{"id":1155,"date":"2009-03-24T12:43:33","date_gmt":"2009-03-24T12:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beta.mbtn.net\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2014-02-26T12:10:10","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T18:10:10","slug":"top-10-7s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=1155","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 7s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Our Countdown of Countdowns continues this week with a recap of the top 10 Metliest players ever to wear No. 7. As you can see the pickings are especially thin before a marked improvement in quality \u2013 at least, Met-quality \u2013 once we get to the top 5. The encouraging if scary thing is that we\u2019re seemingly nearing at a point at which it won\u2019t ever get any better.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget,\u00a0this Wednesday the 25<\/strong>th<\/strong>\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I\u2019ll be at theBryant Library in Roslyn<\/strong>, 7:30 pm, to discuss books and baseball and uniforms and other stuff. Stop by if you can\u2026 and tell your friends!<\/em><\/p>\n

10.<\/strong>\u00a0John Christensen<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"7\"John Christensen wasn\u2019t destined to last with the Mets. He was assigned a pitcher\u2019s number \u2013\u00a035\u00a0\u2013 upon his promotion as a rookie outfielder in\u00a01984\u00a0and assumed a player\u2019s number only afterJoe Sambito\u00a0arrived in 1985 and requested he wear 35.<\/p>\n

Christensen possessed decent right-handed power and a pretty good eye at the plate but didn\u2019t make contact enough \u2013 with the ball or the Mets\u2019 starting lineup \u2013 and the team met his desire for a new start by including him in the 8-player deal for\u00a0Bobby Ojeda\u00a0following the \u201985 season. The Red Sox would later include Christensen in their trade for Dave Henderson, assuring Christensen would play a small role in assembling both sides of the 1986 World Series combatants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Chico Fernandez<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mets acquired veteran infielder Chico Fernandez to back up rookie starting shortstop\u00a0Al Moranin\u00a01963\u00a0but neither mentor nor prot\u00e9g\u00e9 had a year to remember. Born in Cuba, Fernandez came up with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956 and had since played with the Phillies and Tigers (where he clubbed 20 home runs in 1962) but by 1963 had suddenly lost it. The Tigers swapped him to Milwaukee when rosters were cut down and the Braves passed him along to the Mets for pitcherLarry Foss.<\/p>\n

Fernandez was traded from the Mets\u2019 minor league system early in the \u201964 season for\u00a0Charley Smith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Amado Samuel\u00a0<\/strong>and<\/strong><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Juan Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing out there I\u2019ve seen that indicates the Mets\u2019 only two Samuels \u2014 not counting\u00a0Sammy Drake\u00a0and\u00a0Sammy Taylor\u00a0\u2014 are related, but both were middle infielders hailing from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

Amado Samuel, who played briefly for the Mets in\u00a01964, is old enough to be the father of Juan Samuel, who played in for them in\u00a01989, and in one sense, he is \u2013 Amado is noted as the having been the very first of the more than 50 players from San Pedro de Macoris to play in the major leagues. The town has since become famous for producing shortstops like Penn State produces linebackers, as well as stars like Sammy Sosa, Pedro Guerrero, George Bell and Juaquin Andujar.<\/p>\n

\"\"When he broke in with the Phillies in 1984, Juan Samuel looked like he had a chance to be better than all of them. His combination of power and speed made him an exciting player to watch even though closer analysis revealed he made way too many outs to be an effective leadoff hitter and wasn\u2019t much with the glove.<\/p>\n

None of that deterred the Mets in June of 1989, when they sent their own flawed leadoff man,\u00a0Lenny Dykstra, along with reliever\u00a0Roger McDowell, to Philly for Samuel in a deal that was supposed to electrify the team. Instead, it was a trade they would regret almost immediately. Samuel was used to wearingNo. 8\u00a0and playing second base, but the Mets dressed him in 7 and played him in center field (all Samuel\u2019s jewelry were adorned with the No. 8). He stole 31 bases for the Mets, but reached base and hit for power abysmally, and they unloaded him the first chance they got after the season.<\/p>\n

Amado Samuel simply didn\u2019t have the ability to stick with the Mets beyond part-time appearances in \u201964.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Elio Chacon<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"No memory of Elio Chacon ever gets very far before the \u201cYo La Tengo\u201d story is retold for the 10 millionth time. And nothing against that story, but telling it over and over seems to have obscured the untold story of why the Mets held Chacon in such poor regard.<\/p>\n

Whatever Chacon did to get on the bad side of\u00a0Casey Stengel\u00a0it\u2019s a pity, because, without overselling his modest credentials, Chacon was the kind of player the early Mets didn\u2019t see nearly enough of. A speedy Venezuelan shortstop selected from Cincinnati in the expansion draft, Chacon was the first player to wear No. 7 for the Mets. Though he hit just .236 with little power, he drew 76 walks in just 449 plate appearances in\u00a0\u201962\u00a0\u2013 fifth in the National League that year \u2013 and the most walks by a Met shortstop until\u00a0Bud Harrelson\u00a0in 1970.<\/p>\n

His defense was much derided \u2013 the Yo La Tengo story probably contributed to that perception \u2013 but the stats show he played every bit as well as the average shortstop in 1962. And despite staying in the Mets\u2019 farm system for years, Chacon never appeared with the big club again, tagged by Stengel among those players who \u201cfailed here before\u201d and not welcome back again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Todd Pratt<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"To me the great shock of Todd Pratt\u2019s signature Met moment wasn\u2019t that he provided it but that Steve Finley failed to prevent it.<\/p>\n

Sitting that afternoon in deepest, highest right field we were treated to the realization that Finley failed to come down with that ball an instant before the rest of the stadium did, and to be shouting at the top of your lungs with glee only to be joined by another 50,000 voices was one of the most intense sensory experiences of my lifetime.<\/p>\n

Most days, Finley makes that catch. Seemed like his timing was right, but his alignment was off a degrees and that was that. Pratt we knew, had the power to pop one out now and again, serving five seasons (1997-2001) as a capable backup for superstarter\u00a0Mike Piazza. I always got a \u201cregular guy\u201d vibe from him. With his doughy build and goofy grin, he could be your drinkin\u2019 buddy were he not playing pro baseball.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Kevin Mitchell<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you understood nothing else about Kevin Mitchell, and maybe you didn\u2019t, you knew the guy could hit. He hit as a rookie, he hit as a fat guy, he hit as a shortstop, he hit as a pinch hitter. He hit a liner to shallow center with two out and a man on in the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0inning then came around to score the tying run in the blessed Game Six. The guy could hit.<\/p>\n

That Mitchell became an outstanding bench player for the Mets speaks both to his athleticism \u2013 he was passable everywhere if not good anywhere \u2013 and to\u00a0Davey Johnson\u2019s creative genius. Though primarily an outfielder, Mitchell played every position but pitcher, catcher and second base for at least part of the 1986 season. Why? Because he could hit: .277\/.344\/.466 in 364 plate appearances as a rookie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Hubie Brooks<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Hubie Brooks was doomed to suffer. He helped the Mets advance from patsies to respectability in the early 80s only to be sacrificed in the\u00a0Gary Carter\u00a0trade. And the dynasty he helped establish was in free-fall by the time Brooks returned as an outfielder in\u00a01991\u00a0\u2013 more or less, as a replacement for departed former teammate\u00a0Darryl Strawberry.<\/p>\n

He was fun to watch and easy to root for, especially in the first go-round. He smacked line drives around the park, played a decent if not value-added third base (and in\u00a0\u201984, shortstop, see Davey Johnson\/Kevin Mitchell above) and earned a reputation as a dangerous clutch hitter for a team that was only beginning to establish an offense. I don\u2019t think he particularly enjoyed returning in 1991 after being re-acquired from the Dodgers for\u00a0Bobby Ojeda, and don\u2019t much blame him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Jose Reyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"It\u2019s only a matter of time before Jose Reyes tops all kinds of lists like these but given that he\u2019s still a young man, and that so much is attainable but still before him, I hope the ascent up Mount Kranepool remains a motivating force.<\/p>\n

What else can you say about Reyes? Other than, he\u2019s that rare product of the Met farm system who\u2019s been every bit as good as advertised, and probably better, and that\u2019s considering the hype and how he used to worry me. Reyes fought injuries and a botched conversion to second base in\u00a02004, and struggled to reach base often enough to be effective in\u00a02005\u00a0before a breakout 2006 (30 doubles, 17 triples, 19 home runs, a .300 batting average and a .354 on-base percentage) and solid play since.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Ed Kranepool<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"When Ed Kranepool hung up his No. 7 jersey for the last time, the event drew little notice (to be fair, a lot of things that happened in Flushing in\u00a01979\u00a0were like that). There was no tearful retirement press conference, just a quiet refusal by the Mets to offer a 1980 contract \u2014 sentiment subsequently echoed by the 25 other clubs declining to select Kranepool in the free agent draft that fall. \u201cThere was talk of giving him a day at Shea Stadium last season,\u201d a Met publicist told the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0the following spring, \u201cbut nothing ever came of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was only 34 years old.<\/p>\n

Kranepool at the time held virtually every meaningful offensive record in the history in the franchise, including games, hits, doubles, RBI, and home runs; and was a local boy, the team\u2019s first high-profile amateur signee, the only player to spend every year of the franchise as an active player, and the senior player on the team for 13 years running.<\/p>\n

Smart-aleck Met fans of the early 1960s once flashed a placard asking whether\u00a0 Kranepool was over the hill. Who knew? His career as an everyday player might have peaked as a 20-year-old in1965, when he played a career-high 153 games, and was named to the All-Star team for the first and only time. Kranepool had fair power, but was slow afoot, nobody\u2019s idea of defensive wizard, and reportedly, appeared disinterested and surly from time to time.<\/p>\n

The Mets for their part seemed to be forever looking to replace him. He\u2019d be displaced as the Met first baseman in\u00a01969, waived and sent to the minor leagues in 1970, only to rebound with his best overall season in\u00a01971\u00a0(143-58-.280\/.340\/.447 in 421 at-bats). From there he became a part-time outfielder\/first baseman and effective pinch hitter for the balance of his career, a role for which he finally won the admiration of fans. Kranepool hit .396 as a pinch hitter between1974\u00a0and\u00a01978, including .486 in 1974.<\/p>\n

Of all the team-leading career statistics Kranepool\u2019s longevity built for him, his safest record is the longevity itself. No Met spent more time occupying the same jersey number than Kranepool, and it\u2019s not even close. Even discounting the 208 games Kranepool played at the beginning of his Mets\u2019 career wearing\u00a0No. 21\u00a0\u2014 no, he wasn\u2019t born wearing 7 \u2014 his 1,645 games in No. 7 provides a cushion of 323 games over\u00a0Bud Harrelson\u2019s lengthy tenure in\u00a0No. 3. That\u2019s nearly two full seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Countdown of Countdowns continues this week with a recap of the top 10 Metliest players ever to wear No. 7. As you can see the pickings are especially thin before a marked improvement in quality \u2013 at least, Met-quality \u2013 once we get to the top 5. The encouraging if scary thing is that … Continue reading “Top 10 7s”<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","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=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}