MLB history: Forgotten stars of the current NL East teams
By Rick Soisson
Forgotten stars of the current NL East teams
George Stone, Mets
Early in their history, which is to say inside 60 years ago, the Mets tried to make do with New York City fan favorites, such as Duke Snider and Willie Mays, as well as some other over-the-hill stars from other cities like Richie Ashburn.
This didn’t work well at all, but one could say at almost any time the early Mets had stars. They had just been stars elsewhere.
Additionally, after his lone campaign with the Mets in their dreadful first year, 1962, Ashburn rarely mentioned that he won the team MVP prize, a motorboat, after hitting .306. Ralph Kiner later declared the first time the boat went into the water, “it sunk.”
But there was one player who came to the Mets, and definitely became a star, if only for a year. That was George Stone, a left-handed pitcher.
What’s more, Stone did it when it counted, in 1973, when the Mets stole the NL East crown with an 82-79 record and rode that record to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to Oakland.
During that regular season, George Stone went 12-3 with 2.80 ERA.
Before that year Stone had a fairly lackluster record with Atlanta, 43-44 (3.90 ERA), although, in his age-22 season, he went 13-10.
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The left-hander had been highly thought of, however, as a young pitcher who appeared in MLB at the age of 20. Henry Aaron was sure he would be a 20-game winner. In 1971, Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi said, “I know he’s young, but he pitches like he has been in the big leagues for 10 years. The kid is smart and knows how to pitch. And what a competitor.”
He never quite reached the heights expected, but for one shining campaign he was a star. Among his performances in ’73 were complete games against Pittsburgh on June 22 and Montreal on July 28. In all, he pitched at least seven innings in 10 of his 27 starts, including four straight in July, all of his starts that month.
Forced out of baseball by shoulder and back problems before he was 30, Stone nonetheless rode his one spectacular season to the point he eventually posted a career winning record (60-57) as part of his personal MLB history.