Remembering Mets History (1993) Vince Coleman Throws M-80 Fire Work at Fans Outside Dodger Stadium

Saturday July 24th, 1993: In the dismal 1993 season, the Mets had fired manager Jeff Torborg & brought in Dallas Green. By late July the Mets were in last place 29 games out of first. On this Saturday afternoon the Mets (32-65) took a 5-4 loss to the third place Dodgers (51-46) in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.

After the game, three troubled players hanging out together were involved in an ugly incident outside Dodger Stadium. Bobby Bonilla & Vince Coleman were exiting the player parking lot in Eric Dais' car when Vince Coleman decided to throw a lit M-80-firecracker out the window near a crowd of fans standing by the exit looking for autographs.

The M-80, equal to a quarter stick of dynamite injured three people, according to the authorities
at the time, a one-year-old girl was treated for a burn on her face near the eye, an 11-year-old boy was treated for leg trauma & a 33-year-old woman suffered a hearing problem as well as a vertigo reaction.

When interviewed none of the players wanted to comment about the situation & were very angered as well as agitated that they were being asked about it. Davis later said it was done as a joke! A very embarrassing moment for the Mets, Dodgers & MLB as a whole.

Quotes- Mets PR Man Jay Horowitz: "The Mets are aware of the incident. It's under investigation now & other than that we really don't have any further comment".

Coleman was in the line up the next day going 0-4. He made two more late inning appearances before the Mets took action, suspending him for the rest of the season. In the winter he was traded to the Royals with Kevin McReynolds for cash.

In November Coleman made a plea deal, getting charges dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor. He was fined $1000, ordered to pay 200 hours of community service & make restitutions for the three people injured.

More Coleman Dramas: Coleman may have been the all-time lowest & worst personal player
the team ever had. In Spring Training 1991 the troubled Vince Coleman had been involved in a sexual assault rape charge along with Dwight Gooden & Daryl Boston in Florida. The details became unclear as prosecutors never perused the charges & the case was eventually dropped.

In April of 1993 Coleman injured Dwight Gooden’s arm by carelessly swinging a golf club in the clubhouse. He later had drug problems as well.

Back in 1985, Coleman offended many fans when he was asked about Jackie Robinson, saying “I don’t know nothing about him, why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson?” Jackie’s widow Rachel Robinson, responded by saying, "I hope somehow he'll learn and be embarrassed by his own ignorance."

In 2022 Coleman's daughter wrote a book about the toxic relationship he put on her & her mother called "A Letter to My Dead-Beat Dad, the Facade is Over". 

Her father sued her after the book was released.