Hopefully Jerry Manuel was right.
Believe it or not, in April 2010 he compared his rookie first baseman Ike Davis to Willie Stargell, the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer whose 21-year playing career ended in 1982.
Manuel said, “(Davis) reminds me of (Stargell) in that they have the same hitch (in their swings). There have been some guys that hitched a little too late, or hitched a little too early, but there have been guys who, that has been a great timing mechanism for them.”
If that comparison ever comes true, the Mets would be very happy because there’s no question the one hitter the Mets feared most during their formative years was the Pirates slugger.
During his career, Stargell hit .282, .360, .529 with 475 home runs. He was a seven-time All-Star, two-time home run champ and 1979 regular season (tied with future Mets Keith Hernandez), NLCS and World Seres MVP despite being the oldest ever to win the regular-season award.
“Pops” took over the clubhouse leadership role after the great Roberto Clemente died in 1972 and was the unquestioned leader of the “We are Family” team that won the World Series in 1979.
“They give you a round bat and they throw you a round ball and they tell you to hit it square,” Stargell said about the art of hitting. And Wilver Dornell Stargell did just that against the Mets.
The lefthanded slugger with the windmill windup hit .287, .366, .576 against New York with 60 home runs – 11 more than Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. Stargell had 41 game-wining RBI – also most all-time against the Mets – and had 182 RBI in 249 games.
However, during the Mets’ miracle 1969 season they tamed the Bucs’ bopper during a key September series. New York won the final four games of a five-game set split between the cities, holding Stargell to one hit in 16 at-bats. The wins turned a 3 ½-game deficit in the NL East to a one-half game advantage, and New York never fell out of the lead for the rest of the season.
During his career against the Mets, Stargell didn’t just pick on the slew of terrible or mediocre pitchers the Mets used in the early years, he reached both Hall of Famer Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman for seven home runs each.
The only hitter to take Seaver deep more often than Stargell (he homered off the right-hander once after Seaver left the Mets) was Rick Monday, and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield was the only other hitter to reach Koosman for seven homers.
The 6-2 Stargell blossomed into a star during a 1967 season in which he hit .315 with 33 homers and 102 RBI. He had 10 homers and 23 RBI in 13 games against New York alone, homering in four straight games in July and three straight in August. Only Ryan Howard and Hank Aaron have homered in five straight against the Mets.
The native Oklahoman hit in 14 straight games against the Mets in 1970 and collected nine game-winning or game-tying homers from the sixth inning on, including two extra-inning blasts.
Stargell was credited with hitting the first ball out of Shea Stadium in 1964 – he hit 26 there during his career – and also reached a Mets reliever to become the first player to reach the upper deck at Three Rivers Stadium. On Aug. 9, 1970 he drilled a pitch from Ron Taylor over the 70-foot high right-field deck.
Well, Davis hasn’t come close to hitting the ball out of any park, and there is no easy way to compare hitters from past generations, but if he is going to follow Stargell’s path, this will be the season the 25-year-old will need to take a big step.
Stargell drilled 27 homers and drove in 100 runs for the first time in his career during the season he turned 25. That was the second season in the midst of 13 straight campaigns in which No. 8 belted 20 or more home runs.
The Mets can only hope that Davis perfects the hitch.
The windmill windup – what a great way to describe Stargell’s pre-pitch routine!
For those who never got to see him at the plate, Stargell had this thing which was much more intimidating than Jim Thome’s “point the bat at the pitcher” schtick.
Here’s his HOF video, which includes the windmill and also includes him hitting a HR at Shea.
Didn’t know how good Stargell was against the Mets. He was a little before my time.
As a comparison, would you know how Chipper Jones would stack up with Stargell as Met killers? It’s scary to think of a bigger Met killer than Jones, but the proof is the pudding here.
[…] continued menacing presence in the middle of the Marlin order is made possible by a grant from the Wilver Stargell Foundation (and viewers like you), tried to fire up his teammates, but for eight innings they seemed as immune […]