Mets Once in a Lifetime Moment: Bobby Abreu’s lone 2014 home run

In the final year of his MLB career, outfielder Bobby Abreu played for the New York Mets. He gave them a once in a lifetime moment when he hit just one home run in his last season.

When making a list of borderline Hall of Fame players, the name Bobby Abreu belongs on it. The time he spent with the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Angels resulted in some impressive numbers. The one year he spent with the New York Mets in the final season of his MLB career was a lot less memorable.

Abreu finished his playing career with 288 home runs. In the final 155 plate appearances with the Mets, he only hit one.

It was a once in a lifetime moment for Abreu to homer for the Metropolitans. He didn’t waste much time either.

On April 26, 2014, Abreu started his second game for the Mets. The game’s right fielder and five-hole hitter between Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda knocked a first-inning pitch from Miami Marlins starter Kevin Slowey over the outfield fence. It helped give Mets starter Jenrry Mejia an early lead in what would end up as a Mets loss.

A tenth inning home run by Jarrod Saltalamacchia off of Kyle Farnsworth gave the Marlins the extra-inning lead. However, Abreu did get one more opportunity after with two outs in the bottom half of the tenth. On a 1-2 pitch, he lined out to shortstop.

Over the next few months, Abreu became a bench player for New York with only occasional starts. Now primarily a pinch-hitter, his opportunities to trot around the bases were fewer.

On May 30th, Mets fans witnessed another once in a lifetime moment from Abreu when he stole his 400th career base against the Philadelphia Phillies down in the City of Brotherly Love. This, too, was a loss for the boys in blue and orange. It would seem lone achievements for Abreu didn’t bring this team much luck.

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Abreu’s career with the Mets is mostly forgotten as it spanned only 78 actual games. As a guy who twice hit 30 home runs and stole 30 bases in a season, it was nice to at least see him do one of each in his final year.