Former Met of the Day: Roberto Alomar (2002-2003)

Roberto Alomar was born on February 5th, 1968 in Puerto Rico. He is the son of Mets coach Sandy Alomar & the brother of Sandy Alomar Jr. He was signed by the Padres in 1985 and won the California League batting title in 1986. He made his debut with the Padres in 1988, on the same team as his brother Sandy & father who was a coach at the time. After three seasons he was traded to Toronto along with Joe Carter for Fred McGriff & Tony Fernandez. It was a great trade for Toronto as they would go on to win two World Series with Alomar & Carter as part of the core of their team. When the Sky Dome was in its prime, as “The Eighth Wonder of the World”, Alomar lived in a luxury apartment overlooking the field. After Toronto he spent three years in Baltimore & three years in Cleveland.

Alomar would win ten gold glove awards, make 12 All Star appearances, including winning the 1988 All Star Game MVP Award. He hit over .300 nine out of the next ten seasons, while stealing over 30 bases eight times in his career, including twice over fifty. He had over 30 doubles seven times, over 40 four times, and had over 190 hits three times. Credentials that did not got him into the Hall of Fame in 2009. He thought he was a shoe in and broke down sobbing during an interview after the announcement. He finished his career with an even .300 batting average, and 2724 hits, never leading the league in any category except Runs scored (138) in 1999 & plate appearances (702) a decade earlier.

He was successful in the postseason, batting .313 lifetime in 58 games. He played in seven different post seasons, winning the two World Series in Toronto. He hit .480 in the 1993 World Series against Philadelphia driving in six runs. His best overall Series was the 1992 ALCS where he hit .464 with 2 HRs 4 RBIs and stole 5 bases against Oakland.

Besides his Mets career, Alomar doomed himself in 1996 when he spat in the face of home plate umpire John Hirschbeck. He defended himself by using the race card, saying Hirschbeck used a slur. (Funny how none else heard it.) Alomar went further saying Hirschbeck had been bitter since his son had died of ALD. The umpire had to be restrained from killing Alomar after the game. The league fined him $50,000, donated to ADL research. The two made public apologies and made nice a year later at home plate.


Met fans certainly don’t think he belongs in the Hall of Fame, just because of his time spent at Shea Stadium. On December 11, 2001 in a highly publicized trade, he arrived in New York with Mike Bacsik for Alex Escobar, Matt Lawton and Jerrod Riggan. Alomar was an absolute dud in 2002, batting a career low at that point .266 with 11 HRs 53 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. The RBIs were the worst since his rookie season & an injury prone 1994 campaign. It was like Alomar forgot everything he knew about baseball, a star that had completely fallen. On the field he wasn’t that bad, making 11 errors in 147 games good for a .983 fielding percentage. But New York expected the Gold Glove, All Star player he had been and weren’t settling for less. The boo birds let him have it, as well as the media, he was done. 70 games into the 2003 season, with 2 HRs 22 RBIs and a .262 batting average he was exiled from Shea Stadium, to the White Sox for Edward Almonte & Royce Ring. Alomar was done by 2004 at the age of 36. The Blue Jays retired his number in 2008.