Wanted: Some New Mets Characters
By Michael Kaufman
This was supposed to be a celebratory year for the New York Mets as they marked the 40th anniversary of the team’s first World Series victory and began the season in a spanking new state-of-the-art ballpark. But Citi (aka Bailout) Field has been something of a disappointment, mainly due to some sightline flaws, and the injury-plagued team has performed more like the Original Mets than the 1969 unit, finding ever more creative ways to lose ballgames.
So why is it that those early Mets teams were fun to watch, whereas the current version is barely watchable as the regular season winds down? The answer is multifactorial, but I will focus on one closest to my heart. It has to do with characters. Not character, which abounds among the players, who strive to play well even as they fall short in the majority of games. Certainly no one can say that Jerry Manuel is lacking in character as he manages the team in futile pursuit of victories. Manuel and the players do the best they can…but they aren’t characters.
(Note to Omar Minaya: If you are going to put a terrible team on the field, make sure you include a few characters.) Sure, the Original Mets lost more ballgames than any team had ever lost before in one season, but they had a bunch of characters. Admittedly it is unfair to compare Manuel to Casey Stengel, one of the great characters in the history of the game. But it would help if Manuel didn’t speak in a dull monotone, mumbling like a guy on high-dose thorazine, during his post-game press conferences. I guess I expected more from the man, perhaps because he has a goatee.
Stengel managed a bizarre collection composed mainly of over-the-hill veterans and untalented young players. Exceptions included Richie Ashburn, who still possessed most of the skills that earned him a place in the Hall of Fame, and Ron Hunt, a scrappy young second baseman who was the first Met to be elected to the National League All-Star team. Hunt is best remembered for his specialty as a batter. He led the league in getting hit by the pitch.
Ashburn earned his place in the Hall of Fame as center fielder for the Phildelphia Phillies but when he was inducted in Cooperstown he couldn’t resist telling a few stories about his year with the Mets. He recalled that after several near collisions with Spanish-speaking shortstop Elio Chacon he realized that Chacon did not understand his shouts of, “I got it!” So he asked teammate Joe Christopher, who knew some Spanish, how to say it in Spanish and practiced until he had it memorized. Finally, on a fly ball to short left-center field he shouted, “Yo lo tengo!” and Chacon backed off. However, just as Ashburn was about to make the catch he was flattened by Frank (Big Donkey) Thomas, the burly left fielder, who did not understand Spanish.
Chacon, a weak hitter and not much of a fielder, either, nevertheless holds a special place in Mets lore. (For one thing, more than a few elderly Jewish fans believed the Mets had a Jewish guy on the team named Eliashu Cohen.) Chacon started the first triple play in Mets history on Memorial Day 1962 at the Polo Grounds. Willie Davis was the batter for the Dodgers and the play went Chacon to (second baseman) Felix Mantilla to Gil Hodges at first.
Despite his .236 batting average, Chacon had an outstanding on-base percentage of .368 because he walked a lot (79 times in 449 at-bats). But he is probably best remembered for his part in a brawl at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays had spiked him sliding into second base on a pickoff play. The slightly built shortstop made the mistake of punching him in the head by way of retaliation. Mays picked him up and body slammed him a la Killer Kowalski.
Rod Kanehl was another early Met character of note. A weak hitter who could play any position in the field (not very well), he had a droll sense of humor. When the Mets were mathemematically eliminated from a chance to finish ninth in the 10-team National League, a sportswriter asked Kanehl how it would feel to play out the rest of the season knowing the team would finish in last place no matter what. “Takes the pressure off,” replied Kanehl.
Are you listening, Omar?
Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.
Tags: Michael Kaufman
