Mediocrity, and a Mets Fans Life: Part 3
Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, if you need catching up.
1983: Is a hard year to write about. Not because anything truly awful happened back then, but because it was such a waste of year. For the past couple of decades, my best friend, James and I have always maintained that 1983 was the worst year ever. Neither of us could provide you with specific reasons or examples of this awfulness, yet we definitely felt this in an almost visceral way as ’83 unfolded around us. In other words, we’d hit bottom. Tired of ourselves. Tired of our aimlessness. Tired of wasting time. It was fun once, but now we simply hated where it was all headed, which is to say, precisely nowhere.
But, as they say (“they” have a lot of wisdom, and, apparently, a lot of freakin’ time on their hands), you have to hit bottom before you can bounce back up. So, in keeping with that old adage, I started to do something I’d never done before. I started to think about going to college. Frankly, I’d had enough of the Working Class Hero bullshit. Since Reagan, it was clear there was no money in it anymore. Now, as the song said, “All you need are looks and a whole lot of money.” Several people I’d known in high school were now halfway through college, and these folks were not what anyone would call the Kolbe High School Brain-Trust. So, for the first time in my life, I started to save up money for college.
Apparently, the Mets had also finally had enough of their losing ways. Sure, they finished the year 68-94, another last place season. But more importantly, they’d begun to set the foundation for future success. Rookie Darryl Strawberry, the first excellent position player the Mets had ever developed, enjoyed a fine season, slugging 26 home runs in just 420 at bats. Perhaps even more importantly, the Mets traded pitcher Neil Allen to the Cardinals for first baseman Keith Hernandez. Keith instantly gave the Mets a credibility they’d lacked since they’d traded away Tom Seaver several years before.
1984: Nothing much happened. It took a year like this to make 1985 possible. I guess I must have saved up some money. I worked for most of the year at a light-industrial shop making some sort of things that were sold to the Department of Defense. All the big money was in defense in those days. But I was sticking to my plan.
As for the Mets, a shooting star named Dwight Gooden exploded onto the scene. In his rookie year, he led the N.L. in strikeouts with 276 in just 218 innings. He just made it all look so easy. And the Mets, astonishingly, won 90 games for the first time since their improbable 100 win season back in ’69. Clearly, happy days were here again.
1985: In the mid-80’s, not a lot of culturally very important moments were taking place, though blues guitarists Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan were shining bright for anyone who cared to notice. As for me, well, I’d landed a new job at a local bank through a friend of mine. It was perhaps the coolest, easiest job I’ve ever had. Automatic Teller Machines were just becoming nearly universal at that time, and the banks decided that they needed a stable of on-call drivers to attend to the simpler tasks of refilling the machines with cash, clearing jammed bills, changing the receipt tape, etc.
The beauty of the job was that we could camp out in a local bar and wait for our beepers to go off before we hit the road. I worked the late shift from 5:30-midnight with a friend of mine. We’d drive from Fairfield down the Connecticut coast all the way as far as Greenwich, or as far west as Danbury. Some of the girls who rode with us were very cute, and, strictly against the rules, sometimes we’d even occasionally pick up a friend and bring him with us. I was 22-years old, the money was easy, the summer was a lot of fun, and I was still sticking to the plan.
Dwight Gooden at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Shea Stadium, the Mets were having a fantastic season, ultimately winning 98 games, but couldn’t quite catch the damned Cardinals. New addition Gary Carter, along with Keith Hernandez, Gooden, Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, and pitchers Ron Darling and Sid Fernandez as well as a brash young rookie named Lenny Dykstra, were playing with a swagger never quite seen before in Queens.
Gooden finished the season with 1.53 ERA and lost just four of 35 starts. In my mind, it was the greatest pitching season I’ve still ever seen in my life. The Mets were now New York’s team, and it felt great to be a Mets fan.
1986: An odd and fantastic year. My gig at the bank continued through the summer, and I now even had a radio show on a college radio station with my friend Dave, WVOF-Fairfield. It was a college radio station, and we got to play anything and everything we desired, from bits of Monty Python albums, to Classic Rock, Prog Rock, Alternative Rock, and the Blues. “Take the Skinheads bowling, take them bowling!” I was also going to make a break for it, escaping southern Connecticut for the comparative wilds of Maine. But that wouldn’t come until the day after Thanksgiving. Until then, I got to enjoy the Mets epic adventure of a season.
In the National League, there really was no competition against the Mets in 1986. The Mets led the league in most offensive and pitching statistics. They won 108 games. Gooden became the first pitcher in MLB history to post three consecutive 200-K seasons to begin a career (and he had just turned 21.) Their clubhouse was a mess, and Davy Johnson, though he did his best and was a very intelligent manager, was probably in a bit over his head with this group. Game Six of the N.L.C.S vs. Houston is still the greatest game I’ve ever seen played in my life. It was a roller-coaster ride, an epic 16-inning classic.
For the benefit of any Red Sox fan who might still be reading, I won’t recount the history of the ’86 World Series. I will say, though, that when Dykstra hit a lead-off home run at Fenway Park in Game Three, my friend Gregor dunked his beeper in a pitcher of beer, and there it remained until the game was over. Just a few weeks later, I landed in a distant corner of snowy, York County, Maine.
Luther Bonney, Masterton Hall, and the Science building at USM’s Portland Campus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1987-89: I combine these years because they were all a bit of a blur. It seemed like, except for a few short, warm days every year, it was always winter. Also, I’d never seen so many white people in one place in my entire life. Being a white guy myself who’d moved from a place where white was just one color in the social fabric, it quickly became apparent that the denizens of York County (and later, Cumberland County, just up the road where they had roads) were of a species I’d never encountered before.
Meanwhile, I had finally enrolled at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham / Portland, Maine. I was to major in Political Science, though I wasn’t really sure what the hell I was going to do with a Poli-Sci degree. All I knew was that it felt right to finally be going back to school, long after many of my high school classmates had already graduated. I had also begun working at L.L. Bean in Freeport. But we’ll save that story for later.
Next up, a wild ride through the ’90s!
Related articles
- Ten Facts About Lenny Dykstra (ondeckcircle.wordpress.com)
- Mediocrity, and a Mets Fan’s Life (ondeckcircle.wordpress.com)
The On Deck Circle 
Ten Facts About Mets Third Baseman David Wright
Although I have been a Mets fan since 1975, I seldom focus specifically on the Mets in this blog. Tonight, however, please allow me to indulge myself. This post is not meant to imply that the Mets should take a specific course of action regarding Wright in this, the final year of his current contract with the Mets. These are just the facts. Let them speak for themselves.
David Wright factoid #1: At age 29, he is already the Mets all-time leader in career Off. WAR: 38.2.
Image via Wikipedia38.2
David Wright factoid #2: When he scores his 37th run in 2012, he will become the Mets all-time leader in that category.
David Wright factoid #3: His 171st hit this year will make him the Mets all-time career hits leader.
David Wright factoid #4: He is already the Mets all-time leader in Total Bases: 2,112.
David Wright factoid #5: He is the Mets all-time leader in career doubles… by a wide margin with 281. Next closest is Kranepool at 225.
David Wright factoid #6: With just 9 more RBI, Wright will surpass Strawberry as the Mets all-time career RBI leader.
David Wright factoid #7: With just 46 more walks, Wright will also pass Strawberry as their all-time leader in that category, too.
David Wright factoid #8: Wright’s career OPS+: 134, is the same as HOF’ers Al Kaline, Paul Waner, and Joe “Ducky” Medwick.
David Wright factoid #9: Wright’s 825 Runs Created is the most in Mets history. Jose Reyes, by way of contrast, created 706 runs.
David Wright factoid #10: With just 19 more Extra Base Hits, Wright will become the first Met to reach 500 career Extra Base Hits.
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