Like most Met fans I am feeling a real sense of relief and hope at our team's resurgence on the last 9-1 homestand. After starting the season looking like they were picking up where they left off last year, they finally have started to put something together and look like they might be competitive this year after all. I mean, you can hardly expect Met fans to have a "Wait and See" attitude after the last three dismal seasons!
But as we're looking ahead to good things this season, let's take a look back and talk about some of the Met managers through the years.
Casey Stengel - Casey was one of the all-time greats and on paper it was a good idea to put him at the helm of the new franchise. Problem was he didn't have much to work with, given a team of castoffs and has-beens. Plus it was still the era of the Reserve Clause with no free agents to be signed. Casey has always been one of my favorite Baseball characters. Yogi Berra has done a lot to redefine the English Language but he learned everything he knows from Casey.
Casey: "Can't anyone here play this game?"
Gil Hodges - Without a doubt, Gil Hodges was the greatest Met Manager. While they were more successful under Davey Johnson, Hodges was the chief architect of the 1969 miracle! I've never heard of a big-league manager before or since who walked out onto the field and pulled in one of his starters for dogging it. Especially not one of his star players like a Cleon Jones. But Hodges was one of those coaches, like a Bobby Knight, who were demanding and tough but whom all his players seemed to love. He died way too young, which probably adds to his legend.
Gil Hodges (l.) is the greatest Mets manager, presiding over the 1969 "miracle."Yogi Berra - Anothe rone of Baseball's great personalities Yogi took the Mets to the pennant in the 1973 "You Gotta Believe" season. Yogi has forgotten more about baseball than most people will ever know, but he has never gotten his due as a manager of the Mets and certainly not as manager of the Yankees. Yogi is a man of integrity. When Steinbrenner committed to him for the whole season and fired him two weeks later, he stayed away from the Stadium for years!
Joe Torre - Joe was just cutting his teeth as a manager at that point in his career and was not yet what he became later as Yankees Manager. Add to this the fact that he managed during the dreadful Lorinda DeRoulet years, when the club was too cheap to spend on talent.
Davey Johnson - The most successful Met manager, the team never finished worse than 2nd in his six full seasons at the helm. Johnson was the prototype of the modern baseball manager, using his computer to crunch statistics and calculate probabilities. The methods he pioneered are now utilized by every team in Baseball.
Davey Johnson is the most successful Mets manager.
Bud Harrelson - A beloved personality of the 1969 Miracle Mets, Buddy was never really given a chance as manager for parts of two seasons. Has since vindicated himself as owner/manager of the L.I. Ducks in the NY/Penn League.
Dallas Green - Overall, Green was a crappy manager. He got lucky once in 1980 with the Phillies when he had guys like Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton on his roster. But as manager of both the Mets and Yankees, Green presided over some pretty forgettable seasons. He was way too much of an old-school disciplinarian and couldn't relate to the players. It didn't help much that he had jerks like Vince Coleman, Brett Saberhagen, Jeff Kent, Jeromy Burnitz and Bobby Bonilla on those Met teams.
Bobby Valentine - Another great Met manager who doesn't really get his props. He could have gotten to the World Series in 1999 had Kenny Rogers not stunk it up in Game 6 of the NLCS. He helmed the team to the historic 2000 "Subway Series," but lost. The WS loss was followed by an injury-plagued 2001 season, then the 2002 team totally quit on him and set an NL record for consecutive home losses. Later, Valentine totally vindicated himself with his subsequent successes in Japan. In recent years there's been some talk about bringing him back and I hope they do.
Art Howe - Absolutely the worst Met manager in the history of the club. He let the veterans walk all over him and run the team. He had no idea how to handle the pitching staff. I got so sick of seeing Al Leiter and his four and five-inning starts, then overtaxing the bullpen into oblivion. He would even overuse a washed-up John Franco, who should have been retired by then. Howe made some of the most boneheaded on-field moves ever. Totally clueless and incompetent - No wonder Oakland was so eager to get rid of him!
Wille Randolph - I love Willie Randolph. He is a class act all the way, in victory and defeat. He was a gentleman throughout his tenure as Mets skipper and I hope he gets another shot at managing someday. He ran a tight ship and the players didn't like it. He was a good baseball man and cared about winning. Made one seriously boneheaded move - letting Cliff Floyd pinch hit and probably costing the Mets the '06 NLCS. Unfortunately for him, he then presided over the inexplicible collapse of '07 from which the Mets have yet to recover.
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