Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #62 :WTB Happened That April? The John Buck Mets Story

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly stroll through the Mets attic where the yearbooks are a little worn, the bubble gum cards stick together, and every once in a while you come across a name that makes you stop and say, “Wait a second… how did we forget that guy?”

Last week we opened the attic door and found a man who spent nearly two decades quietly standing in the background of Mets history. The traveling secretary who appeared in every official team photograph from 1962 through 1980. The man most fans never noticed but who somehow managed to be in every snapshot of the franchise’s first generation.

His name was Lou Niss.

A former newspaperman who once covered the legendary heavyweight fight between Joe Louis and Buddy Baer, Niss eventually became the Mets’ traveling secretary and the first person ever hired into the organization’s front office. For nearly twenty years he handled the behind the scenes chaos that comes with moving a baseball team around the country.

Which proves an important point about Mets history.

Sometimes the most interesting characters are the ones who never swing a bat.

This week, however, we are moving from the back office to behind the plate.

And if you are a Mets fan with a decent memory for recent seasons, you might remember a catcher who showed up in 2013 and briefly looked like he had been designed in a laboratory specifically to torment National League pitchers.

His name was John Buck.

And for about one magical month, he was Babe Ruth wearing shin guards.

He grew up in Utah and was drafted in the seventh round of the 1998 draft by the Houston Astros. Scouts liked his defense and his ability to handle pitchers, which in catcher language means you know how to block a 95 mile an hour fastball without screaming in front of the television cameras.

By 2003 he was considered one of the better catching prospects in baseball.

Then came one of those trades that ends up looking like a baseball trivia question years later.

In June of 2004, the Astros were trying to acquire superstar outfielder Carlos Beltrán from the Kansas City Royals in a three team deal that also involved the Oakland Athletics. Buck was sent to Kansas City as part of the package.

The Royals promptly inserted him into their lineup and on June 25, 2004, he made his Major League debut.

Over the next several seasons Buck established himself as a solid big league catcher with power. He spent six seasons with Kansas City, hitting 70 home runs and building a reputation as a durable backstop who pitchers trusted.

His best season came in 2010 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

That year Buck hit .281 with 20 home runs and 66 runs batted in, numbers that earned him his only trip to the All Star Game. In a career filled with steady seasons, that one stood out like a neon sign.

From there he moved on to the Florida Marlins, later known as the Miami Marlins, before baseball’s trade carousel eventually spun him toward Queens.

And that is where the story gets interesting.

In December of 2012, Buck became part of a blockbuster deal that sent Cy Young winner R. A. Dickey from the New York Mets to Toronto. Buck arrived in Queens along with a highly regarded pitching prospect named Noah Syndergaard and a young catcher named Travis d'Arnaud.

At the time, most Mets fans were focused on the prospects.

John Buck looked like a placeholder.

Instead, he briefly turned into the most dangerous hitter on the team.

The 2013 Mets were not exactly an offensive juggernaut. But for the first few weeks of the season, Buck looked like he had accidentally discovered the cheat codes to baseball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xeK_86ms-g

In April he hit nine home runs and drove in twenty five runs while posting a .575 slugging percentage.

Nine home runs in April.

For context, that tied the Mets franchise record for home runs in the season’s opening month.

For a short stretch he led the National League in both home runs and runs batted in, which meant that somewhere in the baseball universe people were checking box scores and saying, “Wait… John Buck?”

It did not last forever.

Baseball, like gravity, eventually brings things back to earth.

Buck cooled off as the season went along and eventually finished his Mets stint hitting .215 with 15 home runs and 60 RBIs in 101 games. Still, for a team that desperately needed power that year, Buck delivered one of the most memorable hot streaks of the season.

Late that summer the Mets made another move.

On August 27, 2013, Buck and outfielder Marlon Byrd were traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates as the team continued its rebuilding process. The deal brought back young infielder Dilson Herrera and pitcher Vic Black.

Buck finished the year in Pittsburgh before playing his final season in 2014 with the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Over an eleven year career he appeared in 1,090 games, hit 134 home runs, and drove in 491 runs while handling pitching staffs across both leagues.

But the most meaningful chapter of John Buck’s life may have come after baseball.

Following his playing career, Buck turned his focus toward mental health and performance training. After losing both his mother and brother to suicide, he began exploring ways the mental preparation used by professional athletes could help people dealing with intense stress in everyday life.

He eventually launched a program called Level Up performance designed to work with first responders such as firefighters and law enforcement officers.

The idea is simple.

Professional athletes spend years learning how to manage pressure, focus their attention and stay calm in chaotic situations. Buck realized those same mental tools could help people whose jobs require them to face trauma and high stakes decisions every single day.

Through hands on training exercises and performance techniques drawn from sports psychology, participants learn how to sharpen focus, reset mentally and stay present under pressure.

In other words, Buck is still teaching people how to handle the big moments.

Only now the stakes are a lot bigger than a ninth inning at bat.

Which brings us back to the spirit of Sunday School.

Some players are remembered for long careers.

Some are remembered for championships.

And some are remembered for a single unforgettable stretch when everything seemed to click.

For Mets fans in 2013, John Buck will always be remembered for that wild April when a catcher suddenly turned into the most dangerous hitter in the National League.

And somewhere in the Mets attic, that memory still sits in the yearbook waiting to surprise you.

Before you close the yearbook and head out of class, come join the conversation in our Facebook group. Sunday School works best when Mets fans start digging through the attic together remembering the players, the characters and the names that make you say “I can’t believe I forgot about him.” Bring your memories, your trivia and the forgotten faces you think deserve their own lesson. Around here class participation is always encouraged.