by On April 1, 1982, the New York Mets traded Lee Mazzilli to the Texas Rangers for two pitching prospects.
For fans like me, who were lost when the Mets pulled the trigger on the Tom Seaver trade, Mazzilli – the young centerfielder, an Italian kid from Brooklyn – gave us something to hold onto.
“Maz” debuted in 1976 as a September call-up and was given the full-time centerfield job as a 22-year-old rookie in 1977. He hit just .250, but he looked like he would be a fixture at Shea Stadium for years to come.
He improved in 1978, hitting .273 and posting a .395 OBP, with 16 home runs for the worst team in the National League, so he was a reason to show up at the ballpark He was even better in 1979 (his best season), slashing .303/.395/.448/.844, making the All-Star team, hitting the game-tying home run, and drawing a bases-loaded walk that ended the game for the NL.
The team was terrible, but manager Joe Torre could count on Maz to be in the lineup every day. But despite being one of Torre’s favorites – they were both Italian guys from Brooklyn – Torre started playing Mazzili at first base. It was just 15 games in 1979, but would trend upward.
Mazzilli would post one more solid season in 1980, slashing .280/.370/.431/.801, but he was splitting his time between CF and 1B, playing just 65 of his 152 games that season in center. Torre didn’t like Maz’s throwing arm, and with prospect Mookie Wilson in the wings, it looked like Maz would be the first baseman in 1981.
Except GM Frank Cashen re-acquired Dave Kingman in the offseason to play first, and Mazzili was shuffling between center and left field and hating every minute of it. He struggled mightily, hitting just .228. Torre was fired at the end of the 1980 season, and Mazzilli wasn’t happy.
”I’m surprised,” Mazzilli told the New York Times. ”There was nothing in the air about this. Is it unfair? You get hired to get fired. But when three key guys like me and Dave Kingman and Ellis Valentine are hitting .220, you can’t blame Joe.”
Then the Mets traded for a new left fielder, George Foster, and with Wilson in center and Valentine and Joel Youngblood expected to share RF, there was no position left for Maz.
Texas Rangers GM Eddie Robinson was looking for an outfielder and believed Mazzilli was the guy who could fit the bill. He believed it so much, he traded his two top pitching prospects to seal the deal. When the trade was announced, Mazzilli labeled it ”a joke – two minor leaguers, just to get rid of me.”
Those two minor leaguers turned out to be Texas’ No. 1 draft pick Ron Darling, and No. 1 pitching prospect Walt Terrell. More on them later.
One would think a new start for Mazzilli with a new team would have benefitted him, but he hated Texas from the minute he arrived. When his manager Don Zimmer penciled him in as the team’s starting left field, Mazzilli reportedly said, “Left field is an idiot’s position.”
Maz played just 58 games in Texas and was dealt to the Yankees at the deadline for Bucky Dent. He finished out the season in pinstripes, which was pretty tough to watch for this Mets fan in 1982, even with Mookie becoming my favorite player over at Shea.
Mazzilli was traded to Pittsburgh for the 1983 season, was back in center field, and was leading the NL in walks and OBP when the Pirates traded for rookie CF Marvell Wynne, and Mazzilli was benched. He eventually became an excellent pinch hitter for the Pirates, who would finally release him during the 1986 season.
Timing is everything they say, and just as Mazzilli was out of a job, he was back in New York, this time with the Mets, who were running away with the NL East. The team had just released George Foster, and Cashen felt Mazzilli could fortify the bench.
One of Mazzilli’s new teammates was Ron Darling, now firmly entrenched as the team’s No. 2 starter. Another was Howard Johnson, who was acquired from Detroit for Walt Terrell.
Mazzilli fit right in with the 1986 Mets and was a solid contributor to the team’s eventual World Series title.
When Lee Mazzilli left the Mets in 1982, they were a mess. When he returned, they won it all. For Mets fans of a certain age, it was a feel-good story we still love remembering.
