Short Time 1999 N.L. Wild Card Champion Mets Pitcher: Chuck McElroy (1999)

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Charles Dwayne McElroy was born on October 1, 1967 in Port Arthur, Texas. Port Arthur was the birth place of Janis Joplin & by the time McElroy was born she was already a big rock/blues star.

The tall six foot left handed McElroy was originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1986 in the eighth round of the draft. He became a career middle reliever pitching two years with the Phillies (1989-1990) & then three years with the Chicago Cubs (1991-1993) going 6-2 with three saves posting a 1.95 ERA in his first year there. He had a career high six saves in 1992 also posting five saves in 1994 during his three years spent with the Cincinnati Reds.

McElroy then pitched for the California Angels (1996-1997) Chicago White Sox (1997) & Colorado Rockies (1999) before landing in New York with the Mets on July 31st, 1999.

He came over from the Rockies in a trade along with Daryl Hamilton in exchange for Brian McRae & Rico Beltran. McElroy debuted with the Mets on August 1st, 1999 at Wrigley Field pitching to two batters in the 12th inning, giving way to Pat Mahomes who would earn the win. He would pitch in 15 games for the Mets finishing all 15 of them posting a 3.38 ERA, striking out seven batters in 13.1 innings pitched.

McElroy finished the year with a perfect .1000 fielding % and even got to play part of a game in the outfield when the team was short players. He did not see any 1999 post season action.

In December he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for 1986 World Champion Met Jesse Orosco. Orosco would be traded away in Spring Training 2000. McElroy went 3-0 with Baltimore, and would soon finish his career the next year in San Diego. In a 13 year career, in 654 appearances he went 38-30 with 17 saves. In 739 inning he struck out 604 batters walking 362 posting a 3.90 ERA.

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