The All-Time NY Mets: 1980s Third Baseman

(originally posted 1/16/09 on Preaching to the Choir)

Recapping our two previous exercises, the decade of the 1960s saw Felix Mantilla win a hotly-contested race of moderately successful candidates to be named the All-Time Mets Third Baseman of the '60s, albeit by a whisker. In the '70s it was a slightly different story, as steady Wayne Garrett overcame a field of really terrible challengers by virtue of his relative competence and longevity.

In the 1980s, however, three quite accomplished players emerged to contend for the honor of being named the third baseman of the decade, after stuttering at the beginning of this particular ten-year span with another of what had been (to this point) typical Mets third-base seasons.The Mets' starting third basemen of the '80s were (according to Baseball-Reference.com) Elliott Maddox (1980), Hubie Brooks (1981-84), Ray Knight (1986), and Howard Johnson (1985, 87-89).

Elliott Maddox had been mostly a fourth outfielder for the Mets for a couple of seasons before being asked to hold down the hot corner in 1980. Maddox was the very definition of an average big-league hitter, posting a career OPS+ of exactly 100. In 1980--Elliott's final season--he logged over 450 plate appearances, posting nearly-invisible counting stats of 4 home runs, 34 runs batted in, and a .246 average. He was also caught stealing nine times in ten attempts, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that just two years earlier, he had been caught eleven times in thirteen attempts; who gave him the green light to run ten times in 1980? In any case, he is not your Third Baseman of the Decade.

Enter Hubie Brooks. Though not blessed with any more power than previous Met third sackers (his first three years as a full-time player saw home run totals of 4, 2, and 5), he could at least hit a little bit. Hubie batted .307 in 1981--the highest batting average of a Met third baseman to that date--and twice during his tenure posted OPS+s of over 110. He was, perhaps, the All-Time Mets Third Baseman up until 1985.

In 1985, though, a young all-or-nothing slugger arrived from Detroit. He briefly gave up his starting role in 1986, but we'll hear more about Howard Johnson in a moment.

Ray Knight's first full year with the Mets was also 1985, and it proved to be an unqualified disaster, as he batted a powerless .218 in about a half-season's worth of work. But he won the starter's job in the championship season of 1986 and batted a nice .298 with 76 RBI, good for an OPS+ of 115, and was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series. He was considered a possibility for seasons beyond, but departed as a free agent for what turned out to be pastures less green. Funny that the perception exists that Knight was a better player than Elliott Maddox--Ray's career OPS+ was 98.

But the story of this decade was, of course, Howard Johnson. After moderate success in '85 and '86, HoJo took over in 1987 with a season that dwarfed that of any Met third baseman up to that time: 36 home runs, 99 batted in, and an average of .265. He also stole 32 bases, becoming the Mets' first 30/30 man (tied with Darryl Strawberry, who did it that same year). In 1989 HoJo was even better: 36 HR, 101 RBI, .287, and 41 steals. His 169 OPS+ that year was the highest for any Met regular for the first three decades of their history. He is the Mets' All-Time Third Baseman of the 1980s. Howard Johnson, take a bow.