Remembering Mets History (1991) HoJo Is First Met to Lead NL in Both HRs & RBIs as David Cone Ties NL Record with 19 K's the Same Day He's Accused of Possible Rape Charges

Sunday October 6th, 1991: Today was the last day of the 1991 season. Although the Mets had competed in the first half of the season (44-34) ten games over .500 & 2.5 games out of first place by the All-Star break, they went 31-50 in the second half finishing a disappointing (77-84) 21.5 games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. 

 

During the last week of the season, the team fired manager Bud Harrelson & replaced him with interim manager, Met coach Mike Cubbage. It was the teams worst finish in nine years, dating back to 1983 when they last finished under .500 at 68-94.

This year aw the team trade Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda & Tim Teufel. Although it was just five years since the Championship of 1986 & just five players from that team were still around by the end of this season, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Kevin Elster, Dave Magadan & Howard Johnson.

Howard Johnson was now the teams hitting star & became the third Mets player in franchise to lead the league in HRs joining Dave Kingman (1982) & Darryl Strawberry (1988). Hojo entered the game tied with Will Clark for the NL RBI lead with Barry Bonds three RBIs behind the two. No Met had ever led the league in that department.

The Mets were closing out the year at Philadelphia, in Veterans Stadium. Jim Fregosi's Phillies had finished a game better than the Mets in third place at 78-84, twenty games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jim Fregosi sent Andy Ashby (1-4) to the mound to face New York's David Cone (13-14).

David Cone Drama's: 1991 had been Cone's worst win / loss year up to that point in his career, dating back to his rookie season when he was 5-6. He came into this game at 13-14 trying to end the season at .500. 

Cone had his shares of trouble thru the years, that September he had been sued for $8 million by three women who said he had threatened them at Shea Stadium. He admitted confronting them but not threatening them.

Quotes- David Cone: " In a span of 15 seconds I must have dropped 90,000 F-bombs. I'm not proud of what I did but it was a farce of a lawsuit to get publicly".

If that wasn't enough, the team thru an end of the season party the previous night with Cone partying all night despite having to pitch. That morning he was told by management that he had been accused of rape by a woman he took back to his room at the hotel Saturday night. 

Apparently they had met in the hotel bar, then the woman agreed to go back to his room where she started giving him a massage leading to her accusations or consensual actions. Mets P.R. man Jay Horowitz told the media the team was aware of the situation. 

Quotes- Mets GM Al Harazin : "David Cone is a fine young man, a fine pitcher, we hope this case is quickly cleared up & he is exonerated."

The Players Union also stood behind Cone believing the accusations were false. Eventually the accusations were proven "unfounded" but that afternoon Cone was looking for police in the stands who may have come to arrest him. With all this going on he told his manager he still wanted to pitch.

In the top of the 1st, the Mets gave David Cone run support in their first at bat. Daryl Boston led off with his fourth triple of the season. He was brought home by Keith Miller's double. Greg Jefferies & Chris Donnel's added RBI singles to make it a 3-0 Mets lead. 

In the Phillies 1st, Cone started the game striking out Kim Batiste then walked Mickey Morandini. Cone then struck out the next two batters to end the inning. 

In the bottom of the 2nd, Dave Hollins led off with a double, then Cone struck out the next three batters. After two innings, his first six outs were all strike outs.

In the top of the 3rd inning, with two outs, Kevin McReynolds singled & advanced on a wild pitch. Gregg Jefferies then singled driving in his 62nd run of the year, making it 4-0 Mets.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Cone struck out Ken Batiste for the second time reaching seven K's. In the bottom of the 4th, Cone struck out the side for the second time, fanning Wes Chamberlin, Dale Murphy & Dave Hollins. He now had ten strike outs through four innings.

In the top of the 5th, Keith Miller added a solo HR, just his second of the year making it 5-0 Mets. 

In the bottom of the 5th, Cone struck out Ricky Jordan, after Braulio Castillo grounded out, Cone struck out Doug Lindsey for his 12th strike out of the afternoon.

In the bottom of the 6th, Cone struck out the first two batters, then gave up a base hit to Mickey Morandini just the second Phillie hit of the game. Cone then struck out Wes Chamberlin for his 15th strike out on the day.

In the top of the 7th, Cone led off with a walk & advanced on a wild pitch. Keith Miller then doubled into center field, as Cone tried to score he was thrown out at home by Braulio Castillo. Howard Johnson then collected an infield base hit scoring Miller with the Mets sixth run. 

NL RBI Leaders: With the RBI Howard Johnson was now leading the NL in RBIs with 117. In San Francisco Will Clark collected three hits but did not drive in any runs so he would finish one RBI short of Hojo. In Pittsburgh Barry Bonds would drive in two runs matching Will Clark for second place finishing with 116.

HoJo Trivia: For Howard Johnson, he became be the first Mets player in franchise history to lead the league in RBIs (117) while setting an NL RBI record for switch hitters. The mark was also a new Mets franchise record at the time that stood until 1999 when Mike Piazza drove in 124 runs. 

Hojo also became the first Mets player to lead the NL in both HR & RBI categories in the same year. Earlier that week he also became a 30/30 player for the third time.

Quotes- Howard Johnson: "The 100 RBIs are a mark of consistency & that's what I've tried to bring to the club year in & year out. When it's all over & done with I feel I did my job".

In the bottom of the 7th, Cone did not strike anyone out, as he went into the 8th inning with 15 strikeouts. He quickly struck out center fielder Braulio Castillo for the second time on the night for #16. In the inning Cone also struck out catcher Doug Lindsey, reaching 17 strike outs on the day.

In the top of the 9th, Daryl Boston would add a solo HR, his fourth HR of the year to make it 7-0 Mets.

In the bottom of the 9th, Cone started the inning fanning Kim Batiste for the fourth time on the day, earning himself the golden sombrero. 

Record Tying Strike Out: With one out, the next batter Mickey Morandini got to a full count. Cone then struck him out with catcher Charlie O'Brien dropping the ball then throwing out Morandini on the throw to first base to officially record the out. 

The 19 strike outs tied Tom Seaver's MLB & franchise record set in April of 1970 in a shut out over the San Diego Padres at Shea Stadium, 21 years earlier. Kerry Wood, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson & Max Scherzer would later fan 20 batters in a game.

The final out of the game came on a ground out to short stop from Dale Murphy. 

Despite all his dram & distractions, Cone went on to the victory, with his second shutout of the season, a complete game three hitter. He reached double figures in strike outs for the fifth time on the year with his career high 19. 

Quotes- David Cone: "If anything it made me stronger. It gave me cause, either fold or get mentally strong, that's how I was thinking. I chose to get strong".

That year Cone won his second straight NL strike out title with 241 for the season. He was to finish with his third straight 14-win season (14-14) pitching 200 while posting a 3.29 ERA.