THE 'DOG DAYS' ARE HERE
TIMELINE
Here is the MetsRewind historical timeline of key games and events from August 1:
1957: Gil Hodges hits his 13th career grand slam to establish a new National League record. This is the last grand slam in the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1989: The Mets announced Mookie Wilson would be the player-to-be-named-later in the trade that brought reliever Jeff Musselman from the Toronto to New York.
2010: Former Mets GM Frank Cashen, manager Davey Johnson, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden were inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. All four were instrumental in the success of the Mets 1986 championship run.
BEST AND WORST OF AUGUST
BIRTHDAYS
Gregg Jefferies (55)
Gregg Jefferies’ career with the New York Mets is difficult to put into words. As a man he has been described as “petulant … self-absorbed … immature … selfish …” As a player, Jefferies was described far differently; he was labeled by scouts as a teenage “phenom” and the late, legendary L.A. Times baseball columnist Jim Murray described his swing as “equal parts pancake syrup and butter.”
Somewhere in the space between, where the drama, conflict and jealousy fall away, the real Gregg Jefferies is revealed.
“Everything about me has been blown out of proportion all along,” said Jefferies. “How good my offense was, how bad my defense was, how weird my relationship with my father was. The media went beyond the bounds in how it portrayed me.”
Jefferies batted .276 in 465 games in New York (.276/42 HR/205 RBI).
George Bamberger (passed away in 2004 at age 80)
George Bamberger compiled an 81-127 record in 1 ½ seasons with the Mets (1982-1983).
When he resigned in May 1983, Bamberger told the media:
”We all have a little ego. I thought the club should have done better. The manager must suffer when the team doesn’t do well, and I don’t want to suffer any more. I feel exhausted. The tenseness and all that, getting headaches after games. I just told them I was stepping down and going fishing.”
”We have a gentleman’s agreement for five more years,” added Frank Cashen. ”But you know George. He doesn’t want to be paid if he doesn’t work.”