Remembering Butch Huskey: Mid Nineties Mets Outfielder (1993 - 1998)
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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.
1994 Strike Shortened Season: Huskey spent the entire year at AAA Norfolk, hitting just ten HRs & batting .228.
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 Huskey had a big 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 the Dodgers Hideo Nomo in a 5-3 Mets win over the L.A. at Shea Stadium.
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.
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On August 29th in Los Angeles, Huskey reached on a grounder back to the right side of the pitcher, Todd Worrell for an infield hit. Rico Brogna scored on the play in what turned out to be the games winning run, in a 4-3 victory. That season Huskey hit .189 with three HRs & eleven RBIs in 28 games played.
1996: At Spring Training Huskey found himself competing for the third base position against Edgardo Alfonzo. The Mets had traded away Bobby Bonilla after his disastrous tenure in New York. But after Rey Ordonez surprised everyone with his amazing glove work at short stop, Jeff Kent was moved to third base taking the position.
Although he wasn’t a natural outfielder Huskey was put in the right field position. He wasn't all that good in the outfield getting out played by the more athletic, Carl Everett as well as young Alex Ochoa.
Although he wasn’t a natural outfielder Huskey was put in the right field position. He wasn't all that good in the outfield getting out played by the more athletic, Carl Everett as well as young Alex Ochoa.
Weight Issues: Huskey also had a weight problem that kept haunting him & was driving Mets manager Dallas Green, crazy. Dallas Green who was known to be rough on the younger players, sent Huskey to a weight loss clinic to trim down. The decision upset Butch as well as some of the other Mets 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 with 46 hits, four HRs, four doubles & 22 RBIs raising his average up to .232.
On May 10th, Huskey hit a HR off the Cubs Frank Castillo, helping Bobby Jones & Joh Franco in their four hit 2-0 combined shut out.
On June 5th, Buch hit a pair of doubles while diving in three runs in aa 9-6 loss in Atlanta. In the next home series against the Marlins at Shea Stadium, Butch hit HRs in two of the three games. On June 9th in the final game of the series, his HR off John Burkett helped Jason Isringhausen in a 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. 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. Butch would have six multi-three hit games on the season.
Multi-Three RBI Game: On July 3rd, Huskey had matched his season high with another 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 Butch drove in runs in five straight games, having two multi-two RBI games at the start of the streak.
Walk Off Sac Fly: 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.
Multi-HR Game: On July 29th at Shea, Butch hit a pair of HRs against the Pirates, coming off Chris Peters (6th inning) & Ramon Morel (8th inning) in Pete Harnisch's complete game 5-0 shutout. It was Huskey's only multi-HR game of the season.
Overall Butch had his best month of the season, batting .339 with seven HRs, 20 RBIs & a .967 OPS along with thirteen multi-hit games raising his average 27 points to .280.
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.
On August 5th Huskey went down with an injury & missed over three weeks of action not returning until September setting back his fine season.
In his second start back from the DL he collected a pair of hits in a 3=2 win extra inning win over the Dodgers at Shea. From September 4th thru September 10th, Butch had three multi-hit games with a September 8th multi-RBI game in a 6-2 Mets win at Atlanta.
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.
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. In the Opening Day loss at San Diego he went 0-4. But he then drove in runs in three straight games.
#42: On April 14th, 1997 MLB honored Jackie Robinson's 50th anniversary breaking into the major leagues as the first black player. In a game between the Mets & Dodgers at Shea Stadium Robinson's uniform #42 was officially retired. On hand was Robinson's widow, Rachel as well as then president Bill Clinton on hand.
Quotes- Butch Huskey: "That's one of the best memories I had in my lifetime & it'll always stay with me."
From April 28th thru May 2nd, Butch collected nine hits in 18 at bats, with two HRs & seven RBIs while driving in runs in five straight games. The Mets won four of those five games.
In May, Huskey was back in the outfield sharing time with the speedy 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. On May 7th in a tied game at Houston, Huskey hit a 9th inning two run HR off the Astros Tom Martin leading to the 4-1 victory.
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In the month, he hit .338 raising his season average to .284. He hit seven HRs with 19 RBIs along with six multi-RBI games.
Multi- Three RBI Game: On June 10th, Butch drove in three runs with a sac fly & two run double off future Met Turk Wendell, 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 & first multi-five RBI game of his career in a 7-6 win over the Braves.
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 in ten of twelve games collecting 13 RBIs.
20 Game Hit Streak: 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.
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. One of the HRs Huskey hit was 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 joining Willie Stargell & Ruben Rivera.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, Huskey finished his once promising career retiring at the age of 29.
Huskey played 331 games in the outfield, 124 at first base, 64 games at third & 87 games at DH.
Retirement: Butch continued to keep the spirit of Jackie Robinson alive as he was one of Robinson's biggest ambassadors.
Butch Huskey has worked with the Good Year Company & was a coach for his daughters traveling softball team.
Butch was on hand at the Mets 2025 Amazing Day at Citi Field. centerfieldmaz & nephew Joseph had the pleasure of chatting with Butch durng the event. He was a perfect gentleman giving us his time as well as a photo op. Huskey was proud to have played with the Mets & be the last Met to wear #42 as well.
Passing: On August 14th 2026 Butch suddenly passed away due to a blood clot on his lung. He was just 54 years old.
