Reese Kaplan -- A Historic Mets Unsung Hero Effort from 1997

Yesterday I wrote about the need for an unexpected hero or two to emerge as the Mets wrap up the regular 2022 season on their way into the postseason for the first time since the dark and losing Terry Collins days.  Six years later the club is finishing well over .500 for the first time (though sexual harasser Mickey Callaway finished 10 games over .500 in 2019 prior to getting axed for his effort).  

Go back a little further into Mets history as it may be a prelude to what could happen again when the Mets faced their first-ever intraleague game against the mighty New York Yankees.  Back on June 16th of 1997 the struggling New York Mets would face a team with legendary history of dominating baseball and winning World Series championships.  That season, in fact, the Bronx Bombers finished 30 games over .500 for the year though they did fall short of the 1997 Division win which instead went to the Baltimore Orioles who got the title under the helm of former New York Mets manager Davey Johnson.  

So with all eyes of New York baseball media focused on how the Mets would approach this historic first, the Yankees sent up Andy Pettitte who would finish his 18 year career 103 games over .500 despite being a decent but not great pitcher who logged a 3.86 ERA over 531 games and 3316 innings pitched.  No matter how you clise it, the fact is he played for some slugging teams that helped him win as long as he kept the opponents from scoring fewer than 4 runs.  

On the Mets side they were a team that would finish for manager Bobby Valentine in third place with a winning record but out of contention.  Their pitching staff was not exactly made of Hall of Fame contenders, led by Rick Reed who was joined by even less illustrious hurlers like Mark Clark, Bobby Jones, Brian Bohanon and Armando Reynoso.  Their number two pitcher that season was little known Dave Mlicki who finished the year with an 8-12 record and a 4.00 ERA.  Somehow it was the luck of the rotation draw that Mlicki would take the mound to start this real world intraleague inaugural game.

On the offensive side of the ledger, the Mets were a little better with a lineup that day featuring Lance Johnson, Bernard Gilkey, John Olerud, Todd Hundley, Butch Huskey, Carl Everett, Carlos Baerga, Matt Franco and Luis Lopez.  On the other side of the field the Yankees would offer up Derek Jeter, Pat Kelly, Paul O'Neill, Cecil Fielder, Tino Martinez, Charlie Hayes, Mark Whiten, Chad Curtis and Joe Girardi.  The decks did not seem evenly stacked.

Now Mlicki would work in the majors for parts of ten seasons for Cleveland, the Mets, the Dodgers, the Tigers and the Astros.  His best ever season was the year prior in 1996 where he worked primarily as a reliever, finishing with a 3.30 ERA.  He did have a winning season split between the Dodgers and Tigers in 1999 when he went 14-13, but it was accompanied by an aggregate 4.61 ERA.  He was not Cooperstown bound.

When this David and Goliath matchup started, no one took the Mets very seriously.  Their lineup was decent if not spectacular. Their pitcher was occasionally on target but overall was not regarded as elite.  The Yankees were a behemoth who won on the mound and at the plate.  Some even questioned why the Mets would even attempt to play this game.

Well, without laboring over the inning by inning profile of what exactly happened, the fact is that Mlicki chose to make this game the legend of an unsung hero.  He pitched a complete game, scattering 9 hits, fanning 8 and walking just 2.  He did not give up a single run and the Mets put a 6-0 victory in the record books.  

While no one expected that kind of effort from Dave Mlicki and the Mets, it indeed did happen.  No one expected Eduardo Escobar to drive in 5 runs in his final three ABs against the Marlins either.  Sometimes success is unscripted and is cast with supporting players instead of the stars.  It's this kind of result the Mets need to find as they finish up 2022 and begin the postseason.