Butch Huskey: Mid Nineties Mets Outfielder (1993 - 1998)

Robert Leon Huskey was born November 10, 1971, in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Butch was born into a large family of five brothers & three sisters. He spent time living with his grandmother before moving with his father to Lawton, Oklahoma.

In 1989, the big six foot four; 244-pound third baseman was drafted by the New York Mets in the seventh round.

Huskey won four Doubleday awards at various levels in the Mets organization, bashing 26 HRs at A ball in 1991. 

Two years later he hit 25 HRs with 98 RBIs at AA Binghamton. Then in 1995 he was the International League MVP hitting 28 HRs with 87 RBIs & a .284 average at AAA Norfolk leading the Tides players in most offensive categories.

Mets Debut: He was called up in September 1993, making his debut at the Houston Astrodome on September 8th, 1993, that night the Astros Daryl Kile pitched a no hitter against the Mets. 

On September 11th, he drove in his first career run on a sac fly & had another the next night, also getting his first career base hit. In 41 games that month Huskey hit .146 in 41 at bats.

1994 Strike Shortened Season: Huskey spent the entire year at AAA Norfolk, hitting just ten HRs & batting .228. 

1995: In 1995 he had a great season at AAA Norfolk, batting .284 with 28 HRs & 87 RBIs. On August 18th, he got called up to the Mets once again. Two days later he hit his first career HR, coming off Hideo Nomo in a 5-3 Mets win over the LA. Dodgers. On August 25th, he hit his second HR coming in a 10-5 win over the Padres. On September 2nd, Huskey hit his third HR in a loss to the Giants at Candlestick Park. 

On August 29th, Huskey reached on an infield single on a grounder back to the right side of the pitcher, Todd Worrell. Ricon Brogna scored on what turned out to be the games winning run, in a 4-3 victory in Los Angeles. That season he hit .189 in 28 games. 

1996: At Spring Training Huskey found himself competing for the third base position against Edgardo Alfonzo. Jeff Kent ended up with the playing third base job after Rey Ordonez surprised everyone with his amazing glove work at short stop, taking the position.

Huskey secured the right field job, although he certainly wasn’t a natural outfielder by any means. He wasn't all that good in the outfield getting out played by the more athletic, Carl Everett & Alex Ochoa. 

Huskey had a weight problem that kept haunting him & was driving Mets manager Dallas Green, crazy. Green who was known to be rough on the younger players, sent Huskey to a weight loss clinic. The move upset him as well as some of the other players.

In April 1996 Butch got off to a slow start batting under .100 thru his first nine games. From April 12th to May 5th, he hit safely in 16 of 18 games which raised his average up to .232.

On May 10th, he hit a HR off the Cubs Frank Castillo, helping Bobby Jones & Joh Franco in their four hit 2-0 combined shut out. 

In an early June series against the Marlins at Shea Stadium, Butch hit HRs in two of the three games. On the June 9th game, his HR off John Burkett helped Jason Isringhausen in his complete game 3-0 shut out.

Multi Three Hit / Three RBI Game: On June 22nd, Butch matched his season high three hits in a game, which he did six times. He also drove in a season best three runs as well with a two run double & RBI single in a 5-2 win over the Reds at Shea.

In the month of June Huskey drove in 16 runs.

During the year he was moved over to first base, sharing time with Rico Brogna. 

On July 3rd, Huskey had a season high multi-three RBI game in a 10-6 win over the Phillies. He collected three hits with a two run HR off Terry Mulholland & collected an RBI single. His day was overshadowed by Alex Ochoa who hit for the cycle.

From July 13th thru the 17th he drove in runs in five straight games, having two multi-two RBI games to start the streak.

Walk Off Hit: On July 17th, in a tied game with the Phillies, Huskey came to bat with one out & the bases loaded facing Toby Borland. His sac fly to right field scored Chris Jones with the walk off run.

From July 21st thru July 23rd, Huskey homered in three straight games including both ends of a
double header loss to the Rockies in Colorado.

Multi-HR Game: On July 29th, Butch hit two HRs in Pete Harnisch's complete game 5-

0 shutout over the Pirates. The HRs came off Chris Peters in the 6th inning & Ramon Morel in the 8th inning. It was his only multi-HR game of the season.

In the month Butch had his best month, batting .339 with thirteen multi-hit games raising his average 27 points to .280. He hit seven HRs with 20 RBIs & a .967 OPS.

On August 3rd, he hit a two-run single off the Cardinals Andy Benes starting a Mets four run inning in a 4-3 win at She Stadium.

Then on August 5th Huskey got injured & missed over three weeks of action not returning until September setting back his fine season.

In late August the Mets fired Dallas Green & Bobby Valentine was named the teams manager.

From September 4th thru September 10th, he collected three multi-hit games with a multi-two RBI game in Atlanta in a 6-2 Mets win. On the season Butch had 17 multi-RBI games. From September 22nd thru September 27th Butch homered in three of six games to finish the year with 15 HRs.

For the 1996 season he hit .278 with 15 HRs 16 doubles 60 RBIS, posting a .754 OPS in 118 games. 

At first base he made 10 errors (5th in the league) posting a .984 fielding %. In the outfield he posted a. 943 fielding % in 40 games there.

#42: That season Huskey was wearing the uniform #42 when MLB retired it in honor of Jackie Robinson that season. He & others who had the number at that time, were allowed to keep wearing it until the end of his career. He was the last Mets player to wear the uniform number 42.

Mets Improvement: The Mets would finish 17 games better than the previous season, going 88-74 in third place. It was the clubs first winning season in seven seasons.

1997: Huskey began the year penciled in at the third base position but wouldn’t last too long at that position. After going 0-4 on Opening Day, he drove in runs in three straight games. Then from April 28th thru May 2nd, he drove in runs in five straight games.

In May Huskey was back in the outfield sharing time with Carl Everett. 

Huskey had a good month, hitting seven HRs which led to the Mets winning all of those games. From May 7th thru May 13th Butch hit four HRs in a six-game span, including two in a three-game series in St. Louis.

On May 13th, he broke a 3-3 tie with Houston in the bottom of the 7th inning with a HR off Russ Springer which was the games winning run.

In the month, he drove in 19 RBIs with six multi-RBI games. He also raised his average fifty points up to .284. 

Multi- Three RBI Game: On June 10th, Butch drove in three runs with a sac fly & two run double in a 10-6 win at Wrigley Field over the Cubs.

Multi-HR Multi-Five RBI Game: On July 13th in Atlanta, Huskey had his first multi- HR game of the season, as he drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Braves. The Mets had fallen behind 6-0 in the game, Huskey's first HR, was a two-run shot off Denny Neagle starting the comeback. In the top of the 4th inning, his three-run shot off also coming off Neagle brought the Mets to within a run. The Mets would win it on Alex Ochoa's 10th inning HR.

On July 18th at Shea Stadium, with the Mets down 2-0 in the 3rd inning, Huskey's two run double capped off a four-run inning as the Mets went on to beat the Reds 4-3.

From August 21st to September 1st, Butch drove in runs on ten of twelve games with a total of 13 RBIs. From August 22nd thru September 13th Butch went on a twenty-game hit streak, batting .363 with 29 hits clubbing seven HRs with 20 RBIs in that stretch. 

During the hit streak Huskey drove in runs in eight of nine games. Also, from September 5th to September 7th he hit HRs in three straight games. driving in runs in eight of nine games. 

Veterans Stadium Trivia & Muti HR Game: On September 15th at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, Butch had his second multi-HR game of the season. Both homers came off Matt Beech & were solo shots. Huskey hit a mammoth HR that landed in the Upper Deck 600 level of The Vet. He was only the third player to reach that level since the Stadium had opened in 1970.

Huskey finished up 1997 having his best season hitting 24 HRs (third on the club) with 26 doubles 81 RBIs (third on the club) batting .287 with a .503 slugging % & .822 OPS.

At age 25 there was still a lot of promise for Huskey's future, with some people even comparing him to Mark McGwire.

1998: Huskey started the season driving in runs in five straight games. On April 7th, he hit his first HR in a 3-2 win at Wrigley Field. In the game Al Leiter drove in the other two runs earning him his first Mets career victory.

In a three-game series at Cincinnati Butch drove in runs in all three games. On April 24th when the Reds came to Shea, Edgardo Alfonzo's double tied up the game in the bottom of the 8th inning. Huskey's fielder's choice scored Alfonzo in what was the games winning run.

Multi-Three RBI Game: On May 19th in the first game of a night double header with the Reds, Huskey hit a three run HR off Brett Tomko leading to a 7-3 win. The following week he would drive in runs in three straight games.

Mets Record Multi- Five RBI Inning: On May 26th, in a 10-6 win in South Florida, Butch started a Mets nine run inning with a two run double off Andy Larkin. As the Mets batted around sending 13 men to the plate, Huskey came up for the second time in the inning with the bases loaded & cleared them all with a three-run double. 

Huskey set a team record that held for 18 years with five RBIs in a single inning. In 2016 Yoenis Cespedes drove in six runs in an inning.

On June 10th, Butch drove in two of the Mets three runs in a 3-2 win over Tampa. 

Multi-Three RBI Game: On June 13th in Florida, Butch finished off a Mets seven run inning with a three run HR off the Marlins Brian Meadows in a 7-4 win. It was his eighth HR of the year.

In the first seven games of July, Huskey drove in nine runs with two multi-RBI games in which the Mets lost. In the month he had two different back-to back RBI games.

Hamstring Injury: On August 2nd with the Mets battling the Cubs for a wild card spot Huskey would go down with a hamstring injury. After hitting his 12th HR of the year in a win over the Dodgers at Shea, his next at bat was an infield chopper he attempted to run out. 

After crossing first base he collapsed on the outfield grass with the injury that would keep him out of the line up until September.

When he returned the Mets were still just one game out of the wild card race. Huskey wasn't the same since going down, as he hit just one HR with three RBIs playing in just 14 games that September.

The injuries limited him to playing in 113 games, hitting .252 with 13 HRs 18 doubles 59 RBIs & a .707 OPS. It was a disappointing season with the expectations having been so high. Some of the Shea fans were tired of waiting for him to be the slugger he was hyped up to be. 

Mets GM Steve Phillips went after veterans Rickey Henderson & Bobby Bonilla (again) for the outfield spot rather than have Husley go to arbitration & receive a pay raise.

Huskey was sent to the Seattle Mariners for pitching prospect Leslie Brea. Brea would never pitch for the Mets at the big-league level; in 2000 he would be shipped to Baltimore along with Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick to replace the injured Rey Ordonez.

Mets Career Stats: Huskey played in 414 games for the Mets, batting .264 with 55 HRs 62 doubles, four triples & 214 RBIs. He scored 157 runs, stole 17 bases posted a .306 on base % & .740 OPS.

Post Mets Career: In Seattle, Huskey hit .290 with 15 HRs through 74 games before being traded to the Boston Red Sox for the 1999 pennant stretch. In 45 games there he hit 7 HRs with 20 RBIs batting .260 helping the Sox capture a wild card spot.

1999 Post Season: That post season he hit only .200 going 2-11 in the ALDS & ALCS.

2000: Before the season, he signed on with the Minnesota Twins, where he was expected to have a comeback year. After hitting just .223 he was sent to the Colorado Rockies where he hit .348 in 45 games.

2001: In 2001 he signed with the Cleveland Indians, but he couldn't make the team out of Spring Training. He would play 2001 in the Pacific Coast League with Colorado Springs.

After the season, he finished his once promising career retiring at the age of 29.

Career Stats: In his seven-year career Butch hit .267 with 555 hits 86 HRs 98 doubles 259 runs scored & 336 RBIs in 642 games. He struck out 384 times walked 164 times; he posted a .318 on base % & .760 OPS.

Huskey played 331 games in the outfield, 124 at first base, 64 games at third & 87 games at DH.

Retirement: Over the years he has appeared at many Mets fantasy camps & Mets events. Butch was on hand at the Mets 2025 Amazing Day at Citi Field. Butch continues to keep the spirit of Jackie Robinson alive as he is one of Robinson's biggest ambassadors.

Huskey works with the Good Year Company & coached his daughters traveling softball team.