A Different Drummer

May 13, 2005

A few weeks ago, Al Leiter came to town for a visit. For seven years the 39-year-old lefty, the owner of one of baseball’s two most effective cut fastballs (the other being Mariano Rivera’s), was the ace of the New York Mets’ pitching rotation.

In 2003, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon signed free-agent lefty Tom Glavine, a ‘sure-fire future 300-game winner,’ to a $35 million, three-year contract, and installed him as the team’s ace. Glavine bombed, going a combined 20-28 over the next two seasons, and the team is stuck with him for one more season, though oddly enough, I’ve never heard any sports writers or broadcasters speak of the Mets as being “stuck.” While Leiter did not have top seasons, he still whipped Glavine, going a combined 25-17 in 2003 and 2004. And with Glavine now only up to 264 wins at age 39, it looks increasingly unlikely that he will ever make it to the promised land. At 2-4, he’ll have to go on a roll, just to end up with a .500 record this year.

Prior to Friday night’s game, Glavine was 1-4, with an ERA way over six. He caught a big break that night. An umpire named Davidson, who had been out of Major League Baseball since 1999, was working the game, and apparently he had a soft spot for Glavine.

Six years ago, the ump had thrown in his lot with megalomaniacal umpire union boss Richie Phillips, who made insane demands on the owners, which resulted in the 22 umpires who followed Phillips getting fired. (The majority of major league umpires did not follow Phillips, and voted him out as union chief.) Davidson started his comeback last year in the A League, the lowest-level minor league affiliated with the major leagues. Hence, Davidson wasn’t umpiring in 2003, when the new strike zone was put in effect, which was devised partly in response to Glavine’s longtime shenanigans, in “expanding” the strike zone. Glavine whined all that season about the calls he was -- or rather, wasn’t -- getting. Conversely, on Friday night, Davidson made several bad calls on Glavine’s behalf.

In addition to giving the lefty a generous strike zone, the ump cut the lefty a rare break. Future Hall of Fame Mets catcher Mike Piazza “caught his balance” after catching a low pitch, by sticking the ball in the dirt. Normally, umpires automatically make the catcher hand over any ball that goes into the dirt, and give him a new ball. The reason is that any foreign substance on a ball or change to its texture or shape can change its aerodynamics, causing it to move in unusual ways. Pitchers love those unusual movements, which fool hitters – and sometimes catchers, too. (In his classic baseball book, Ball Four, former Yankees hurler Jim Bouton told of how when Yankees Hall of Fame lefty Whitey Ford was past his prime, catcher Yogi Berra -- another Hall of Famer -- used to find every possible pretext for putting the ball in the dirt, or scuffing it against his shin guard while rearing back to throw it to Ford, in order to help along the aging pitcher’s stuff. But that was over forty years ago; soon thereafter, umpires started cracking down on such antics.)

But Davidson let Piazza throw the dirty, dusty ball back to Glavine. On the next pitch, the St. Louis batter hit a come-backer, which Glavine turned into an inning-ending, 1-6-3 double play. With Davidson’s help, Glavine threw seven shutout innings, en route to only his second win of the season.

Owner Fred Wilpon likes to present himself more as running a mom-and-pop store than a cut throat business. When Wilpon okayed the signing of Tom Glavine, Glavine was supposed to bring some class to town. And so, one of the first things Glavine did, with Wilpon’s tacit approval, was to publicly trash just deposed Mets manager Bobby Valentine. Why would a “classy” guy like Tommy Glavine trash a man he had never even played for, and who had just been fired from his job? And why would a “classy,” mom-and-pop kind of guy like Fred Wilpon enjoy seeing Glavine kick a guy while he’s down? What do you call that, ruthless nice-guyism? You hate anyone who isn’t a nice-guy, and grant yourself permission to be vicious to him?

Bobby Valentine was merely the man who had rescued a lost franchise, and who with Gil Hodges and Davey Johnson, was one of the three most successful managers in Mets history. Valentine’s intelligence, intensity, work ethic and demanding nature turned around the franchise, and in seven years (1996-2002), got the Mets to the playoffs twice, including their first World Series appearance (2000) in 14 years. During the heart of those years, the Mets had the best infield in all of baseball (John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo, Rey Ordonez and Robin Ventura).

Valentine is a notoriously difficult man. Although from Connecticut, he is a “type A,” New York kind of guy. If he was extremely intelligent helming the Mets, he also was at times too clever for his own good. There was the time that he got thrown out of a game and snuck back onto the bench, wearing a Groucho disguise. He didn’t fool the umpires. Another time, he decided to try and motivate the team by badmouthing his best, most selfless player, catcher Todd Hundley, suggesting that Hundley was out partying too late before day games. Apparently, Valentine was making it up.

On the other hand, after 911, Valentine frequently visited Ground Zero to cheer on and cheer up the recovery workers.

The bottom line is, with a .534 winning percentage, “Bobby V” did a great job as manager. For years before and for two years after his tenure, in spite of Fred Wilpon signing big-name players to overpriced contracts, the Mets were laughingstocks; they were never laughingstocks on Valentine’s watch.

After firing Valentine, Wilpon hired a nice man named Art Howe as manager, who in two seasons never won more than 71 games, and who compiled a pathetic .424 winning percentage.