Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.
Before, during, and after game 3, everyone connected with the Mets held out hope that Mike Piazza’s thumb would miraculously heal somehow and allow him to return in game 4. That proved to be a pipe dream, and for the second straight game, Todd Pratt would catch in his place. During his pregame remarks, Gary Cohen said Bobby Valentine told him “Mike might, might be able to pinch hit, but it seems unlikely we will see him again in this series”.
Piazza said later the team told him to rest up, and get ready for the NLCS (not that they had much choice, since he couldnt bend his thumb). They needed one more win to get there, of course, and the man charged with getting them there was Al Leiter. Despite having a so-so season, the lefty had won some of the season’s most important games. He ended an eight-game losing streak with eight great innings at Yankee Stadium, he ended a seven-game slide at the end of September by beating the Braves, and he went the distance in game 163 to launch the Mets into the playoffs.
Leiter pronounced himself ready for another challenge. The Jersey native, who grew up a Mets fan, relished the thought of finishing up this series in front of the home town crowd. He also had no issue throwing to Pratt instead of Piazza. His best start of the season–with 15 Ks against the Cubs–came with Pratt behind the plate.
He even threw some backhanded compliments to the backup backstop. “This is not a knock,” he told the Daily News, “but obviously [Pratt] doesn’t have the same career numbers as Mike, so he really takes that much more pride in catching a good ballgame. He really wants to catch a good game, and if Todd ends up getting some knocks, great.”
For his part, Pratt didn’t need to be told he wasn’t in Piazza’s offensive league. Like many backup catchers, his career had been one of ups and downs–mostly downs. After bouncing around several organizations, he wound up on the Phillies, and even made it on the postseason roster for the 1993 team that went to the World Series, though he would only get one at-bat in the playoffs.
After being released by the Mariners in 1996, he worked at Bucky Dent’s Baseball Academy for a while, then managed a Domino’s franchise . “If I had to go back to it, I could,” he told reporters who asked him about it. “There’s nothing wrong with managing a pizza parlor.”
The Mets rescued him from such a fate, and sent him to the minors. He hit his way out of triple-A Norfolk in 1997, though found himself back in the minors in 1998 when the Mets acquired catcher Jorge Fabregas. But Pratt was back in the bigs before the season was out, and spent all of 1999 as Piazza’s backup, a position akin to that of the Maytag repairman.
He knew his role and had no complaints about it. How could he? He was just grateful to be along for the ride. “I’m not Mike,” Pratt said after game 3, in case anyone was confused. “Nobody is in that league. He generates a lot of power and intimidation in the middle of the order.”
But for one at-bat on October 9, 1999, being Todd Pratt was more than enough. Much like the lyrics of the David Bowie song that played in ESPN’s division series bumpers (well, a very bad cover of a Bowie song, anyway): he’d be a hero, just for one day.
Continue reading 1999 Project: NLDS Game 4