1991 NOBODY BEATS THE WIZ RICHIE HEBNER
With another Opening Day having come and gone, your intrepid blogger went stat spelunking in search of the Mets best individual game-one offensive performances to date.
The trip turned up some expected gems. For example, it should come as no surprise that the 1988 squad, with all the sparkly baubles that adorned its 100-win season, would start off with a 4-4, 2-HR day from Darryl Strawberry and a near-identical 4-5 2-HR line from the enigmatic Kevin McReynolds.
And who could forget the 3-5, 2-HR Mets debut of Bobby Bonilla in 1992, which included a game-winning 10th inning bomb off Lee Smith? I can’t knock the smile off my face just thinking about it…
Jeff Kent in 1994 and Todd Hundley in 1995 both reached the four-hit plateau on Opening Day, with each adding a HR for good measure.
But for the first four-hit Opening Day in franchise history we need to reach back to the lusterless year of 1979, and the 10-6 routing of the Cubs that kicked off that 99-loss campaign. This game marked the start of the one-and-only season in Flushing for the Gravedigger, Richie Hebner.
When one thinks of Hebner, one recalls his off-season occupation (see nickname above), his idiosyncratic habit of tugging incessantly at the rear neck of his jersey, and his left-handed gate of a swing, which was redolent of George Brett minus 40 or 50 IQ points. One also remembers the fact that he simply radiated a distaste for New York and the Mets organization in general.
Hebner went 4-5 with a HR, two doubles, and four RBI against a small parade of Cubs pitchers that afternoon at Shea, helping Craig Swan earn the first of his team-high 14 wins.
On a side note, the game ended with a dim hint of the ’80s glories to follow, when Jesse Orosco wrapped things up by retiring Bill Buckner on a lazy fly ball to right…
Easily one of my most hated Mets of all time. He didn’t want to be here and he showed it on a daily basis. When he was on the Pirates, I actually liked him.
This photo is just weird. The angle is bad unless you like looking inside people’s noses. The hat placement seems odd (or maybe it’s just a terrible fold) and one eye seems like it’s looking straight ahead and the other one is off checking out some babe on the side. Perhaps that explains the leer on his face.
Hebner has some pretty nice Topps cards – ’70, ’75 and ’79 are all good. But I may be partial to his stoned look in the ’77 set.
He does look a little baked there, Brian…
However, my all-time favorite stoner card remains the 1972 Jim Beauchamp: http://whomadethegrade.blogspot.com/search/label/1972%20TOPPS%20JIM%20BEAUCHAMP%20%23594%20PSA%208
The world needs more love crows
I remember Hebners Opening Day for the Mets very well. He did go 4-5 and the only out he made was an infield pop up with a runner on third and less than two out. Hebner was put in a terrible situation for a player of his particular skills. He was expected to be the center of a bad Mets offense and he was not the kind of hitter who could make a difference in the middle of a weak line up. He was a fine supporting hitter in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Detroit but he had no chance in hell to carry the offensive burden in New York. Prior to the championship season of 1986, Dave Johnson asked Hebner if he wanted to come along for the ride as the number one lefty bat off the bench. Hebner, remembering all the saliva and snot he had to wipe off his car as he would be exiting the players parking lot, declined the offer. I guess he figured the fans would throw feces at his car this time around. John Stearns was offered the backup catchers job that season as well, but he turned it down because he felt he could be a starter in Texas, which did not occur. A friend of mine who was a Mets fan said that when John Stearns looked in the mirror he saw Gary Carter.
He looks like he’s about to kill someone.