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It was August 8, 2006, and the New York Mets were approaching an early NL East victory. A lot went well for them in the regular season. They were unable to make the magic work with every smaller addition.
Placed on waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets put in a successful claim on left-handed hitting outfielder Ricky Ledee. Used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter, Ledee would go on to hit only .094. He was 3 for 36 with a home run coming in a Mets loss.
His story should’ve ended there. It didn’t.
Ricky Ledee was one of those Mets players the front office couldn’t quit
The .094 batting average should’ve been enough for the Mets to realize the reality with Ledee: he was finished. Ledee became a free agent at season’s end and caught on with the Oakland Athletics on a minor league deal. They decided he wasn’t good enough to make their roster and cut him before Opening Day. Lucky for him, the Mets weren’t completely turned off by the idea of a reunion. They signed him to a minor league deal.
Ledee hit well for Triple-A New Orleans, the Mets’ affiliate at the time. Unfortunately his month-long stint in the majors from early June through early July wasn’t a major success. Ledee hit an improved .222/.310/.389 in 43 trips to the plate. The Mets DFA’d him in favor of carrying three catchers.
Ironically, that third catcher was Sandy Alomar Jr. who’d play only 8 games all year for the Mets and hit just .136. His presence did allow the Mets to use Ramon Castro as a pinch hitter more regularly, taking advantage of his special .887 OPS campaign.
Ledee retired from baseball the next month rather than continue a career of bouncing around on different minor league deals. His final game featured a 1 for 6 with 3 strikeout performance in an epic 17-inning win over the Houston Astros on the road that lasted over 5 hours. A long and mostly unproductive day at the office was enough to convince him it was time for the next phase of life.
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