Being a New York Met fan is never easy. Sure we’ve had some great runs. 1969 and the early 70’s were filled with a stunning World Championship and then basically mediocrity headlined by the likes of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan and Jon Matlack. While the offense struggled, the pitching gave the Mets and Met fans credibility. But then came the late 70’s and early 80’s. Shea stadium was nick-named “Grant’s Tomb” and a revolving door of mediocre and retread players streamed through Flushing. Willie Montanez, Richie Hebner, Ray Burris, Kevin Kobel, Pete Falcone…I could go on. Needless to say, being a Met fan has its ups and downs. We are currently in a down, and hoping that between David Wright (truly, the second true home grown HOF candidate the Mets have every spawned), Curtis Granderson, Zach Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud that a new renaissance is coming. Let’s hope so.
I wanted to talk about my first Met hero. Met fans more than
any other, especially from my generation (I’m 53yo), didn’t have much to choose
from. Basically you loved Seaver, Koosman, Kranepool, Rusty or Willie Mays. As
my interest in baseball sparked it was April of 1971. The Mets opened with a
very hot April and they had a new addition who started off very strong and he
because of that became my hero. I’m talking about Bob Aspromonte. “Who??”
Robert Thomas Aspromonte. Born June 19th 1938, brother of Ken
Aspromonte, his true claim to fame is that he was the last Brooklyn Dodger to retire.
He made a huge splash with the Mets, who in 1971 were infamous for never
finding a solution at third base. Aspromonte, a near all-star with the Astros,
brought a .252 lifetime batting average to the offensively challenged 71 Mets.
But also brought a gold glove caliber presence to the hot corner at Shea.
To my young eyes Bob was amazing. Offensively he started out
great, as did the Mets. By June 9th
the Mets were looking like winners. They were 32-20. Tom Seaver was in the
middle of his best season and Bob was a force. By the start of June, Aspro was
hitting .270 with 5 homers and 25 RBI and was one of the steals of the season.
The Mets had finally found a star at third. EXCEPT….that’s when the needle
scratched off the record. Bob went into a horrific tailspin, as did the Mets.
Over the next 110 games Aspromonte hit no homers, drove in 8 RBI and saw his average
fall to .225. As he put it “I’ve heard
of going 0 for 8, I went 0 for July!” Pretty
soon, Wayne Garrett was back from his reserve duty in the Army and he was
taking games away from my hero. I
followed the Mets loyally and was distressed by Bob’s lack of playing time, but
was confident he would get “back into form” He didn’t. But, there were two highlights. On August 2nd,
I saw the Mets play the Reds at Shea Stadium. I was so excited. I didn’t know
if Bob would be playing. I had to wait till I got to Shea to see. I remember walking out to my seats. The first
thing I noticed was the ultra-green Shea grass of the infield and outfield and
then the big scoreboard with the Rheingold signs all over it in
right-center field. I immediately scanned the lineup. Batting 6th and playing 3B #2 Bob
Aspromonte. Ross Grimsley was in for it tonight! The game also featured a start
by young Met hurler Jon Matlack. Matlack got the loss, falling to 0-3 on the
year. The Reds scored twice off him in the top of the 9th to win the
game 4-2. Bob’s struggles continued. He went 0-4. He did make one spectacular
fielding play. On a squib between the mound and third an inexperienced Matlack
found himself in no man’s land, Aspromonte grabbed the ball, pushed Matlack out
of the way and fired a seed to first to retire the runner. I was thrilled. I
had gotten what I came for. A moment from my hero.
Then in the final days of the season, Bob had one more
shining moment. This one I witnessed on television. September 25th at Shea and the Mets
were playing the eventual World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, and they got
themselves into a 15 inning marathon. Bob didn’t start. He rode the bench. For
14 innings! In the bottom of the 15th Tim Foli led off with a
single. He was sacrificed to 2nd. Bud Harrelson flew out to center,
Leroy Stanton was intentionally walked. Bob then pinch hit for the lefty
batting Dave Marshal l against Ramon Hernandez.
On a 1-1 count, Bob singled up the middle and the frantic “Crazy Horse”
Tim Foli scurried home with the winning run. A walk off win! They celebrated on
the field. I remember Bob giving and getting a slap me 10’s with another
nameless Met. I didn’t realize it being
only 11 years old at the time. But that was the swan song for my hero Bob
Aspromonte. He did drive in one more run before taking his final turn at bat
and calling it a career, but this is the hit I remember. Bob retired at the end of the year. Bob did end up leading the NL in fielding
percentage at third base only making 8 errors in 104 games. To my horror, the
Mets traded away Stanton and Ryan for Jim Fregosi that winter. They were hoping
that Fregosi was the Mets answer at third. He wasn’t. Fregosi wore the same number as Bob. Oddly
enough, he had almost EXACTLY the same stat line as Aspromonte too. Very
odd. But he wasn’t Bob. My heroes have changed over the years and I
did try to contact Bob to get an autographed picture with no success. I may try again. What the hell?
But, to me, this is what being a Met fan is all about. This
was way before the Carters and Hernandez’ and Goodens, the HoJos and the David
Wrights. This is about when an 11 year
old thought that his favorite player instinctively knew his biggest fan was in
the stands waiting for him to come through.
No matter what they did. Whether they went 0 for 4, or drove in the
winning run…..even time itself will never change how I feel about Bob
Aspromonte, and the New York Mets.
2 comments:
This is one GREAT post by a geat member of the staff...
and... this might be the last article you ever seen written about this dude
Thank you, Craig. This IS what it is all about—or at least was—and should be. We prayed for Gil in his slump and vilify Ike. So it goes.
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