Craig Mitchell - The Day Shea became "Staub-ville"

April 1972 was huge in Met history. On April 2^nd, Gil Hodges legendary manager of the New York Mets and longtime Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger great died suddenly of a heart attack after a round of golf. Three days later on April 5^th 1972 I was hit with another blow. On that day, the Mets sent Tim Foli, Mike Jorgenson and Kenny Singleton to Montreal for Rusty Staub.   Not only did we have a work stoppage causing the new baseball season to start late, but that’s the day that, according to my soon to be 12 year old mind, the Mets mortgaged the farm.  They traded their future for one guy! A huge red headed left handed hitting, right hand throwing right fielder. Were they insane?  Six months earlier, I was thrilled when Kenny Singleton launched two homers in the final game of the 1971 season. He was going to be the Mets next hitting star. He was going to round out the Met outfield.  It was going to be Cleon Jones in Left, Tommie Agee in Center and Singleton in Right. Needless to say that never happened.  Also gone were Jorgenson and Tim Foli. Foli was the heir apparent to Buddy Harrelson and Jorgenson, who was born on the exact day that Babe Ruth died, was our power threat at 1^st base. Gone. Gone to Montreal.  Lost forever to the frozen north to haunt the confines of Jarry Park. We only got one guy for all that talent.

Staub was a legend to Expos fans. Coming to them in a trade with the Astros that sent Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon to Houston (Clendonon refused to report, thus setting events in motion to bring Clendenon to the Mets in mid-1969 to spark their World Series  win!)   Staub was arguably the Expos  and Canada’s first baseball superstar. Le Grand Orange! When I looked at his stats I was impressed. The Mets had never had a hitter with this kind of potential before. In the three years prior Staub hit 19, 29 and 30 homers with Montreal with a .295 batting average. Maybe this trade will work out. 

That was basically it. I was sold on Rusty.  And as 1972 started, Gil Hodges was gone and on April 6^th Yogi Berra took over. On April 15^th, the work stoppage ended and baseball began, late, but it began.  Behind Staub and rookie sensations John Milner and Jon Matlack, the Mets got off to an amazing start. In their first 32 games the Mets went 25-7 including a franchise record-tieing 11 game winning streak. Staub, Milner, Matlack, Seaver and McGraw led the way.  Until…Staub was hit by a pitch and broke his hand in early June, then the wheels came off….and the Mets plummeted down to earth. But the cast was set. Staub was now one of my favorite Mets.

In 1973, Staub helped lead the Mets to the NL Pennant, Hitting three homers in the NLCS despite seriously injuring his throwing shoulder colliding with the Shea Stadium right-centerfield wall while robbing Dan Driessen of an extra base hit. Despite the injury, Staub went on to bat .423 against the mighty A’s with  eleven hits, a homer and six rbi in the losing cause in the World Series.

Now in his entire tenure with the Mets, Staub never hit more than 19 homers in any one season.  That was a lot for a Met fan. As a matter of fact, Frank Thomas’ 34 in 1962 was still the record for homers in a season by a Met and held up until the arrival of Dave Kingman in 1975, when Kong belted 36.  In 1974, however, Staub was the Mets big threat and I was all in.

It was the middle of August and I had tickets to go to a game with my old man. When the Mets played the Pirates in Pittsburgh earlier that season, I was impressed by a fan who had a sign in the stands that said “POPULATION IN STARGELL-VILLE  32” and he had replaceable numbers so that if Stargell hit a homer in the game he could change it to “33”. I was inspired. So prior to going to the game, I went into the garage and constructed a sign of my own. It was all made of wood. A big wooden sign attached to a 2x4 so I could hold it high above the crowd. I stapled white construction paper to the wood and cut out pictures of Staub from the 1974 year book and added the words “POPULATION IN STAUB-VILLE  14”. Rusty had 14 homers at the time. I also made this sign so that I could replace the numbers as Staub hit the homers. I believe I brought an extra 5, 6, 7  and 8….you know, just in case Rusty had the game of his life, I was prepared to change that sign 4 times. If he hit a 5^th homer, I’d have to improvise.

My Dad could drive, but on this venture to Flushing he decided to take public transportation.  What a nightmare! Now, my “Staubville” sign was made in a frantic rush in my garage using a hammer and nails and staples.  I was not the most skilled wood worker, and there were nails and splinters sticking out at all odd angles from my sign. On the trip via Long Island Railroad and then the 7 line to Shea Stadium I left a trail of innocent unsuspecting people with puncture wounds from my monstrosity of a sign.  I heard more adults curse that day then I had in my entire life. My Dad uncomfortably tried to sooth the scratched and bleeding passengers, he probably gave them a  “He’s just a kid….cut him some slack” palms up shrug.

I got to the Stadium and I was allowed In with the sign (That would never happen today I bet.) My plan was to proudly display the sign at every half inning break. Maybe even get Rusty to acknowledge to me. I was in the right field stands, but pretty far away from the field so that didn’t happen.  From the first time I hoisted that sign, to the end of that game I hit someone, scratched someone or got a torrent of “Down Front!!”  or “Lower the “F’ing sign kid!!” calls from behind me. It was a disaster. I still remember the nice older guy who sat next to me. He didn’t complain, but he did gasp every time the sign cut into him.  I’m pretty sure he lost a pint of blood and required stitches from all the nails I inadvertently impaled him with.  All of this carnage going down and the folly of a “home run sign” for moderate homer run threat was totally lost on me. But it was Rusty!! He was the heart and soul of the Mets.  I’m pretty sure that’s the only thing that saved me and my father from getting tossed out into the parking lot that day.

Growing up that’s the way it was. My sluggers were Agee, Kranepool and Staub.  Hell, in 1971 the Mets home run leader only had 14 homers…and that was a tie between Kranepool and Cleon Jones. The Yankees, who were a shadow of their formal greatness in the early 70’s had Bobby Murcer and then later Bobby Bonds and Graig Nettles hitting 30 dingers a year each. Met fans didn’t really get that until the mid-80’s on a regular basis, hell, even now it’s hard to come by.

But Rusty Staub is a classic Met. He was a bona fide offensive star on a team that was starving for offense. While to be perfectly honest, Staub was probably better suited to being a # 3 hitter or a #5 hitter in a more productive line up. He was “The Guy” for Met fans like me in the early 70’s.  Now, Mike Jorgenson  and Tim Foli went on to be competent players with other teams, and both returned to the Mets in the early 80’s. Ken Singleton had an outstanding career and went on to be an all-star and played for a pair of World Series teams with the Orioles, finally winning a ring in 1983. (Foli earned his ring with the Pirates in 1979)

As for Rusty, after being shipped to Detroit in 1976 for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin, He returned to the Mets in the early 80’s and became the game’s most prolific pinch hitter. He retired after the 1985  one more year to get that ring, but it wasn’t to be.  He also opened up a pair of restaurants in New York City. “Rusty’s.” Occasionally you hear Keith Hernandez rave about Rusty’s cooking. He’s not lying.  I went once. The ribs were amazing. To this day, despite playing for the Expos, Tigers and Astros, Rusty is probably best known for his time with the Mets. He was the stand out player for the city’s National League team, and to this day, I don’t know of any former player that is more universally loved.  One things for sure,  the population in Staub-ville? It’s a hell of a lot more than 14.