Former Met of the Day: Somerville N.J.'s Italian/American- Joe Vitko III (1992)

Italian American Joseph John Vitko III was born February 1, 1970 in Somerville, New Jersey (19 years before the Bridgewater Commons Mall was built). He played ball in nearby Pennsylvania and attended St. Francis University at Loreto, PA. The Mets drafted the very tall (6’ 8”) right hander twice. Once in 1988 but he did not sign, then again the following year, way down in the 24th round.


He put up good ERAs & won 11 games for the St. Lucie Mets in 1991. He won 12 games at Binghamton and became the first Binghamton Met to make the big league team. Supposedly he was also the first player born in the 1970’s to actually play for the Mets too.


In September 1992 he got his cup of coffee, making a debut on September 18th, closing out a Doc Gooden loss. He got shellacked on his next outing, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits in an inning and a half of work.


He got his only career start on the 28th, but the Phillies clobbered him for six runs on seven hits that night at Shea.
He took the loss in only two innings pitched, ballooning his ERA to 13.50. Vitko then suffered arm problems, and was never seen at Shea again. A guy that tall could be spotted easily wouldn’t ya think? Back at Binghamton he went 2-5 and was soon done pitching.