain 19, 19, 1983. There were, in practical terms, three 1983s: • The first one, alluded to above, with the hopeless 6-15 start. • The second one, which included the extreme makeover of Strawberry and Hernandez and (though he wasn't a long-term solution, at least he showed some life as opposed to his predecessor) Frank Howard. There were growing pains aplenty, as the 31-50 mark between May 6 and July 30 would attest, but there was the wisp of hope in the air. Every win seemed to indicate a brighter tomorrow, no matter that the losses far outnumbered the wins. • Finally, the tangible payoff, beginning with the July 31 doubleheader to which you point, with Jesse winning both games and Mookie scampering home for the sweep. The most thrilling stretch of 31-29 baseball fathomable, last place and all, setting the table for what one could only imagine in '84. Within the parameters of hell represented by 1977-1983, '83 was the light at the end of the terrible tunnel. I personally view 1980 and its Magic summer with the most romance from this period but '83 clearly paved the way out of hell.

AG/DC May 06 2008 05:14 PM

I think it was Cashen that reportedly left the office at the end of 1983 telling each of the employees how many days until spring training started, so confident was he that the corner had been turned.

batmagadanleadoff May 06 2008 06:09 PM

AG/DC wrote: Came a few feet from winning the game in extra innings with a 480 footer or so. It went foul. The heroes that day were Danny Heep and Hubie Brooks, the two guys knocked out of the lineup by that day's callups, Darryl Strawberry and... name that other guy. I was at that game. Strawberry's near-miss is the only in-game detail that I can recall. That and his strikeouts. I sat on the third base side of the field that night and so from my vantage, there was never any doubt that his blast towards the right field foul pole was foul. It was never a fair ball that suddenly hooked foul; it was a foul ball all the way. But only by a few feet. I couldn't have told you who won that game today, without having refreshed my memory. Soto was considered to be one of the NL's best pitchers in 1983.

TheOldMole May 06 2008 08:00 PM

I did read the link, tho not to look up Ashford -- whom I had not remembered.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 06 2008 08:34 PM

IIRC, Soto was also the pitcher during Lenny Dykstra's first game, which was two Mays later and also a big Mets win on a Friday.

Triple Dee May 07 2008 05:27 AM

Thanks for posting this. Strawberry's 24 HRs at Shea in 1990 is firmly entrenched in Mets folklore.

soupcan May 07 2008 07:30 AM

I had cut this out and saved it in a scrapbook. It was from Sports Illustrated. As if there were any question I have always been a Mets fan...

AG/DC May 07 2008 07:48 AM

I was clipping minor league notices of Gooden for a while also.