Early Seventies Mets Reliever: Ron Herbel (1970)

-
Ronald Samuel Herbel was born on January 16, 1938 in Denver, Colorado. He went to the University of North Colorado and got drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1958 just as they arrived on the West Coast. 

The right hander spent five years in the minors making his MLB debut against the New York Mets in 1963 at the Polo Grounds. He spent seven seasons with the Giants being used as both starter & reliever. His best season was in 1965 going 12-9 with a save striking out 106 batters in 170 innings pitched posting a 3.85 ERA. As the sixties closed out he was pretty much strictly a relief pitcher.

In 1970 he was 7-5 with 9 saves for the Padres, through the end of August, when he was traded to the New York Mets for Rod Gaspar. Herbel was brought in to help bolster their bullpen up for the stretch run.

At the time the Mets were 1 ½ games out of first place, & although they were only one game out by mid September they faded finishing six games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.
On the day he arrived with the Mets, he got a win, pitching one inning of relief in St. Louis. Later that week he earned a save at Shea against the Expos then a win the next night against Philadelphia.

In his first ten days with the Mets he had two wins and a save, fitting right in with the club. Herbel pitched in twelve games for the Mets in September 1970 going 2-2 with one save. He posted a 1.38 ERA allowing two earned runs in 13 innings pitched. On the season he led the NL in appearances with 76, going 9-7 with a career high 10 saves in 124 innings pitched.

On December 1st he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, for Bob Aspromonte who would be the Mets main third baseman in 1971. Herbel would pitch in 25 games going 0-1 with a save in Atlanta finishing up his nine year career.

Lifetime he went 42-37 with 16 saves and a 3.83 ERA. Herbel was never a good hitter, in his first season he had 54 plate appearances going hitless, striking out 30 times.

Trivia: According to baseball reference he has the worst batting average all time for a player with a minimum of 100 career at bats .029.

Passing: Ron passed away in Tacoma, Washington at age 62 in 2000.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Willie Mays "The Sey Hey Kid #24": The Mets Years (1972 - 1973)

-
Image
By 1972 the Giants franchise was losing money, and owner Horace Stoneham was in debt. He would not be able to pay Mays' his big salary. So, after negotiations with the Mets Willie was traded back to New York for pitcher Charlie Williams & $50,000. At first, he did not know all the details & was upset at the trade. He felt betrayed by the Giants organization after all his years of dedicated service.  He felt a bit better after Stoneman tried to explain that it was done for Mays’ best interests as well as the team’s financial situation. New York Mets owner, Mrs.  Joan Payson was a huge fan of Willie and had tried to purchase his contract years earlier, offering one million dollars, but Stoneham refused the offer.  In 1972 the Mets gave Mays a ten-year contract at $ 175,000 a year, and after retirement $50,000 a year for the rest of his life. They offered him a position as a coach upon his retirement & Mrs. Payson promised to retire his number. Willie’s return to New
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more