Mets: Three former players known for something non-baseball-related

George Theodore

Of all the vibrant nicknames for Mets players over the years, George Theodore’s may have suited him best of all. He played for the Mets in 1973 and 1974, notching 42 hits, 16 RBI, and 21 runs scored in that two-year span. Theodore was gangly, standing 6’4″ but weighing only 190 pounds. For that reason, he was christened “The Stork” by Tidewater teammate Jim Gosger.

“I think Jim thought I was a doctor; he thought I delivered babies or something like that, but of course that wasn’t true,” Theodore said in a 2015 interview.

In a 2019 interview with “The Stork,” Howie Rose referred to Theodore’s nickname as “one of the most endearing and in fact enduring in all of Mets history.”

When asked why fans connected with him so much, Theodore told Rose, “I’m not sure, maybe [the fans] related to me because of my size, but I sure appreciated it.”

Theodore is also notable for being, to date, the only drafted Mets player to hail from Utah.

“The Stork” might have had a longer career, if not for a nasty collision with fellow Mets outfielder Don Hahn in the summer of 1973 that caused him to miss nearly two months. He was mostly relegated to pinch hitting and bench duties the following season before his major league career ended in 1974.

“The Stork”‘s time in the big leagues may have been short, but Mets fans will forever remember the long-limbed left fielder as a similarly long-legged bird.

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All three of these players spent some time in Flushing, but are best remembered for factors not related to their baseball play. Not every major leaguer can be a star, after all. Sometimes players come through Flushing and don’t excel, but all of them are part of Mets history in some way.