Jethead Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Sorry, know it's off topic but he was an beloved NYC sports icon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Harper Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Sorry to see him go. Good player in his prime. Very good pinch hitter in the later years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycdan Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Just saw that as well. For those of us old enough, he was one of the Metsiest Mets of all time. His resurgence as a pinch-hitter was something I will never forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32EBoozer Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 20 minutes ago, nycdan said: Just saw that as well. For those of us old enough, he was one of the Metsiest Mets of all time. His resurgence as a pinch-hitter was something I will never forget. Amen to that. I remember when you needed a clutch hit he would just poke the ball to left field..... 105 RBI's in 1975 at age 31. Finished career a few hundred hits short of 3,000. Will miss him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckkieB Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 One of my favorite Mets. He was a great ambassador for the team and for the league. He will be missed. R.I.P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebag Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 1973 was a magical year. Thanks Rusty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warfish Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 45 minutes ago, Jethead said: Sorry, know it's off topic but he was an beloved NYC sports icon. Damn right. RIP Rusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandy Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Rusty, a true NY legend ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsFanatic Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Clouds Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 His charitable works helped raise millions for the NY Police and Fire Widows and Children’s Benefit Fund. The money was distributed to families of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Rusty’s foundation also worked with Catholic Charities in helping feed meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York. He was a solid ball player, but an even better man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usanyj Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP RUSTY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai Jet Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe W. Namath Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 My 1st memory of him was Rusty Staub Day in 1986. All the players wore the orange mullets. Was too young to see his prime years but he is a Mets legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southparkcpa Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Im a Yankee fan and I loved watching him play... went on to open a fairly successful restaurant as well. Class act!T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flushing Roots Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gotham-City-Sparky Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcat Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 2 hours ago, Jethead said: Sorry, know it's off topic but he was an beloved NYC sports icon. Rusty was a fun NY Met to watch. Good guy too. Hard to believe that era is starting to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadienJetsFan Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 He was one of the most beloved Montreal Expo, he truly helped make the team relevant. French Canadians took him in as one of their own. Hence the nickname Repose bien en paix, le Grand Orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dierking Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 6 minutes ago, CanadienJetsFan said: He was one of the most beloved Montreal Expo, he truly helped make the team relevant. French Canadians took him in as one of their own. Hence the nickname Repose bien en paix, le Grand Orange He learned French as he was traded. How many players would do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetFaninMI Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Thanks for the memories Rusty. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whodeawhodat Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 known around my household as trusty rusty. Didnt know about all the great charities he started in the NY area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycdan Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Since we have this thread....Syndergaard! 7 pitch first inning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMC Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 RIP Rusty. Don't forget, he did get a ring in 86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsons Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/rusty-staub-beloved-mets-icon-dead-73-article-1.3902929 Rusty Staub, beloved Mets icon, dead at 73 Tweet email In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange." The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys. Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday. Staub’s legacy is immense and will be immediately felt at Citi Field Thursday afternoon, when the Mets open their season against the Cardinals. Baseball world reacts to the loss of Mets icon Rusty Staub "The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel 'Rusty' Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement before taking the field in Flushing. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons. There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy, The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Rusty Staub died early Thursday morning in Florida three days before his 74th birthday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) "A six-time All-Star, he is the only player in major league history to have collected as least (sic) 500 hits with four different teams. The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone." A prolific hitter, Staub compiled a lifetime .279 average with 2,716 hits, 292 homers, 499 doubles and a major league record-tying 25 pinch hit RBI in 2,951 games over 23 seasons with Houston, the Montreal Expos, Mets, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers from 1963-85. In 1983, at age 39 with the Mets, he tied Dave Philley as the only players in baseball history with eight consecutive pinch hits. In addition, Staub and Ty Cobb, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are the only four players in history to hit home runs in the majors before turning 20 years old and after turning 40. "So sad," Tom Seaver told the Daily News by phone from Calistoga, California. "Rusty was a close, close friend. Great teammate. He visited me often out here in the vineyard. I will miss him. Most of all I will miss his energy. Everything he did was at 90 miles an hour." Off the field, Staub was a prominent humanitarian. His Rusty Staub Foundation, which in 1986 established the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, distributed over $11 million in the first 15 years of its existence to the families of New York area police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, received over $112 million in contributions. On January 8, Staub announced that, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, his foundation had also served 9,043,741 meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York over last 10 years, with funds though his annual wine auction dinner and foundation golf tournament. Remembering the life and career of baseball icon Rusty Staub “For more than thirty years, Rusty dedicated his life to helping others," said Stephen Dannhauser, the foundation's chairman, in a statement. "He worked tirelessly on behalf of the widows, widowers, and children of New York City's fallen heroes. "He cared about each and every family and they felt the same way about him. Rusty started more than just a charity — he started a family. While many admire Rusty for his impressive record as a baseball player, it is his work off the field that truly made him one of the greats. We will miss his laughter, friendship, and leadership but we will work to carry on his mission through our continued stewardship of the charity he founded." Added MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: "Rusty was a superb ambassador for our sport and a generous individual known for community efforts, particularly for the New York City Police and Fire Departments. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Rusty's family and friends, Mets fans and his many other admirers in the United States and Canada." Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944 in New Orleans, but as his mother, Alma, explained, he became "Rusty" before he left the hospital. "One of the nurses nicknamed him “Rusty” because of the red fuzz he had all over his head and it just stuck." His father, Ray, was a minor league catcher in the Class D Florida State League in 1937-38 who gave him a bat when he was 3 years old and instructed him to swing at anything round he could find. By the time he was a teenager, Rusty was a star first baseman at Jesuit High in New Orleans and after leading his team to the 1961 Louisiana State AAA championship, he signed a $100,000 bonus with the then-National League expansion Houston Colt 45s. Staub, pictured here at a Mets playoff game in 2015, coupled his prolific MLB career with a fulfilling life as a humanitarian. (ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) After just one season of minor league ball, Staub joined the Colt 45s in 1963 as a 19-year-old rookie and Opening Day cleanup hitter, but hit only .224 with six homers in 150 games. He clearly wasn't ready, but after being sent back to the minors in mid-season 1964, he returned to Houston in 1965 a much more finished product, batting .256 with 14 HR and 63 RBI. Two years later, made his first of his six All-Star teams, batting .333 with 10 HR, 74 RBI and a league-leading 44 doubles. Staub attributed his '67 breakthrough to Houston's move to the spacious Astrodome (where they were renamed the Astros). "I was originally signed as a home run hitter," he said, "but when we moved to the Dome, I didn't try to pump the ball as much." At the same time he was establishing himself as Houston's first star, he was developing a reputation for being a very tough salary negotiator, holding out for eight days into the 1968 season before finally signing his contract. The holdout led to a strained relationship with Astro GM "Spec" Richardson who, the following January, traded him to the Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon. However, the trade hit a snag when Clendenon, an African American, decided to retire rather than to report to the Astros, purportedly because he felt Houston manager Harry Walker (for whom he'd played previously in Pittsburgh) was a racist. A major dispute ensued between Astros CEO Roy Hofheinz and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after Kuhn ordered the trade to go through with Montreal sending two (far inferior) substitute players to Houston in place of Clendenon. Front page of the New York Daily News for March 3, 2018. (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) For Staub, who, by his New Orleans heritage was steeped in French culture, the trade to Montreal became an instant love affair with the French-Canadian fans. He hit .302 with 29 homers his first season, 1969, with the Expos as the lone All-Star on a dreadful 110-loss team. After hitting a two-run homer and making a specular game-ending catch to break a 20-game Expo losing streak, Montreal Gazette sportswriter Ted Blackman began referring to him as "Le Grand Orange." It stuck with him the rest of his life. Staub had two more All-Star seasons in Montreal and, in the process, developed a close personal relationship with Expos owner, Seagrams whiskey heir Charles Bronfman, who introduced him to fine wines and took him to tastings in the U.S. and Europe. Staub had already begun to take up cooking and his celebrity status enabled him to get introductions to the chefs in all of Montreal's finest restaurants. Despite the bond of admiration between Staub and Montreal, the Expos, on the eve of the 1972 season, decided the only way they were ever going to get better was to trade their one star player for a parcel of young talent that could fill a number of positions — in this case to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Ken Singleton, first baseman Mike Jorgensen and infielder Tim Foli. With the Mets, Staub fell in love with a whole new city (again the feeling being mutual). After being limited to just 66 games his initial season after Cincinnati pitcher Ross Grimsley broke his hand with a pitch, June 18, Staub played a pivotal role in the Mets' comeback to the National League pennant in 1973, hitting .279 with 15 HR and 76 RBI in the regular season, clouting three homers with five RBI against the Reds in the NLCS and, finally, .423 with a homer and six RBI against the A's in the World Series. Staub (left) played nine of his 23 major-league seasons with the Mets. (FRANK HURLEY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) In 1975, Staub became the first Met to drive in 100 runs in a season (105), but by then the team was in decline and looking to dump payroll. As the second-highest-paid player on the team ($120,000) behind Tom Seaver, Staub was traded to the Tigers for veteran lefthander Mickey Lolich. It was the first in a series of bad trades (that later included Seaver) made by the M. Donald Grant regime. Staub had three more productive seasons in Detroit, driving in 101 and 121 runs respectively in 1977 and '78, primarily as a designated hitter — but again frequently butted heads with upper management over his salary. In an effort to get a contract extension with Tigers GM Jim Campbell, Staub sat out all of spring training in 1979 and threatened to quit baseball to attend to his popular new Manhattan ribs restaurant, Rusty's, on 3rd Avenue and 73rd St. After missing the whole first month of the season, Staub finally relented and reported to the Tigers, May 3. By now he had become a principal figure in the fledging Players Association and thus regarded as a troublemaker by the old school Campbell, who, on July 20, traded him back to the Expos. Just prior to the 1980 season, he was once again traded by the Expos, this time to the Texas Rangers for whom he he hit .300 in 109 games that season. A free agent for the first time in 1980, as Rusty later put it, "I wanted to come home to momma" (meaning the Mets and New York) and he signed a three-year, $1 million deal with the Mets with the promise from GM Frank Cashen he would be their everyday first baseman. It proved to be a hollow promise when, on February 28, 1981, Cashen acquired Dave Kingman in a trade from the Cubs. Rusty Staub. (FOCUS ON SPORT/GETTY IMAGES) Although Staub spent the last five seasons of his career with the Mets and flourished as pinch-hitter extraordinaire while burnishing his rep as one of their most popular and beloved players ever, he was never a regular again. In 1986, he was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame (ironically with Bud Harrelson who recently revealed he has Alzheimer's Disease), but in later years he frequently lamented his decision to sign with the Mets and not finish his career in the American League. "Cashen lied to me," he said. "I wasn't ready to be a backup player. I still had a lot of hits in me." Conceivably, had he been able to patch things up with Campbell and stayed in Detroit, or signed with another AL team where he could be a full-time DH, he'd have easily gotten those extra 284 hits for 3,000 and a likely ticket to the Hall of Fame. As it was, the highest percentage he got in seven years the Hall-of-Fame ballot was 7.9%. In an interview with me a few weeks after 9/11 — in which one of his closest friends and foundation partner, Frank Brennan, a bond trader with Cantor-Fitzgerald, was killed — Rusty talked about what brought him to his life's work after baseball. "My mother's brother was a policeman killed in the line of duty in New Orleans. I was just a little kid, sitting on my bed with my mom and my brother saying the rosary, and I never got over that." "Then, in 1984, I was sitting in my old restaurant when a cop I knew was killed, leaving a wife and three kids. I remember saying to Frank: 'Someone needs to do something about this.'" Somebody did, and a fitting epitaph for his great life and all his good works would be his own favorite expression: "Amen, brother." R.I.P. AMEN, Brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange." The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys. Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday. Staub’s legacy is immense and will be immediately felt at Citi Field Thursday afternoon, when the Mets open their season against the Cardinals. Baseball world reacts to the loss of Mets icon Rusty Staub "The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel 'Rusty' Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement before taking the field in Flushing. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons. There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy, The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Rusty Staub died early Thursday morning in Florida three days before his 74th birthday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) "A six-time All-Star, he is the only player in major league history to have collected as least (sic) 500 hits with four different teams. The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone." A prolific hitter, Staub compiled a lifetime .279 average with 2,716 hits, 292 homers, 499 doubles and a major league record-tying 25 pinch hit RBI in 2,951 games over 23 seasons with Houston, the Montreal Expos, Mets, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers from 1963-85. In 1983, at age 39 with the Mets, he tied Dave Philley as the only players in baseball history with eight consecutive pinch hits. In addition, Staub and Ty Cobb, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are the only four players in history to hit home runs in the majors before turning 20 years old and after turning 40. "So sad," Tom Seaver told the Daily News by phone from Calistoga, California. "Rusty was a close, close friend. Great teammate. He visited me often out here in the vineyard. I will miss him. Most of all I will miss his energy. Everything he did was at 90 miles an hour." Off the field, Staub was a prominent humanitarian. His Rusty Staub Foundation, which in 1986 established the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, distributed over $11 million in the first 15 years of its existence to the families of New York area police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, received over $112 million in contributions. On January 8, Staub announced that, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, his foundation had also served 9,043,741 meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York over last 10 years, with funds though his annual wine auction dinner and foundation golf tournament. Remembering the life and career of baseball icon Rusty Staub “For more than thirty years, Rusty dedicated his life to helping others," said Stephen Dannhauser, the foundation's chairman, in a statement. "He worked tirelessly on behalf of the widows, widowers, and children of New York City's fallen heroes. "He cared about each and every family and they felt the same way about him. Rusty started more than just a charity — he started a family. While many admire Rusty for his impressive record as a baseball player, it is his work off the field that truly made him one of the greats. We will miss his laughter, friendship, and leadership but we will work to carry on his mission through our continued stewardship of the charity he founded." Added MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: "Rusty was a superb ambassador for our sport and a generous individual known for community efforts, particularly for the New York City Police and Fire Departments. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Rusty's family and friends, Mets fans and his many other admirers in the United States and Canada." Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944 in New Orleans, but as his mother, Alma, explained, he became "Rusty" before he left the hospital. "One of the nurses nicknamed him “Rusty” because of the red fuzz he had all over his head and it just stuck." His father, Ray, was a minor league catcher in the Class D Florida State League in 1937-38 who gave him a bat when he was 3 years old and instructed him to swing at anything round he could find. By the time he was a teenager, Rusty was a star first baseman at Jesuit High in New Orleans and after leading his team to the 1961 Louisiana State AAA championship, he signed a $100,000 bonus with the then-National League expansion Houston Colt 45s. Staub, pictured here at a Mets playoff game in 2015, coupled his prolific MLB career with a fulfilling life as a humanitarian. (ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) After just one season of minor league ball, Staub joined the Colt 45s in 1963 as a 19-year-old rookie and Opening Day cleanup hitter, but hit only .224 with six homers in 150 games. He clearly wasn't ready, but after being sent back to the minors in mid-season 1964, he returned to Houston in 1965 a much more finished product, batting .256 with 14 HR and 63 RBI. Two years later, made his first of his six All-Star teams, batting .333 with 10 HR, 74 RBI and a league-leading 44 doubles. Staub attributed his '67 breakthrough to Houston's move to the spacious Astrodome (where they were renamed the Astros). "I was originally signed as a home run hitter," he said, "but when we moved to the Dome, I didn't try to pump the ball as much." At the same time he was establishing himself as Houston's first star, he was developing a reputation for being a very tough salary negotiator, holding out for eight days into the 1968 season before finally signing his contract. The holdout led to a strained relationship with Astro GM "Spec" Richardson who, the following January, traded him to the Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon. However, the trade hit a snag when Clendenon, an African American, decided to retire rather than to report to the Astros, purportedly because he felt Houston manager Harry Walker (for whom he'd played previously in Pittsburgh) was a racist. A major dispute ensued between Astros CEO Roy Hofheinz and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after Kuhn ordered the trade to go through with Montreal sending two (far inferior) substitute players to Houston in place of Clendenon. Front page of the New York Daily News for March 3, 2018. (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) For Staub, who, by his New Orleans heritage was steeped in French culture, the trade to Montreal became an instant love affair with the French-Canadian fans. He hit .302 with 29 homers his first season, 1969, with the Expos as the lone All-Star on a dreadful 110-loss team. After hitting a two-run homer and making a specular game-ending catch to break a 20-game Expo losing streak, Montreal Gazette sportswriter Ted Blackman began referring to him as "Le Grand Orange." It stuck with him the rest of his life. Staub had two more All-Star seasons in Montreal and, in the process, developed a close personal relationship with Expos owner, Seagrams whiskey heir Charles Bronfman, who introduced him to fine wines and took him to tastings in the U.S. and Europe. Staub had already begun to take up cooking and his celebrity status enabled him to get introductions to the chefs in all of Montreal's finest restaurants. Despite the bond of admiration between Staub and Montreal, the Expos, on the eve of the 1972 season, decided the only way they were ever going to get better was to trade their one star player for a parcel of young talent that could fill a number of positions — in this case to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Ken Singleton, first baseman Mike Jorgensen and infielder Tim Foli. With the Mets, Staub fell in love with a whole new city (again the feeling being mutual). After being limited to just 66 games his initial season after Cincinnati pitcher Ross Grimsley broke his hand with a pitch, June 18, Staub played a pivotal role in the Mets' comeback to the National League pennant in 1973, hitting .279 with 15 HR and 76 RBI in the regular season, clouting three homers with five RBI against the Reds in the NLCS and, finally, .423 with a homer and six RBI against the A's in the World Series. Staub (left) played nine of his 23 major-league seasons with the Mets. (FRANK HURLEY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) In 1975, Staub became the first Met to drive in 100 runs in a season (105), but by then the team was in decline and looking to dump payroll. As the second-highest-paid player on the team ($120,000) behind Tom Seaver, Staub was traded to the Tigers for veteran lefthander Mickey Lolich. It was the first in a series of bad trades (that later included Seaver) made by the M. Donald Grant regime. Staub had three more productive seasons in Detroit, driving in 101 and 121 runs respectively in 1977 and '78, primarily as a designated hitter — but again frequently butted heads with upper management over his salary. In an effort to get a contract extension with Tigers GM Jim Campbell, Staub sat out all of spring training in 1979 and threatened to quit baseball to attend to his popular new Manhattan ribs restaurant, Rusty's, on 3rd Avenue and 73rd St. After missing the whole first month of the season, Staub finally relented and reported to the Tigers, May 3. By now he had become a principal figure in the fledging Players Association and thus regarded as a troublemaker by the old school Campbell, who, on July 20, traded him back to the Expos. Just prior to the 1980 season, he was once again traded by the Expos, this time to the Texas Rangers for whom he he hit .300 in 109 games that season. A free agent for the first time in 1980, as Rusty later put it, "I wanted to come home to momma" (meaning the Mets and New York) and he signed a three-year, $1 million deal with the Mets with the promise from GM Frank Cashen he would be their everyday first baseman. It proved to be a hollow promise when, on February 28, 1981, Cashen acquired Dave Kingman in a trade from the Cubs. Rusty Staub. (FOCUS ON SPORT/GETTY IMAGES) Although Staub spent the last five seasons of his career with the Mets and flourished as pinch-hitter extraordinaire while burnishing his rep as one of their most popular and beloved players ever, he was never a regular again. In 1986, he was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame (ironically with Bud Harrelson who recently revealed he has Alzheimer's Disease), but in later years he frequently lamented his decision to sign with the Mets and not finish his career in the American League. "Cashen lied to me," he said. "I wasn't ready to be a backup player. I still had a lot of hits in me." Conceivably, had he been able to patch things up with Campbell and stayed in Detroit, or signed with another AL team where he could be a full-time DH, he'd have easily gotten those extra 284 hits for 3,000 and a likely ticket to the Hall of Fame. As it was, the highest percentage he got in seven years the Hall-of-Fame ballot was 7.9%. In an interview with me a few weeks after 9/11 — in which one of his closest friends and foundation partner, Frank Brennan, a bond trader with Cantor-Fitzgerald, was killed — Rusty talked about what brought him to his life's work after baseball. "My mother's brother was a policeman killed in the line of duty in New Orleans. I was just a little kid, sitting on my bed with my mom and my brother saying the rosary, and I never got over that." "Then, in 1984, I was sitting in my old restaurant when a cop I knew was killed, leaving a wife and three kids. I remember saying to Frank: 'Someone needs to do something about this.'" Somebody did, and a fitting epitaph for his great life and all his good works would be his own favorite expression: "Amen, brother." R.I.P. AMEN, Brother
The Crimson King Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 7 hours ago, nycdan said: Just saw that as well. For those of us old enough, he was one of the Metsiest Mets of all time. His resurgence as a pinch-hitter was something I will never forget. Sad part is that he came back to the Mets instead of going to another AL team to DH because Cashen promised him that he would start at 1B, then traded for Kingman before the season so it forced Rusty into the PH role. If he had stayed in the AL, he certainly would have well exceeded 3,000 hits and probably been in line for the Hall of Fame So many memories of this Mr. Staub going back to the days when he was overmatched as a 19 yr old with the Colt 45's, through him playing in pain Klecko-style to get them within a step of the World Championship in '73 to a fun day in a drizzle at Shea in '85. Davey J. was forced to put him in the field (he was quite corpulent by then). the game was going into the 12th and the bench was depleted. Johnson decided to have Clint Hurdle, who was playing left, and Rusty switch so if a righty was up, Staub was in right and in left for lefties, hoping that he wouldn't have to run after a ball. As with most of the mid to late 80's for this club, the writers who work with the Baseball Gods opted for the dramatic. Tie game, top of the 18th, an exhausted Rusty (from having to jog back and forth to switch positions with Hurdle several times) is in right. The Pirates pinch hit Rick Rhoden with 2 out and a runner on 1st, Sure enough Rhoden bloops one down the line in right which looked destined to go for extra bases and put the Bucs ahead. Rusty came out rumbling full steam in slow motion for the ball. You could almost see the field level seats jumping from the pounding of all that weight. At the very last second, he reached out as far as he could and caught the ball. He was laughing so hard on the way to the dugout that you couldn't help doing that along with him. He was an exceptional human being for all the causes and charities he worked so hard for plus he was also known for two excellent restaurants. Ribs you could eat with a fork on 3rd Ave & 73rd plus a more upscale Rusty's on Fifth on 47th St. He was at the former location constantly and was always gracious with fans, stopping to talk to just about everyone. We ate there a lot and always took clients there as it was in the building I worked in at the time. Daniel J. Staub was the model of how an athletes should deport themselves. S'long Rusty. We'll be sure to stop by your new restaurant at the next level to say hello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio State NY Jets fan Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 R.I.P. Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusty_Staub he lived a life to be proud of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetscode1 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe W. Namath Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 3 hours ago, The Crimson King said: Sad part is that he came back to the Mets instead of going to another AL team to DH because Cashen promised him that he would start at 1B, then traded for Kingman before the season so it forced Rusty into the PH role. If he had stayed in the AL, he certainly would have well exceeded 3,000 hits and probably been in line for the Hall of Fame So many memories of this Mr. Staub going back to the days when he was overmatched as a 19 yr old with the Colt 45's, through him playing in pain Klecko-style to get them within a step of the World Championship in '73 to a fun day in a drizzle at Shea in '85. Davey J. was forced to put him in the field (he was quite corpulent by then). the game was going into the 12th and the bench was depleted. Johnson decided to have Clint Hurdle, who was playing left, and Rusty switch so if a righty was up, Staub was in right and in left for lefties, hoping that he wouldn't have to run after a ball. As with most of the mid to late 80's for this club, the writers who work with the Baseball Gods opted for the dramatic. Tie game, top of the 18th, an exhausted Rusty (from having to jog back and forth to switch positions with Hurdle several times) is in right. The Pirates pinch hit Rick Rhoden with 2 out and a runner on 1st, Sure enough Rhoden bloops one down the line in right which looked destined to go for extra bases and put the Bucs ahead. Rusty came out rumbling full steam in slow motion for the ball. You could almost see the field level seats jumping from the pounding of all that weight. At the very last second, he reached out as far as he could and caught the ball. He was laughing so hard on the way to the dugout that you couldn't help doing that along with him. He was an exceptional human being for all the causes and charities he worked so hard for plus he was also known for two excellent restaurants. Ribs you could eat with a fork on 3rd Ave & 73rd plus a more upscale Rusty's on Fifth on 47th St. He was at the former location constantly and was always gracious with fans, stopping to talk to just about everyone. We ate there a lot and always took clients there as it was in the building I worked in at the time. Daniel J. Staub was the model of how an athletes should deport themselves. S'long Rusty. We'll be sure to stop by your new restaurant at the next level to say hello. Great story dude. What a memory. I remember was I was young and could remember all this stuff. Now I watch a game and barely remember it a few days later. hahahahahahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Better2bgreenthanblue Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Rusty was a gentlemen athlete. He raised millions for first responders. Fed over 10M meals to poor childern. It's too bad some of his class didn't rub off on some of today's star athletes. RIP Rusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuscanyTile2 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 5 hours ago, SMC said: RIP Rusty. Don't forget, he did get a ring in 86 He did get a ring in 1986? I thought his final year was 1985. But certainly glad if he did! Strangely enough, Rusty's name came up in a convo in February. RIP Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Schroy Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I grew up watching him, and loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangerous Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 16 hours ago, jetsons said: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/rusty-staub-beloved-mets-icon-dead-73-article-1.3902929 Rusty Staub, beloved Mets icon, dead at 73 Tweet email In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange." The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys. Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday. Staub’s legacy is immense and will be immediately felt at Citi Field Thursday afternoon, when the Mets open their season against the Cardinals. Baseball world reacts to the loss of Mets icon Rusty Staub "The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel 'Rusty' Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement before taking the field in Flushing. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons. There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy, The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Rusty Staub died early Thursday morning in Florida three days before his 74th birthday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) "A six-time All-Star, he is the only player in major league history to have collected as least (sic) 500 hits with four different teams. The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone." A prolific hitter, Staub compiled a lifetime .279 average with 2,716 hits, 292 homers, 499 doubles and a major league record-tying 25 pinch hit RBI in 2,951 games over 23 seasons with Houston, the Montreal Expos, Mets, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers from 1963-85. In 1983, at age 39 with the Mets, he tied Dave Philley as the only players in baseball history with eight consecutive pinch hits. In addition, Staub and Ty Cobb, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are the only four players in history to hit home runs in the majors before turning 20 years old and after turning 40. "So sad," Tom Seaver told the Daily News by phone from Calistoga, California. "Rusty was a close, close friend. Great teammate. He visited me often out here in the vineyard. I will miss him. Most of all I will miss his energy. Everything he did was at 90 miles an hour." Off the field, Staub was a prominent humanitarian. His Rusty Staub Foundation, which in 1986 established the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, distributed over $11 million in the first 15 years of its existence to the families of New York area police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, received over $112 million in contributions. On January 8, Staub announced that, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, his foundation had also served 9,043,741 meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York over last 10 years, with funds though his annual wine auction dinner and foundation golf tournament. Remembering the life and career of baseball icon Rusty Staub “For more than thirty years, Rusty dedicated his life to helping others," said Stephen Dannhauser, the foundation's chairman, in a statement. "He worked tirelessly on behalf of the widows, widowers, and children of New York City's fallen heroes. "He cared about each and every family and they felt the same way about him. Rusty started more than just a charity — he started a family. While many admire Rusty for his impressive record as a baseball player, it is his work off the field that truly made him one of the greats. We will miss his laughter, friendship, and leadership but we will work to carry on his mission through our continued stewardship of the charity he founded." Added MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: "Rusty was a superb ambassador for our sport and a generous individual known for community efforts, particularly for the New York City Police and Fire Departments. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Rusty's family and friends, Mets fans and his many other admirers in the United States and Canada." Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944 in New Orleans, but as his mother, Alma, explained, he became "Rusty" before he left the hospital. "One of the nurses nicknamed him “Rusty” because of the red fuzz he had all over his head and it just stuck." His father, Ray, was a minor league catcher in the Class D Florida State League in 1937-38 who gave him a bat when he was 3 years old and instructed him to swing at anything round he could find. By the time he was a teenager, Rusty was a star first baseman at Jesuit High in New Orleans and after leading his team to the 1961 Louisiana State AAA championship, he signed a $100,000 bonus with the then-National League expansion Houston Colt 45s. Staub, pictured here at a Mets playoff game in 2015, coupled his prolific MLB career with a fulfilling life as a humanitarian. (ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) After just one season of minor league ball, Staub joined the Colt 45s in 1963 as a 19-year-old rookie and Opening Day cleanup hitter, but hit only .224 with six homers in 150 games. He clearly wasn't ready, but after being sent back to the minors in mid-season 1964, he returned to Houston in 1965 a much more finished product, batting .256 with 14 HR and 63 RBI. Two years later, made his first of his six All-Star teams, batting .333 with 10 HR, 74 RBI and a league-leading 44 doubles. Staub attributed his '67 breakthrough to Houston's move to the spacious Astrodome (where they were renamed the Astros). "I was originally signed as a home run hitter," he said, "but when we moved to the Dome, I didn't try to pump the ball as much." At the same time he was establishing himself as Houston's first star, he was developing a reputation for being a very tough salary negotiator, holding out for eight days into the 1968 season before finally signing his contract. The holdout led to a strained relationship with Astro GM "Spec" Richardson who, the following January, traded him to the Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon. However, the trade hit a snag when Clendenon, an African American, decided to retire rather than to report to the Astros, purportedly because he felt Houston manager Harry Walker (for whom he'd played previously in Pittsburgh) was a racist. A major dispute ensued between Astros CEO Roy Hofheinz and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after Kuhn ordered the trade to go through with Montreal sending two (far inferior) substitute players to Houston in place of Clendenon. Front page of the New York Daily News for March 3, 2018. (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) For Staub, who, by his New Orleans heritage was steeped in French culture, the trade to Montreal became an instant love affair with the French-Canadian fans. He hit .302 with 29 homers his first season, 1969, with the Expos as the lone All-Star on a dreadful 110-loss team. After hitting a two-run homer and making a specular game-ending catch to break a 20-game Expo losing streak, Montreal Gazette sportswriter Ted Blackman began referring to him as "Le Grand Orange." It stuck with him the rest of his life. Staub had two more All-Star seasons in Montreal and, in the process, developed a close personal relationship with Expos owner, Seagrams whiskey heir Charles Bronfman, who introduced him to fine wines and took him to tastings in the U.S. and Europe. Staub had already begun to take up cooking and his celebrity status enabled him to get introductions to the chefs in all of Montreal's finest restaurants. Despite the bond of admiration between Staub and Montreal, the Expos, on the eve of the 1972 season, decided the only way they were ever going to get better was to trade their one star player for a parcel of young talent that could fill a number of positions — in this case to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Ken Singleton, first baseman Mike Jorgensen and infielder Tim Foli. With the Mets, Staub fell in love with a whole new city (again the feeling being mutual). After being limited to just 66 games his initial season after Cincinnati pitcher Ross Grimsley broke his hand with a pitch, June 18, Staub played a pivotal role in the Mets' comeback to the National League pennant in 1973, hitting .279 with 15 HR and 76 RBI in the regular season, clouting three homers with five RBI against the Reds in the NLCS and, finally, .423 with a homer and six RBI against the A's in the World Series. Staub (left) played nine of his 23 major-league seasons with the Mets. (FRANK HURLEY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) In 1975, Staub became the first Met to drive in 100 runs in a season (105), but by then the team was in decline and looking to dump payroll. As the second-highest-paid player on the team ($120,000) behind Tom Seaver, Staub was traded to the Tigers for veteran lefthander Mickey Lolich. It was the first in a series of bad trades (that later included Seaver) made by the M. Donald Grant regime. Staub had three more productive seasons in Detroit, driving in 101 and 121 runs respectively in 1977 and '78, primarily as a designated hitter — but again frequently butted heads with upper management over his salary. In an effort to get a contract extension with Tigers GM Jim Campbell, Staub sat out all of spring training in 1979 and threatened to quit baseball to attend to his popular new Manhattan ribs restaurant, Rusty's, on 3rd Avenue and 73rd St. After missing the whole first month of the season, Staub finally relented and reported to the Tigers, May 3. By now he had become a principal figure in the fledging Players Association and thus regarded as a troublemaker by the old school Campbell, who, on July 20, traded him back to the Expos. Just prior to the 1980 season, he was once again traded by the Expos, this time to the Texas Rangers for whom he he hit .300 in 109 games that season. A free agent for the first time in 1980, as Rusty later put it, "I wanted to come home to momma" (meaning the Mets and New York) and he signed a three-year, $1 million deal with the Mets with the promise from GM Frank Cashen he would be their everyday first baseman. It proved to be a hollow promise when, on February 28, 1981, Cashen acquired Dave Kingman in a trade from the Cubs. Rusty Staub. (FOCUS ON SPORT/GETTY IMAGES) Although Staub spent the last five seasons of his career with the Mets and flourished as pinch-hitter extraordinaire while burnishing his rep as one of their most popular and beloved players ever, he was never a regular again. In 1986, he was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame (ironically with Bud Harrelson who recently revealed he has Alzheimer's Disease), but in later years he frequently lamented his decision to sign with the Mets and not finish his career in the American League. "Cashen lied to me," he said. "I wasn't ready to be a backup player. I still had a lot of hits in me." Conceivably, had he been able to patch things up with Campbell and stayed in Detroit, or signed with another AL team where he could be a full-time DH, he'd have easily gotten those extra 284 hits for 3,000 and a likely ticket to the Hall of Fame. As it was, the highest percentage he got in seven years the Hall-of-Fame ballot was 7.9%. In an interview with me a few weeks after 9/11 — in which one of his closest friends and foundation partner, Frank Brennan, a bond trader with Cantor-Fitzgerald, was killed — Rusty talked about what brought him to his life's work after baseball. "My mother's brother was a policeman killed in the line of duty in New Orleans. I was just a little kid, sitting on my bed with my mom and my brother saying the rosary, and I never got over that." "Then, in 1984, I was sitting in my old restaurant when a cop I knew was killed, leaving a wife and three kids. I remember saying to Frank: 'Someone needs to do something about this.'" Somebody did, and a fitting epitaph for his great life and all his good works would be his own favorite expression: "Amen, brother." R.I.P. AMEN, Brother i'm not a baseball fan but rusty was a far better player than i would've given him credit for. he was one of those rare players who just played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange." The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys. Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday. Staub’s legacy is immense and will be immediately felt at Citi Field Thursday afternoon, when the Mets open their season against the Cardinals. Baseball world reacts to the loss of Mets icon Rusty Staub "The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel 'Rusty' Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement before taking the field in Flushing. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons. There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy, The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Rusty Staub died early Thursday morning in Florida three days before his 74th birthday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) "A six-time All-Star, he is the only player in major league history to have collected as least (sic) 500 hits with four different teams. The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone." A prolific hitter, Staub compiled a lifetime .279 average with 2,716 hits, 292 homers, 499 doubles and a major league record-tying 25 pinch hit RBI in 2,951 games over 23 seasons with Houston, the Montreal Expos, Mets, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers from 1963-85. In 1983, at age 39 with the Mets, he tied Dave Philley as the only players in baseball history with eight consecutive pinch hits. In addition, Staub and Ty Cobb, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are the only four players in history to hit home runs in the majors before turning 20 years old and after turning 40. "So sad," Tom Seaver told the Daily News by phone from Calistoga, California. "Rusty was a close, close friend. Great teammate. He visited me often out here in the vineyard. I will miss him. Most of all I will miss his energy. Everything he did was at 90 miles an hour." Off the field, Staub was a prominent humanitarian. His Rusty Staub Foundation, which in 1986 established the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, distributed over $11 million in the first 15 years of its existence to the families of New York area police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, received over $112 million in contributions. On January 8, Staub announced that, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, his foundation had also served 9,043,741 meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York over last 10 years, with funds though his annual wine auction dinner and foundation golf tournament. Remembering the life and career of baseball icon Rusty Staub “For more than thirty years, Rusty dedicated his life to helping others," said Stephen Dannhauser, the foundation's chairman, in a statement. "He worked tirelessly on behalf of the widows, widowers, and children of New York City's fallen heroes. "He cared about each and every family and they felt the same way about him. Rusty started more than just a charity — he started a family. While many admire Rusty for his impressive record as a baseball player, it is his work off the field that truly made him one of the greats. We will miss his laughter, friendship, and leadership but we will work to carry on his mission through our continued stewardship of the charity he founded." Added MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: "Rusty was a superb ambassador for our sport and a generous individual known for community efforts, particularly for the New York City Police and Fire Departments. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Rusty's family and friends, Mets fans and his many other admirers in the United States and Canada." Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944 in New Orleans, but as his mother, Alma, explained, he became "Rusty" before he left the hospital. "One of the nurses nicknamed him “Rusty” because of the red fuzz he had all over his head and it just stuck." His father, Ray, was a minor league catcher in the Class D Florida State League in 1937-38 who gave him a bat when he was 3 years old and instructed him to swing at anything round he could find. By the time he was a teenager, Rusty was a star first baseman at Jesuit High in New Orleans and after leading his team to the 1961 Louisiana State AAA championship, he signed a $100,000 bonus with the then-National League expansion Houston Colt 45s. Staub, pictured here at a Mets playoff game in 2015, coupled his prolific MLB career with a fulfilling life as a humanitarian. (ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) After just one season of minor league ball, Staub joined the Colt 45s in 1963 as a 19-year-old rookie and Opening Day cleanup hitter, but hit only .224 with six homers in 150 games. He clearly wasn't ready, but after being sent back to the minors in mid-season 1964, he returned to Houston in 1965 a much more finished product, batting .256 with 14 HR and 63 RBI. Two years later, made his first of his six All-Star teams, batting .333 with 10 HR, 74 RBI and a league-leading 44 doubles. Staub attributed his '67 breakthrough to Houston's move to the spacious Astrodome (where they were renamed the Astros). "I was originally signed as a home run hitter," he said, "but when we moved to the Dome, I didn't try to pump the ball as much." At the same time he was establishing himself as Houston's first star, he was developing a reputation for being a very tough salary negotiator, holding out for eight days into the 1968 season before finally signing his contract. The holdout led to a strained relationship with Astro GM "Spec" Richardson who, the following January, traded him to the Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon. However, the trade hit a snag when Clendenon, an African American, decided to retire rather than to report to the Astros, purportedly because he felt Houston manager Harry Walker (for whom he'd played previously in Pittsburgh) was a racist. A major dispute ensued between Astros CEO Roy Hofheinz and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after Kuhn ordered the trade to go through with Montreal sending two (far inferior) substitute players to Houston in place of Clendenon. Front page of the New York Daily News for March 3, 2018. (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) For Staub, who, by his New Orleans heritage was steeped in French culture, the trade to Montreal became an instant love affair with the French-Canadian fans. He hit .302 with 29 homers his first season, 1969, with the Expos as the lone All-Star on a dreadful 110-loss team. After hitting a two-run homer and making a specular game-ending catch to break a 20-game Expo losing streak, Montreal Gazette sportswriter Ted Blackman began referring to him as "Le Grand Orange." It stuck with him the rest of his life. Staub had two more All-Star seasons in Montreal and, in the process, developed a close personal relationship with Expos owner, Seagrams whiskey heir Charles Bronfman, who introduced him to fine wines and took him to tastings in the U.S. and Europe. Staub had already begun to take up cooking and his celebrity status enabled him to get introductions to the chefs in all of Montreal's finest restaurants. Despite the bond of admiration between Staub and Montreal, the Expos, on the eve of the 1972 season, decided the only way they were ever going to get better was to trade their one star player for a parcel of young talent that could fill a number of positions — in this case to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Ken Singleton, first baseman Mike Jorgensen and infielder Tim Foli. With the Mets, Staub fell in love with a whole new city (again the feeling being mutual). After being limited to just 66 games his initial season after Cincinnati pitcher Ross Grimsley broke his hand with a pitch, June 18, Staub played a pivotal role in the Mets' comeback to the National League pennant in 1973, hitting .279 with 15 HR and 76 RBI in the regular season, clouting three homers with five RBI against the Reds in the NLCS and, finally, .423 with a homer and six RBI against the A's in the World Series. Staub (left) played nine of his 23 major-league seasons with the Mets. (FRANK HURLEY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) In 1975, Staub became the first Met to drive in 100 runs in a season (105), but by then the team was in decline and looking to dump payroll. As the second-highest-paid player on the team ($120,000) behind Tom Seaver, Staub was traded to the Tigers for veteran lefthander Mickey Lolich. It was the first in a series of bad trades (that later included Seaver) made by the M. Donald Grant regime. Staub had three more productive seasons in Detroit, driving in 101 and 121 runs respectively in 1977 and '78, primarily as a designated hitter — but again frequently butted heads with upper management over his salary. In an effort to get a contract extension with Tigers GM Jim Campbell, Staub sat out all of spring training in 1979 and threatened to quit baseball to attend to his popular new Manhattan ribs restaurant, Rusty's, on 3rd Avenue and 73rd St. After missing the whole first month of the season, Staub finally relented and reported to the Tigers, May 3. By now he had become a principal figure in the fledging Players Association and thus regarded as a troublemaker by the old school Campbell, who, on July 20, traded him back to the Expos. Just prior to the 1980 season, he was once again traded by the Expos, this time to the Texas Rangers for whom he he hit .300 in 109 games that season. A free agent for the first time in 1980, as Rusty later put it, "I wanted to come home to momma" (meaning the Mets and New York) and he signed a three-year, $1 million deal with the Mets with the promise from GM Frank Cashen he would be their everyday first baseman. It proved to be a hollow promise when, on February 28, 1981, Cashen acquired Dave Kingman in a trade from the Cubs. Rusty Staub. (FOCUS ON SPORT/GETTY IMAGES) Although Staub spent the last five seasons of his career with the Mets and flourished as pinch-hitter extraordinaire while burnishing his rep as one of their most popular and beloved players ever, he was never a regular again. In 1986, he was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame (ironically with Bud Harrelson who recently revealed he has Alzheimer's Disease), but in later years he frequently lamented his decision to sign with the Mets and not finish his career in the American League. "Cashen lied to me," he said. "I wasn't ready to be a backup player. I still had a lot of hits in me." Conceivably, had he been able to patch things up with Campbell and stayed in Detroit, or signed with another AL team where he could be a full-time DH, he'd have easily gotten those extra 284 hits for 3,000 and a likely ticket to the Hall of Fame. As it was, the highest percentage he got in seven years the Hall-of-Fame ballot was 7.9%. In an interview with me a few weeks after 9/11 — in which one of his closest friends and foundation partner, Frank Brennan, a bond trader with Cantor-Fitzgerald, was killed — Rusty talked about what brought him to his life's work after baseball. "My mother's brother was a policeman killed in the line of duty in New Orleans. I was just a little kid, sitting on my bed with my mom and my brother saying the rosary, and I never got over that." "Then, in 1984, I was sitting in my old restaurant when a cop I knew was killed, leaving a wife and three kids. I remember saying to Frank: 'Someone needs to do something about this.'" Somebody did, and a fitting epitaph for his great life and all his good works would be his own favorite expression: "Amen, brother." R.I.P. AMEN, Brother
slowmoe57 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 This one stings. One of my all time favorite Mets. Saw him one day at LGA. a very large man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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