{"id":1142,"date":"2009-03-08T21:50:40","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T21:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beta.mbtn.net\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2014-02-26T11:56:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T17:56:33","slug":"top-ten-9s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=1142","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten 9s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Continuing MBTN’s 10th Anniversary Spectacular, following are the Top 10 9s in Met history:<\/p>\n

10. (Tie)\u00a0Mark Bradley\u00a0and\u00a0Craig Brazell<\/strong><\/p>\n

The honor of being the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0most Metly No. 9s\u00a0is shared by two obscure Mets who I saw hit home runs at Shea that I will never forget.<\/p>\n

The first time I ever sat in the front row at Shea was an August night in 1983. The seats were a ways down the right-field line but were available that night for walk-up.<\/p>\n

Though we\u2019d gone hoping to see rookie\u00a0Darryl Strawberry, Mark Bradley started in right field instead, in deference to the opposing starter, the Dodgers\u2019 Fernando Valenzuela. Sitting behind us on this night is an Irish guy, who we realize, has never before seen a baseball game. We spent the early innings helping him understand what he was seeing \u2013 this is a single, double and triple and home run, etc. At one point the guy asks, \u201cCan a guy hit a home run without the ball going over the fence?\u201d and we said, yeah, but that never happens.<\/p>\n

Sure enough Bradley in his next turn bloops one down the right field line and LA right fielder Mike Marshall (yeah, him) makes a comically poor decision to try and catch it, with the ball and a diving Marshall crashing to the ground practically right in front of us.\u00a0The ball rolls all the way to the wall and by the time Marshall can go retrieve it, Bradley has an easy inside-the-parker that we\u2019d assured this Irish guy he wouldn\u2019t ever see.<\/p>\n

It was a weird play in what was a short and strange career for Mark Bradley. The Mets had acquired him from the Dodgers for $100 grand and a couple of longshot prospects following a 1982 campaign when he hit a sizzling .317\/.417\/.488 with 101 RBI and 50 stolen bases at Class AAA Albuquerque. With the Mets he batted just .202 in sporadic appearances and earned a few fines for flouting\u00a0George Bamberger\u2019<\/a>s rules.<\/p>\n

When the Mets released him prior to the 1984 season, Bradley was only 27 but his career shows only one more stop, with the Class A San Jose Bees in 1984, an unaffiliated minor league team.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one years later,<\/strong>\u00a0I sat in the Mezzanine behind third base and watched the 2004 Mets glumly play out the string amid thousands of expat Cubs fans treating the a September afternoon at Shea as a coronation at a home away from home.<\/p>\n

This was after\u00a0Art Howe\u00a0had already been fired but was still minding the store. And after the Mets had torched themselves with the Kazmir trade and coughed up\u00a0Dan Wheeler\u00a0for an A-ball outfielder with a steroid problem, and after\u00a0Matsui\u00a0at shortstop and\u00a0Scott Erickson\u00a0in the rotation and Fred Wilpon on the radio. And on this day, with Aaron Heilman starting on the mound and\u00a0Gerald Williams\u00a0leading off and\u00a0Piazza\u00a0playing first base, we\u2019re getting completely shut down by Mark Prior and the Cubs fans surrounding me are getting louder and louder and drunker and drunker and my mood is blacker and blacker.<\/p>\n

And, I\u2019m a good sport. I have nothing against the Cubs going to the playoffs, not this year at least, but the wreck of this season is weighing upon me and the noise is an affront to what dignity I have left and I\u2019m just about to say something when\u00a0Victor Diaz\u00a0hits an opposite-field two-out three-run home run off closer LaTroy Hawkins and ties it up in the bottom of the 9th<\/sup>. And in the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0it ends when Craig Brazell \u2013 Piazza\u2019s replacement at first base \u2013 puts one into the bullpen in right field. The Cubs never recover, losing the Wild Card slot to Houston. The Mets do but without Brazell, who turned out to be worth no more than say, Joselo Diaz. Look him up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9.\u00a0J.C. Martin<\/strong><\/p>\n

J.C. Martin was the primary backup for Jerry Grote for two seasons but like almost every Met reserve, he made the most of limited appearances in the 1969 postseason.<\/p>\n

In the National League Championship Series vs. Atlanta, his two-run pinch single helped the Mets take the opening game. In Game 4 of the World Series, Martin was called to sacrifice the winning run to third base in the bottom of the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0inning, but wound up getting the runner,\u00a0Rod Gaspar, all the way home when Martin\u2019s arm was struck by the throw intended to retire him at first.<\/p>\n

In both turns he was pinch hitting for\u00a0Tom Seaver. Martin was traded to the Cubs after the year to make room for\u00a0Duffy Dyer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Wes Westrum<\/strong><\/p>\n

When\u00a0Casey Stengel\u2019s managerial career came to an abrupt end following an Old-Timer\u2019s Day mishap in 1965, a number of writers covering the Mets at the time were surprised at his choice for a successor: Wes Westrum, the former Giants catcher who joined the Mets as a first-base coach in 1964.<\/p>\n

Westrum served out the remainder of the \u201965 season and was hired again for 1966 but not without considerable deliberation \u2013 Eddie Stanky and Alvin Dark both waited for the Mets to make a decision before accepting managerial offers with the White Sox and A\u2019s, respectively. There was also some talk of prying\u00a0Gil Hodges\u00a0away from Washington.<\/p>\n

Though he lacked Stengel\u2019s charisma, Westrum would be the first Mets manager to finish anywhere but last place: His 1966 Mets finished 28.5 games out of first, but 2 games ahead of the dreadful Cubs. And encouraged by a strong second half including a franchise record seven-game win streak in July, the Mets on Sept. 6 announced Westrum had received a $10,000 raise and a contract extension through 1967.<\/p>\n

But the Mets failed to make progress in 1967, attendance dropped, another contract offer didn\u2019t arrive, and Westrum resigned in September citing the \u201cstrain of managing.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Ty Wigginton<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A hard-nosed, unheralded product of the Mets farm system, Ty Wigginton became the bridge between third baseman\u00a0Edgardo Alfonzo, who left after 2002, and\u00a0David Wright, who arrived in \u201904. He won\u2019t ever be mistaken for either of them, but he\u2019s had a decent career.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a stronger comment about 2003 than about Wiggy, but somebody had to be the Mets\u2019 best position player that year. In a season where injuries and trades and limited most Mets to fewer than 400 at-bats, Wigginton showed up every day, worked hard and by year-end led the team in runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI and slugging\/OPS. Given half the chance, he\u2019d totally destroy you at home plate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Todd Zeile<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"For a guy who played for a zillion different teams, it\u2019s odd how Todd Zeile became such a \u2026 Met. But he is, isn\u2019t he? I mean did\u00a0John Olerud\u00a0parade around Shea on the final day of the 2008 season? No, but his poor man\u2019s replacement was right there. And Zeile, let\u2019s not forget, not only made to the World Series as a Met but played pretty well in it: I\u2019m not above admitting that while a home run would have been a lot sweeter, I was only hoping that Piazza could somehow extend the inning for Zeile when that fly ball found Bernie Williams\u2019 glove in Game 5. Or maybe it didn\u2019t. I turned it off before it did. But Zeile was on deck.<\/p>\n

His biggest at-bat that postseason became a signature Met moment in itself. Game 1, and his long drive to left field hits the top of the Yankee Stadium fence and bounds back into play only to turn into devastating instant karma. Like Zeile itself, one long inch from greatness. Zeile slumped badly in 2001 (10-62-.266), but returned for a final go-round in 2004, though by then in No. 27.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Joe Torre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe Torre came with a solid reputation as future managerial material, and that\u2019s just what left with, four-and-a-half years later.<\/p>\n

He was named manager (player-manager, actually) only days before the\u00a0Tom Seaver\u00a0trade, and stuck around for a long stretch of darkness. By the time the Mets might even dream about being good again, he was long gone, building up a managerial resume that would one day make him the king of New York.<\/p>\n

This has nothing to do with his Met-ness, but the furor over Joe\u2019s recent tell-some book about the Yankees seems a little over the top. I mean, they\u2019re a bunch of losers just like Joe said. No?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Jim Hickman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who was the first Met to hit for the cycle? Who was the Mets\u2019 all-time home run king through mid-1969? Who was last surviving Expansion Draftee in Mets history? Who was the last Met to homer in the Polo Grounds? Who was the first Met to hit three home runs in one game?<\/p>\n

For an answer to a lot of trivia questions, Jim Hickman isn\u2019t a name that\u2019s thrown around all that much in Met lore. Drafted from the St. Louis organization in the Expansion Draft, \u201cGentleman Jim\u201d was one of the few from that class not to have made his big-league debut yet. He revealed himself as big country slugger who struck out a little too often but had some ability, but didn\u2019t put a great season together until after the Mets had given up on him. Check out his 1970 season with the Cubs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Gregg Jefferies<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI don\u2019t believe anyone can deny the fact that I have consistently taken it on the chin for the last three years,\u201d wrote Gregg Jefferies,\u00a0<\/strong>in an infamous 1991 fax recited amid uproarious laughter to listeners of WFAN. Jefferies penned the \u201copen letter\u201d in a desperate attempt to have the fans see his side in an ongoing battle with teammates but instead it only served to illustrate why teammates found him such a tool.<\/p>\n

Given a little more maturity, a little more humility, and a much more supportive work environment, Jefferies might have been the great player he was pegged to be after tearing through the Mets\u2019 minor leagues, twice winning recognition as Baseball America\u2019s minor league Player of the Year. The team had rarely produced a better hitter. He arrived, however, to a clubhouse with a low tolerance for golden boys and quick to resort to derisive anonymous quotes and humiliating pranks. And in stark contrast to his hitting, Jefferies had shoddy defensive skills assuring that wherever he was positioned, he replaced a more capable fielder (and, it was assumed, a better teammate). That further poisoned whatever relationship he might have with his teammates, and he left an unhappy casualty of his own hype.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Todd Hundley<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I was kind of anti-Piazza\u00a0when it happened. I thought he was all Pert Plus and outrageous contract demands and a pretty boy who\u2019d never be the kind of a teammate Todd Hundley was. Hundley was loyal, tough, hard-drinking, tattooed, a smoker and a brawler. An unsavory son of a bitch, you might say, who gave the fans some things to cheer about when there wasn\u2019t much only to find himself too banged up to help when they really could have used him.<\/p>\n

Hundley gamely but lamely attempted to reestablish his career as an outfielder, but was shipped to Los Angeles following the 1998 season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.\u00a0George Theodore<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"One of the few things I\u2019m not quite sure about in Met uniform history is precisely when George Theodore stopped being an 18 and started being a 9, but thanks to help from readers we\u2019ve more or less been able to narrow it down to a small window early in the 1973 season.<\/p>\n

But when it came time to commit the data to a book, I couldn\u2019t be comfortable if I hadn\u2019t at least exhausted all the potential places I might find this information, so one afternoon I looked up a George Theodore in Utah, left a phone message, and hoped for the best. Turned out I had the right guy: He got back to me right away, he was every bit as nice and down to earth as I\u2019d hoped \u2013 who could look like that and have an attitude? \u2013 but his memory of events, at least as his uni number went, didn\u2019t turn out so good.<\/p>\n

I was able to pick up this tidbit: Theodore shed 18 for 9 as a tribute to Ted Williams, whom he considered a boyhood idol (\u201cI thought it would help my batting,\u201d he said). Although a longshot prospect who didn\u2019t arrive in the big leagues until age 26, Theodore actually was a fine hitter, particularly as a minor leaguer, and made a name for himself as part of 1973 Mets with a combination of regular-guy looks and freaky charm (he discussed poetry, philosophy and metaphysics with writers). In a July game against the Braves at Shea Stadium, which as a 7-year-old fan in the left field stands I could never forget \u2013 Theodore sustained a broken hip when he collided with centerfielder\u00a0Don Hahn<\/a>\u00a0as both pursued Ralph Garr\u2019s drive to the gap in left center. Both players left the game on stretchers! The right fielder,\u00a0Rusty Staub<\/a>, had to field the ball which had rolled all the way to wall in left. Theodore bravely returned to active duty in late September and went to the World Series that year.<\/p>\n

He hit just .158 in limited action in 1974, but knew getting back would be difficult after learning the Mets had acquired Joe Torre \u2013 the longtime and next No. 9 \u2013 shortly after that season ended.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Theodore, with fewer than 200 turns at bat, is the Metliest No. 9 of all time. Congrats, Stork!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing MBTN’s 10th Anniversary Spectacular, following are the Top 10 9s in Met history: 10. (Tie)\u00a0Mark Bradley\u00a0and\u00a0Craig Brazell The honor of being the 10th\u00a0most Metly No. 9s\u00a0is shared by two obscure Mets who I saw hit home runs at Shea that I will never forget. The first time I ever sat in the front row … Continue reading “Top Ten 9s”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[424,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-10","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2045,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions\/2045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}