Sherman Erik - Mookie: life, baseball, and the 86 Mets

I t was just prior to the winter meetings following the 1983 season, another last place finish for the Mets. I had begrudgingly come over to New York in a trade from St. Louis that June, even after asking my agent if I had enough money to retire from baseball instead of living in the concrete jungle and reporting to that lousy Mets team. He assured me I did not, so I packed my bags for New York.

Now it was decision time once again. Would I stay with the Mets or move on to another team?

After coming to the realization that the Mets were loaded with a plethora of tremendous prospects coming up from the farm system, I decided to sign a five-year extension and try to help the club transform itself into a winner.

At the winter meetings, there were rumors in the papers that Mookie was on the trading block. I made a statement to the press that I was emphatically against any such trade. As an opposing player with the Cardinals who played against those perennially terrible Mets teams of the early eighties, I had seen how Mookie stood head-and-shoulders above anybody else on his team.

I remembered watching him and thinking, Gosh Almighty, its May and theyre twenty games out, but this guy only knows one way to play. Just one speed. He hits a routine ground ball and sprints to first base every single time.

I told the media, Mookies the kind of player we need. Weve got all these young guys and if were going to go forward, if were really going to turn this thing around, then we need a veteran to set the example for them. What better example than Mookie hustling and playing it hard every single day?

Lo and behold, they didnt trade Mookie. Thank God.

Whats very ironic to me is how his leadership and hustle all came full circle when he hit that ground ball to Bill Buckner in Game Six of the 1986 World Series. A lot of guys would have run three-quarters up the first base line, thinking that since it would be a sure out, why bother running hard. But this was Mookie and he busted his butt up the line like he did every game he ever played in his career. Its possible that Buckner may have felt added pressure to get to the ball and the bag quicker with Mookie running hard. Of course, the ball skipped through Buckners legs and the winning run came home to turn the series around. That play said it all about Mookie.

Two nights later, we were world champions.

Mookie was one of the more exciting players on what became an outstanding Mets club that played with a lot of gusto and grit. His teammates and fans alike loved him for his aggressive style of play. It was every bit as exciting watching Mookie leg out a triple as it was seeing Darryl Strawberry hit one of his moon shot home runs.

Mookie was one of my all-time favorite teammates, a consummate professional.

When Lenny Dykstra came up from the minors and management started platooning Mookie despite his being a productive switch-hitter, he could have sulked, moaned, or grumbled about it. Instead, he never complained even though he wanted badly to play every day. Not only did Mookie not gripe about it, he did everything he could to help Lenny get adjusted to major league life. Thats the kind of teammate and individual Mookie was to everybody.

Whenever Mookies name was on the lineup card, he busted his tail like he was an everyday player. That perfectly sums up the strong character that he possesses to this day.

We certainly had our share of characters that enjoyed going out after games for a few drinks. While Mookie led a straight life, he still intermingled with everybody. And just because he wasnt a drinker didnt mean he wouldnt join the guys at the hotel bar and talk baseball. He was always part of the team and enjoyed the camaraderie he had with his teammates. He was, in a sense, Mets royalty.