So disregard the nonsense about Adam Bostick and Willie Collazo and Joe Smith below -- the Mets on Tuesday afternoon abruptly changed course and recalled Claudio Vargas to the big club, along with Fernando Tatis, and re-activated reliever Matt Wise while designating both Nelson Figueroa and Jorge Sosa for assignment and putting outfielder Angel Pagan onto the disabled list.

While we applaud the Mets for being brave enough to sacrifice two players whose backstory (Figueroa) and contact (Sosa) might have won them chances better performing teammates might not have been given, the real story here is how the Mets will outfit Claudio Vargas -- the lefty released by the Brewers this spring -- in the same No. 39 jersey that injured prospect Jason Vargas was issued this spring (Jason Vargas wore 43 in his brief appearance last year). The newly arriving Tatis meanwhile will become the 29th wearer of the 17 jersey. Wise was and still is No. 38.

Both Figueroa and Sosa appear to have vanished from the Mets plans following respective poor performances Monday. MLB.com reported that the Mets were trying to trade Sosa -- they had during spring training as well -- and if he goes we'll remember him as the one spot-starter not to completely destruct in 2006. Figueroa and his luxury box full of Coney Island friends and family had a few nice starts before reminding us why he'd been without a big league job for so many years. We may see one or both back eventually -- Raul Casanova, after all, cleared waivers Tuesday and he's had as good a year as either of them.

A few weeks back, the celebration of Ron Hodges Day brought me to the resplendent Ultimate Mets Database and the profile of the reliable longtime Mets backup. And in the memories section were remarks from Ron's sons Nat and Casey.

A little more research revealed that both boys played college baseball, and that Casey Hodges -- with a name like that how could he not be a Met? -- is a pitcher for Mount Olive College, currently ranked No. 1 in Divison II. I passed this discovery along to Marty Noble, who in turn contacted Ron and penned this article at Mets.com recently.

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If you haven't seen the YouTube guy doing Mets batting stances from the past, stop wasting your time here. If the Mets knew what was good for him they'd bring him out to Shea for between-innings entertainment.

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We'll be on the lookout for what jersey will be issued to preseumptive minor-league call-up Adam Bostick, who appeared in Spring Training the past seasons wearing No. 72, and is wearing 43 for the Zeffs. The Daily News also notes the possibility that Willie Collazo may return instead. We're also preparing plenty of outrage to accompany the pending demotion of Joe Smith to make room for the new arrival (who is expecetd to be swapped out following Wednesday's game so as to reactivate Matt Wise).

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Come back here Wednesday for another Met-Lovin Big Shot interview. It will be our biggest shot yet!

 

Another injury to Brian Schneider this afternoon required the Mets to reach down to AAA and recall catcher Gustavo Molina, dressing him, appropriately enough, in No. 6. Brady Clark, who passed through undistinguishedly wearing No. 15 in 2004, may see his run in No. 44 this year similarly brief and forgettable: He was designated for assignment to make room for Molina (pictured at left thanks to MBTN reader Gordon).

As readers of this site know well, no number in Mets history has been issued as often as No. 6. Molina, if and when he makes his official Mets debut, would be the number's 34th occupant and the first since Ruben Gotay, who was designated for assignment and claimed by the Braves shortly before the season began. No. 6's colorful and scrubbily insignificant history includes three issues in the team's maiden season of 1962 (Jim Marshall, Cliff Cook and Rick Herrscher); three issues in 1990 (Mike Marshall, Alex Trevino, Darren Reed) and a mind-boggling four giveaways in 2004 (Ricky Gutierrez, Gerald Williams, Tom Wilson and Jeff Keppinger).

Even the number's longest-term occupants (Al Weis and Wally Backman) owned reputations as guys who overachieved their way to prominence: Weis was a light-hitting backup infielder for the 1969ers who masde a strong case to be MVP of the 1969 World Series; Backman, of course, overcame doubts early in his career and the need for a platoonmate throughout it, to carve out a nine-season run in No. 6 on pure grit.

Below is a list of the most popular issues in Met jersey history through April 25 2008, and including Molina:

  

No.       No. of Players to wear it          Notes

6          34         Issued a team-record four times in 2004.

34         30         Longest tenure: Danny Frisella (1970-72).                       

17         30         20 position players; 10 pitchers.

19         28        Current occupant: Ryan Church 

35         28         Longest tenure: Rick Reed (5 years).

38         27         12 players in 9 years between Roger Craig (1963) and Buzz Capra (1971)

11         27         26 position players, 1 pitcher.

33         27         14 pitchers; 13 position players. 

43         26         Issued twice in ’66, ’97, ’98 and ‘02

26         26         One All-Star starter: Dave Kingman (1976)          

29         26         Best player to wear it gave it up too soon: Ken Singleton

1          25         Everyone wants to be No. 1; most should think twice

 

 

 

 

Had a good time last night in New Jersey, where Mets by the Numbers was sucked into the awesome gravitational pull of Gary Carter, whose new book pictured here was the featured attraction at Bookends book store.

In addition to us, Dan Reilly, the original Mr. Met, was selling/signing his book as was George “Shotgun” Shuba, the ex-Brooklyn Dodger and Montreal teammate of Jackie Robinson. Both Dan — who was a Shea ticket salesman picked to become the first live-action costumed mascot and knows that Ed Kranepool was originally assigned No. 21 — and George were great, and we all owe one to Gary Carter for being Macy's to our Spencer's Gifts. I also got to meet longtime MBTN contributor Gordon for the first time after years of exchanged scorecards and emails.

After the crowd thinned out some we had a chance to make a gift of our book to Gary, who just as you might expect, was polite and charming and promised to read it. You can catch up to Gary at 12:30pm today at the Barnes & Noble at 46th & 5th Ave.

Tonight, the MBTN World Tour continues with a stop in my backyard, Word Books in Greenpoint, Brooklyn at 7:30 pm. The event includes Spike Vrusho, author of Benchclearing: Baseball’s Greatest Fights & Riots and is moderated by Caryn Rose of Metsgrrl. Word is located on Franklin Street at Milton, a short walk form the Greenpoint Ave. stop on the G.

Thanks as usual to a great readership we destroyed the Kingman Kontroversy in a matter of hours and moved on to still more mystery.

First up, on the right is a 1981 program showing a spring training photo of Dave Kingman (wearing No. 5, obscured by his bat) along with Rusty Staub. Both TommieCleon and SJR provided me with this image -- apparently published at least twice that season (once pre-strike, once post-strike).

On the left is a weird All-Star insert card provided by TommieCleon, also showing Kong with the partially obscured No. 5.

As detailed in the comments in the post below this, this controversy reminded me of another "false positive" Kingman spring. This one was 1975. Tonight I cracked open the '75 yearbook to find the below photo, showing the newly acquired Kingman in a St. Petersburg batting cage wearing No. 4 but with a roster, dated March 27, noting Kingman would wear 26 once the season began. Adding to this confusion were photos of Rusty Staub also wearing 4 -- but they dated to 1974. Staub that spring was wearing 10 for the first time -- he'd ditched 4 after Duffy Dyer was traded that winter.

Now things get really weird. When that 1975 season finally began, it was April 8, a Tuesday day game against the Phillies -- 33 years ago today. I was at Shea with my Dad, and Kingman hit a home run. We won 2-1 that day as Seaver outdueled Carlton.

Tonight I learned that today's disappointing home opener against the Phillies was attended by Dave Kingman.

I don't know what it means either. 

 * Before today's game, Matt Wise was placed on the disabled list with a stiff forearm. The surprise recallee, Carlos Muniz, pitched this after noon wearing No. 32. Muniz wore 38 last year before Wise arrived this winter.

The Mets submitted their opening day roster Sunday and where some people (like me) expected to see Tatis, Stokes and Hernandez they instead saw Clark, Smith and Pelfrey.

That's OK with me, particularly after fans digested a triple order of unpleasant news Friday in the snatching of effective-but-subuseful Ruben Gotay, another seeming cutworthy effort from infuriating suspect Mike Pelfrey and a news item detailing Fernando Tatis' being issued team luggage while Brady Clark twisted in the wind. Clark by the way not only got luggage but a new shirt to pack in it: He'll be wearing No. 44 when the season begins Monday in Miami. Although Clark had worn 15 in his first go-round with the Mets years back, he'd been wearing 93 this spring: The highest in camp among those with a prayer of making it.

Smith, whose ineffective spring and option situation made him an interesting choice over the similarly ineffective but less controllable fireballer Brian Stokes, is a surprise roster qualifier for the second straight year. Stokes was designated for assignment: No word where he alights next.

Those moves complete an all-time Met roster that today grows by six fiirst-time arrivals (Angel Pagan 16, Ryan Church 19, Brian Schneider 23, Raul Casanova 30, Matt Wise 38 and Johan Santana 57), as well as the debut of Clark (44) and Marlon Anderson (9) in new numbers.Howard Johnson returns to No. 20 for the coaching staff, along with new arrivals Dave Racaniello, Juan Lopez and Sandy Alomar Jr.

Glad you're back too!

I was about to pontificate upon the chances of Steven Register retaining No. 61 or switching to something more dignified when word came he'd been waived by the Mets. Hopefully, the opportunity exists to work out a deal with Colorado that would allow the Mets to keep Register in the organization free of the onerous (for the Mets, at least) provisions of Rule 5.

This is good news, I believe, if you're a fan of Joe Smith, who like Register, seems groomed for a role I'll call GUPPY (GroUndball Pitcher, Perplexing deliverY -- alright, needs work). Smith however can be safely stashed at AAA so it's no lock he surfaces, at least not right away.

Similarly, looks as if suspicion over Duaner Sanchez' durability gives a shot to his hard-throwing nonroster counterpart, Brian Stokes, at least, to start the year. As for the No. 5 starter, I'm as disappointed as the next guy in Mike Pelfrey, maybe more, but I'd give him all the rope he needs. It's not like an injured Orlando Hernandez has a whole lot of upside any longer.

* In case you didn't see it, MLB.com's Marty Noble today ran his annual Port St. Lucie christening story, a sure sign Spring Training is coming to an end.

* Don't forget you're invited to the MBTN Launch Party at Stout NYC, April 6, 1pm.

 

The Mets announced Friday that they'd signed veteran outfielder Brady Clark to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training. This would be the second Met go-round for Clark who arrived from the Reds in September 2002 as the fourth and final piece in the Shawn Estes trade.

Now, Shawn Estes may have been a rotten Met himself, but his trade brought a few decent talents to the organization: In addition to Clark, who stuck around only long enough to participate in the horrid month of September 2002 (but went on to have better success elsewhere), the Mets gathered in outfield reserve Raul Gonzalez, and a skinny lefty, Pedro Feliciano, who, depending upon how you count these things, is the Met with longest tenure heading to the 2008 season. To be technical, Jose Reyes is the longest with continuous service. Feliciano since 2002 was cut and reacquired not once but twice: He was claimed on waivers by the Tigers following that season but released and re-signed by the Mets the following spring. Feliciano would later be sold to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and re-signed again prior to the 2006 season. That trade also produced a minor league pitched, Elvin Andujar, who went nowhere.

Kelvin Torve was a journeyman ballplayer whose brief career with the Mets is remembered as much for his uniform as for his game. But his moment in history reveals much.

A 10-year minor-league veteran when called up to the Mets to replace an injured Kevin Elster in August of 1990, Torve became the unwitting victim of a procedural screw-up that gave him temporary custody of a uniform number that was supposed to have been kept under guard for one of the team’s immortals. For reasons unexplained to this day they gave him No. 24, a uniform that hadn’t been issued to a player since Willie Mays finished his career with the Mets in 1973.

Joan Payson, the Mets’ original owner and unabashed fan of the Say Hey Kid dating from his career with the New York Giants, had promised Mays the Mets wouldn’t issue No. 24 following his retirement. The succeeding Met ownership, however, never got around to officially retiring the number, leaving 24 in an uncomfortable state of limbo just waiting for a situation like Torve’s to arise. (They should retire it in honor of Mrs. Payson, is what they ought to do). Embarrassed as public outcry grew, the Mets shortly re-fitted the South Dakota native in No. 39.

Torve, who today works as a salesman for a packaging company and teaches at youth baseball clinics around his Davidson, N.C., home, for his part remains a good sport about his accidental casting in a freaky Met episode. In the following interview, parts of which were conducted for, and included in, the Mets by the Numbers book, Torve discusses his career including his moment as an overnight sensation in Willie Mays’ clothes.

Tell me about your career leading up to the Mets.
I was drafted by the Giants and played four years with them. I was traded to the Orioles and played three years with them, making it all the way to AAA. Signed as a free agent with the Twins and played two years with them, mostly in AAA and part of 1988 with the Twins in Minnesota. After that, I spent two years with the Mets.

When you played, were you mostly an outfielder or a first baseman?
Mostly, I was a first baseman. I dabbled in the outfield, mostly if there was a chance to get another first baseman who hit lefthanded into the game. I also went to Instructional League with the Twins to learn how to catch, but that lasted about six weeks, and I was never to darken the doors of catcherdom again.

I guess that was not all that unusual for a player like yourself who was in the game for a long time and trying to be as useful as you can be.
Right. And I appreciated the Twins for giving me that opportunity. I learned a lot, but it didn’t work out. The ultimate goal would have been for me to be a third catcher with somebody, be a pinch hitter, play outfield and first base and in an absolute emergency go back there and put on the catching gear.

In your minor league career, you were a pretty good hitter [.303/.392/.453 in AAA Tidewater in 1990].
I hit well enough to be employed for 13 years. I was a good AAA hitter and had one good year in the big leagues with the Mets. My bat was what kept me in the game. I had a few opportunities but when you’re a minor leaguer for as long as I was you really have to make a splash immediately if you want to stay. The first year with the Mets, I did, and I got quite a few at-bats. The second year, I think I had only 8 at-bats. I hit the ball hard but didn’t get the breaks. That’s the way it goes.

You were a first baseman who didn’t hit many home runs.
That was the knock on me. I was a first baseman who didn’t hit enough home runs. But the Mets at that time had a guy at first base, Dave Magadan, who didn’t hit many home runs either. They at least had the foresight to challenge that stereotype. In baseball, like in a lot of careers I suppose, if you get a label like that, it’s hard to lose.

I wonder if you can set the scene for me. You’re called to the Mets in 1990 and issued a jersey for the first time. What do you recall about it?
Nothing out of the ordinary. I just got there and saw a locker with my uni in it, No. 24. I didn’t give a second thought to it. I don’t know who assigned the number, it might have been Charlie Samuels but I’m not sure. I guess they didn’t give much thought either.

They didn’t ask you if you had a preference?
Oh, no.

So you’re in a situation where they take what they give you.
Yes. I had spent a long time in the minors. I was just happy to be there. I would have taken two-point-four if they’d asked me to.

When do you become aware that there’s some kind of outcry?
When I was called up we had a homestand with the Phillies and I think, the Cubs. Then we went on the road, to California, and while we were out there Charlie came up to me and said, “Listen, we made a mistake with your number. Some people have been calling in and writing in. So we’d like to change your number.”

I just said, “Shoot, that’s fine with me.” I didn’t want to be a pain about it. And I guess they wanted to keep it low-key, not make a big deal about it. So I just started wearing No. 39 from that point on.

Did you have any preference as to what number you would have wanted?
Not really. I’d played so long in legion ball and college and the minor leagues. I think I’d worn every number there was. I didn’t have any preference at all.

Did you hear anything from the fans, or pick up on it, while you were at Shea?
No, I didn’t. That’s not to say they weren’t yelling at me – just that I didn’t hear anything. The first time I was aware of it we were on the road and Charlie came up to me in the locker room and told me that’s Willie Mays’s number, so we have to change it. And I said, that’s fine.

I looked it up, and you were batting better than .500 in the No. 24 jersey.
Hopefully I did OK in it, because I know Willie Mays did it proud as well.

You played briefly with the Mets again in 1991, then to Japan, correct?
Two years, I played for the Orix Blue Wave. It was a good time. I’m nostalgic when I look back on that time, but while you’re over there it can be frustrating the way they play the game. It’s different than in the United States, and you’re a long way from home. But after leaving Japan, reflecting on it, I realize how much I did enjoy my time there, what it a blessing it was.

I was a teammate of Ichiro over there. When I was there he was a rookie. He was so young he rode his bicycle to the games!

Could you tell at the time he would accomplish as much as he has?
Yes, though back then nobody from Japan was coming to the United States. Watching him play you would say, it’s too bad they don’t because this kid could play in the big leagues. He was 18 at the time and the only thing he couldn’t do well then was throw, and he’s obviously gotten a lot better throwing since then. You could tell he was going to be really good.

What about your time with the Mets do you remember most?
I recall it as a good time because I was in the big leagues. My first at-bat, I got hit by a pitch. My second at-bat, I hit a double that knocked in a few runs [pinch-hitting in a contentious game featuring a Phillies-Mets brawl]. The morning after that I get a call that there’s some policemen waiting to see me in the lobby of the hotel.

Turns out a sports talk radio show had talked about me getting called up, being a kid from the prairie in South Dakota, and being in the big city for the first time. These New York City cops heard that and showed up at my hotel and gave me an escort to the ballpark! They said, we hear you might need help. It was all good natured. I got to be good friends with one of those cops and his family, a guy by the name of Al Weinman. We kept up with Al for years after that.

 

Someone ought to explain how where A-Rod had three subsidized years at $75 million coming from the Yankees and will wind up with $275 million and 10 years guaranteed, it’s he, and not Hank Steinbrenner, who’s on his knees. Right, Hank. He crawled to you.

In the meantime, the Mets have abruptly opted out of the Yorvit Torrealba sweepstakes. If you had any faith that the Mets knew what they were doing when they pursued Torrealba in the first place, this isn’t good news. And if you were hoping they’d bring Paul LoDuca back, probably even worse news, because LoDuca’s price just went up. A lot.

We’re more in the first camp than the second, though it’s probably proper here to give LoDuca our thanks and a proper send off. He was a Met fan born in Brooklyn (like Lee Mazzilli), and a boyhood fan of Dwight Gooden and the 80s Mets. In other words, he was born to wear No. 16. And for half of his stay in that jersey, he did it proud. I’ll remember LoDuca for his fiery temper and teenage girlfriends generally but two plays specifically that bookended his remarkable 2006 season: Dropping the ball at the play at the plate on opening day but faking his way to an out; and — catching the ball this time — tagging consecutive sliding Dodgers on the very same play.

Thanks, Paul. Now, beat it. Is that Montero guy still available?