That time when the NY Mets fired 3 coaches and avoided an early collapse

Expectations were high for the 1999 New York Mets. After a near-miss of reaching the postseason the year prior, anything short of the playoffs would have been a setback. The club was fully loaded offensively across the infield. The outfield was a source of production as well, most notably with Rickey Henderson, Roger Cedeno, and for a briefer time period, Darryl Hamilton, all hitting over .300. Even Rey Ordonez put together a nice season offensively with a .258 batting average and 60 RBI.

This season might have been the peak of the Steroid Era. The lowest ERA of any Mets pitcher with 100 or more innings was 4.23, a statistic attributed to Al Leiter. The team would make it into the playoffs after winning a tie-breaker against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 163, with Leiter on the mound. There was a time in early June when it wasn’t looking like they would.

A 6-3 loss to the New York Yankees on June 5, 1999, marked their 8th straight game on the wrong side of the scorebug. They were 27-20 on May 26. Suddenly, the Mets record fell to 27-28. A change was needed. They couldn’t fire the players. Three coaches experienced the wrath of Steve Phillips instead.

The 1999 firings of three Mets coaches actually seemed to work

Pitching coach Bob Apodaca, bullpen coach Randy Niemann, and hitting coach Tom Robson were all scapegoats of the losing streak. Fired together after the June 5 loss, a lot and clear message was being sent.

The surprise move must’ve woken up the players. The losing streak was snapped with a 7-2 win over the Yankees. They rattled off three more wins after, sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays. The last of those wins came on June 9, a game most remembered for Bobby Valentine returning to the dugout in disguise.

The season completely turned around thereafter. They went into the All-Star Break 50-39. They exited July with a 62-43 record. Were the coaches really to blame for the struggles the team were facing early on in the season? It has become practically a given for the Mets to undergo similar situations in recent years. Late May or all of June tends to be this franchise’s point of being tested most. 

A difference in 1999 was they only bent and never broke. What turned out to be such a memorable Mets season might never have happened if all they did was wait another day to overhaul the coaching staff. A wake-up call was something this team apparently was in desperate need of.