Mid Nineties Mets Utility Player: Tim Bogar (1993-1996)

Timothy Paul Bogar was born October 28, 1966 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended East Illinois University getting drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 1987 draft.

He spent six years in the minors having his best year at A ball Columbia in 1988 batting .282. Bogar was a member of the last AAA Tidewater Tides team before they moved over to Norfolk.

He was one of the teams top hitters batting .279 behind Jeff McNight (.307) Chris Donnels (.301) & Steve Springer (.290) . Bogar made the Mets in 1993 debuting as a pinch hitter at Shea Stadium against the San Francisco Giants.

The versatile Bogar would play all infield & outfield positions for the Mets from 1993-1996. One of his biggest days at the plate came on August 1st, 1993 in his rookie year. He hit a pair of HRs & had four hits in Philadelphia in a game against the Phillies. He would only hit 6 HRs in 491 at bats in his entire Mets career. Unfortunately he got injured and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He hit .244 with three HRs 13 doubles & 25 RBIs in 78 games played.

In 1994 he remained with the club until early August but was only batting .154 in fifty games before getting sent to AAA Norfolk. In 1995 when play resumed after the great baseball strike, Bogar was back on the big league club.

He struggled hitting just .158 at the end of May. From June through the end of the year he hit well as he saw more steady playing time. He finished the year drawing a bases loaded walk in the final game of the season, giving the Mets a walk off win over the eventual World Champion Atlanta Braves.

Bogar had his best season batting .290 in 78 games, with one HR seven doubles & 21 RBIs. In 1996 he saw action in 91 games behind Jeff Kent (third base), Rey Ordonez (short stop) & Butch Huskey (first base) around the infield but his average fell off to .213. Bogar was traded at the end of Spring Training 1997 to the Houston Astros for Luis Lopez.

He spent four years in Houston hitting a high of .249 in 1997 getting to the post season in 1999. In 2001 he played his final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers He finished his nine year career with a lifetime .228 average with 345 hits 24 HRs 69 doubles 9 triples & 161 RBIs.

Retirement & Coaching Career: After his playing days he became a manager in the Cleveland Indians minor leagues winning Baseball Americas Future Manager Award. He then coached for the Tampa Rays as their quality assurance coach.

In 2009/2010 he was the Boston Red Sox first base coach under Terry Francona, moving over as the third base coach for 2011. In 2012 he was the Boston bench coach under Bobby Valentine. After Valentine was let go, Bogar left the organization three weeks later.

Bogar then moved on to the Texas League in 2013. He then was hired by the Texas Rangers as the teams bench coach in 2014, joining his long time friend Dave Magadan. He & Magadan were Mets together & Red Sox coaches as well. He became the Rangers interim manager after Ron Washington resigned. He did not get the managerial job in 2015 nor was he retained as bench coach.

In 2015 he teamed up with his old Mets teammate Jerry DiPoto who was now the GM in Anahiem. DiPoto resigned in June 2015 & Bogar stayed on.

The next year DiPoto went to the Seattle Mariners & Bogar became the teams bench coach for two seasons. In 2018 he became the Washington Nats first base coach under old pal Dave Martinez.