Mets Baseball Card of the Day: 1984 Darryl Strawberry

Today's entry is the 1984 Darryl Strawberry.

1984 was Strawberry's second year in the big leagues, and it was a great one. After winning rookie of the year in 1983, Strawberry had anything but a sophomore lump, with 27 doubles, 26 homeruns, and 27 stolen bases.

His 127 OPS+ was excellent, and he led the National League in Power/Speed.

These terrific numbers for the 22-year old Strawberry led to his first All-Star game and confirmed what everyone knew--Strawberry was one of the most gifted players the Mets had ever seen.

His career with the Mets seemed destined for Hall of Fame greatness, though sadly, drugs and alcohol issues would haunt Darryl for decades.

I have never publicly told this story, and at the time I didn't believe it.

In the Fall of 1986 I was home on my first military leave after joining the Air Force.

My friend and I went to the Mets v. Cubs game in which the Mets clinched the pennant...it was pandemonium. I met a girl at the game and quickly ditched my buddy (we're still friends to this day). The girl's friend was dating one of the Cubs, and they invited me to go out with the three of them after the game. The player wasn't a star, but if I printed his name you would know it.

After the four of us had dinner, we started partying and drinking and drinking and drinking some more, and the conversation got real loose. By this time the player and I were in "buddies for life" mode and quite impressed with ourselves. He thought I was a pilot (and I did nothing to disabuse him of this notion--remember, this was when "Top Gun" was all the rage), and I was thrilled to hang out with a ballplayer and two very nice looking ladies at an upscale Manhattan drinking establishment.

I asked the player about the Mets, and he told me about Strawberry and Gooden's heavy partying--everything, including out of control cocaine use--but I was 19, very naive, they were my heroes, and I didn't believe a word of it.

It was a great night, and at the time the closest I had ever been to hanging out with baseball players. As for the girl, well, the long distance thing didn't work out since I left shortly thereafter for a few months of training in California, and then went on to Korea for a two-year assignment.

When I found out Gooden entered rehab a few months later, in early 1987, I realized every word the player had told me was true. It was devastating to all Mets fans, and most us believe to this day that the drug and alcohol problems on those teams certainly prevented them from winning another World Series title or two.

Strawberry's best years, 1987 and 1988, were just tremendous, and he absolutely should have won the MVP award in 1988--Kirk Gibson's numbers pale in comparison.

We all remember Darryl fondly, but in the backs of our minds, we also always think, "What could have been?"

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Interesting Facts: All-Time Mets Records

I'm getting a bit tired of the countdown to spring training writeups, and the various "who did well and poorly over the winter" rants bashing the Mets, so I've been going through the Mets all-time stats courtesy of the Ultimate Mets Database (Ultimatemets) and found some interesting facts.

Here are a few:

David Wright will break the Doubles record the first month of the season:

1.	Ed Kranepool	225
2.	David Wright	222
3.	Howard Johnson	214
4.	Edgardo Alfonzo	212
5.	Mike Piazza	193
6.	Darryl Strawberry	187
7.	Cleon Jones	182
8.	Mookie Wilson	170
9.	Carlos Beltran	167
10.	José Reyes	162

Feared slugger Rey Ordonez is 6th all-time in Mets Intentional Walks:

1.	Darryl Strawberry	108
2.	Howard Johnson	101
3.	Ed Kranepool	89
4.	Mike Piazza	82
5.	Jerry Grote	70
6.	Rey Ordóñez	64
7.	Keith Hernandez	59
8.	Rusty Staub	56
9.	Todd Hundley	51
10.	Cleon Jones	42

Lance Johnson has the highest Batting Average of any player with at least 500 Met at-bats:

		Name	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	TB	Avg.	Slg.	OBP
	1.	Lance Johnson	947	160	309	41	27	10	434	.326	.458	.369
	2.	John Olerud	1662	288	524	109	5	63	832	.315	.501	.425
	3.	David Wright	3185	552	983	222	13	140	1651	.309	.518	.389
	4.	Tommy Davis	577	72	174	32	0	16	254	.302	.440	.342
	5.	Rickey Henderson	534	106	159	31	0	12	226	.298	.423	.416
	6.	Keith Hernandez	3164	455	939	159	10	80	1358	.297	.429	.387
	7.	Paul Lo Duca	957	126	284	57	2	14	387	.297	.404	.334
	8.	Mike Piazza	3478	532	1028	193	2	220	1885	.296	.542	.373
	9.	Edgardo Alfonzo	3897	614	1136	212	14	120	1736	.292	.445	.367
	10.	Dave Magadan	2088	275	610	110	11	21	805	.292	.386	.391

Pedro Feliciano will move into second place all-time this year in Pitching Appearances:

1.	John Franco	695
2.	Tom Seaver	401
3.	Jerry Koosman	376
4.	Jesse Orosco	372
5.	Pedro Feliciano	367
6.	Tug McGraw	361
7.	Armando Benitez	333
8.	Dwight Gooden	305
9.	Aaron Heilman	305
10.	Jeff Innis	288

Among pitchers with 50 decisions as a Met, Doc Gooden stands alone at the top of an impressive list of hurlers:

Name	W	L	Pct.
	1.	Dwight Gooden	157	85	.649
	2.	Rick Reed	59	36	.621
	3.	Tom Seaver	198	124	.615
	4.	David Cone	81	51	.614
	5.	Ron Darling	99	70	.586
	6.	Al Leiter	95	67	.586
	7.	Pedro Martinez	32	23	.582
	8.	Bret Saberhagen	29	21	.580
	9.	Rick Aguilera	37	27	.578
	10.	Bobby Jones	74	56	.569

Anyway, I highly encourage you to check out the Ultimate Mets Database (Ultimatemets)...you can seriously have hours of fun over there.

I know I do.

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