Saturday Seasons: For 1982, it was "By George, we think they've got it." Not

In 1982, the Mets decided to let George do it.

               Two of them, actually.

               And neither one did.

               George Bamberger, hired to replace Joe Torre as manager, was supposed to draw on his experience and success as the Baltimore Orioles’ pitching coach to help develop a young pitching staff. “He has a great and lasting knowledge of pitching,” noted general manager Frank Cashen at the press conference introducing Bamberger in October 1981. “Pitching is his forte. And his ability to instruct is important, especially these days when we tend to rush players more than we used to four or five years ago.”

               “Everybody I talked to, without exception, said George was absolutely the best at developing young pitchers, and we have a lot of strong arms coming along,” owner Fred Wilpon told the Daily News’ Dick Young.

               And if there was any concern about Bamberger as manager, it was probably related to his health. Bamberger was only two years removed from quintuple cardiac bypass surgery – a considerably less routine procedure than it is today, 45 years later – and he had left his previous post, as Milwaukee Brewers skipper, because of his health issues. Bamberger wanted back in, but just in case things didn’t work out, he only asked for a one-year contract.

               But the pitching never developed the way it had been envisioned. Bamberger, according to a recap of the 1982 season by Newsday’s Marty Noble, had hoped to get more complete games (back when that meant something) and fewer walks from a pitching staff anchored by starters Pete Falcone, Charlie Puleo, Craig Swan and a pre-spitball Mike Scott. The staff registered only 14 complete games and walked 568, worst in the league and with an ERA second-worst. Neil Allen anchored the bullpen, chalking up 19 saves, but was unavailable for an extended period due to illness and injury (Bamberger estimated – and this seems considerably high – that Allen’s absence cost the team 14 victories).

               The only pitcher credited with benefitting from the Bamberger factor was Jesse Orosco, taught to throw a slider that became an indispensable part of his repertoire. The most frustrating pupil was Scott, about whom Noble wrote: “His stubbornness has irritated the club to the point where it is prepared to deal him.”

               The second George was supposed to provide the offensive pop that would take pressure off an uncertain and developing pitching staff.

               George Foster’s arrival via trade and prompt signing to a lucrative contract second in value only to what the Yankees gave Dave Winfield --$10 million over five years, with incentives that could boost the figure to $14 million – was hailed as the coming of the team’s first true batting superstar.

               “Until they trotted George Foster into the Diamond Club yesterday, the Mets never had a hitter like George Foster,” Newsday’s Steve Jacobson wrote in a column headlined, “Finally, the Mets Get Their Man.” The Daily News’ Phil Pepe penned: “The Mets have come of age with the signing of George Foster. He may not make them a pennant contender. He may not even make them a winner. And he does not have the charisma and ticket-selling, headline-grabbing potential of Reggie Jackson. But George Foster gives the Mets credibility.”

               Pepe added, “It would seem the time has come for Frank Cashen’s severest critics to give him the credit he deserves for his role in this piece.” Cashen gave some credit to Wilpon and co-owner Nelson Doubleday. “It’s great to have ownership that doesn’t restrict you. There were no restrictions. They knew what it would take to sign George Foster and they told me to go ahead and do it.”

               Foster’s career stats were gaudy, as the Mets ’public relations department trumpeted in a flyer distributed a the news conference introducing Foster: an average of 35 home runs and 120 RBI.

               His 1982 stats: .247 batting average, 13 home runs and 70 RBI. And that was second-best on the team, behind Dave Kingman’s 35 HR and 99 RBI (but a .204 batting average). Outfielder Ellis Valentine, also acquired to add pop to the lineup, ended up sharing right field with Joel Youngblood (until Youngblood was traded) and hit only eight home runs and drove in 48.

               Foster’s explanation for his plummeting production at the plate? “The pressure of fans expecting too much from me,” he told Noble.

               The most positive development for the team – the one that became an integral component of their 1986 World Championship – came on June 7, and it was about as unheralded as it could be: the drafting of a pitcher from Hillsborough High School in Tampa, FL. Dwight Gooden was the fifth player selected in the draft, but all he merited was a one-line mention in a wire service story in Newsday and a small box in the Daily News.

               Almost all of the attention was focused on the number one choice, by the Chicago Cubs, because he was a local kid: Shawon Dunston, from Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson High School – the first time a New Yorker was selected first (the previous high was 14^th, when the Mets took Lee Mazzilli). Dunston did go on to a productive if not Hall of Fame career, including 42 games with the Mets in 1999, when he hit .344.

               Once again, as they had when taking Darryl Strawberry two years earlier, the Mets resisted the temptation to select someone else: outfielder Sam Horn, who was taken 11 picks later by the Boston Red Sox. The Mets also selected left-handed reliever Randall K. Meyers and righty Roger McDowell in a draft that produced a considerable number of major league stars: Barry Bonds (chosen 39^th by the Pirates), David Wells, Jimmy Key, Randy Johnson, Will Clark, Mitch Williams and Vince Coleman, among others. The Mets also drafted Raphael Palmiero, but were unable to sign him.

               Once signed, Gooden proceeded to tear up the Class A Carolina League, striking out 300 in 191 innings for the Mets’ Lynchburg farm team. But he was not the league’s Player of the Year. That distinction went to teammate Lenny Dykstra, whose slash line was .358/.472/.503 with 46 extra-base hits, 81 RBIs and 105 stolen bases. Gooden was called up to AAA Tidewater to end the season. By 1983, he was in the majors.

               Meanwhile, back in New York, the wheels were falling off the bus. Bamberger became frustrated at the team’s inability to hit, at one point asking the beat writers if they had any lineup suggestions. Bamberger bristled at what he felt were clubhouse divisions, singling out in an August 4 clubhouse tirade, what he termed three or four “clubhouse lawyers,” who, he said, “bitch and moan every time. I hear everything that’s going on. I hear it through the grapevine. They can destroy a club quicker than anything there is…..I’m tired of these guys saying, ‘It’s not my fault’…I have personal pride and I know these guys can play better than they’ve played. Talk is cheap.”

               Coincidentally, the rant came on a day the team traded super utility player Youngblood, who set a record by becoming the first player to get hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day. Youngblood drove in what proved to be the winning run for the Mets in a Wrigley Field afternoon game, before being pulled from the lineup in the fifth inning and put on a plane to Philadelphia, where he singled for the Montreal Expos in a night game. Both hits came against Hall of Fame pitchers: Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs and the Phillies’ Steve Carlton.

               As for the Mets, Bamberger’s tirade if anything, seems to have had the reverse effect. One week later, the team went into a tailspin that embedded it firmly in the cellar: a 15-game losing streak that left the team’s record at 51-80 on September 1. When they finally snapped the skid with a 5-1 victory over the Astros, they treated the win as if they had clinched the pennant. According to published reports, winning pitcher Pete Falcone shook catcher Ron Hodges’ hand and murmured, “Praise the Lord.” Bamberger shook hands with everybody and said, “I feel like I just got married.” General manager Cashen opened a bottle of white wine in Bamberger’s office to celebrate.

               He could have shared the battle with the crowd: the paying attendance was announced at 4,659, many of whom probably got greater enjoyment from their conversations with first base coach Frank Howard than from the game itself, which featured three RBI from Foster, including his 13^th and final homer of the year.

               When all was said and done, the Mets – who were 35-35 through the first 70 games – finished with a record of 65-97, eight games behind the fifth-place Cubs and 27 behind the National League East winning St. Louis Cardinals. The Redbirds would win the pennant by defeating the West division champion Braves – managed by Joe Torre.

               With three games left in the season, the Mets announced that Bamberger would return for 1983, after some consideration from Bamberger about whether he wanted to. “Frank Cashen and Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon had faith in me when they hired me,” he said. “That they want me back proves they still have faith in me. I couldn’t let them down.” (That would have to wait until the following June, when he quit, saying, “I’ve probably suffered enough.”)

               Almost fittingly, the season ended in St. Louis, with Steve Carlton striking out 13 Mets in a 4-1 loss. After the game, third baseman Hubie Brooks, who like many of the team had a disappointing season, expressed what must have been the sentiment of many of his teammates. “Personally,” he said, “I’m glad it’s over because it’s been nothing but a nightmare.”