Brent Mayne

Brent Mayne has had a 13-season big league career now, while only occasionally getting into over 100 games. He is that rare bird — a lefthanded-batting catcher — that always makes a player a useful addition to a big league roster. Ask Mackey Sasser. When you’re done with Mackey, ask Ron Hodges. They and a few dozen other lefty-hitting/righty-throwing backstops have always found a way to stretch their careers out. Tim McCarver will tell you about it sometime.

A native of Loma Linda, California, Mayne played two years at Cal State-Fullerton, and his .373 career batting average there sits behind only those of fellow future-major leaguers Mark Kotsay (.404) and Tim Wallach (.392). Other future big-leaguers from the Titan program include Kirk Saarloos, Phil Nevin, and Jeremy Giambi.

And Brett started out his pro career with some promise. At least one source listed him among the top 100 prospects in 1991. And it can be-said that his long-term success as a role-player has to some extent paid back on that promise. Looking at the scouting report on his ESPN profile, it’s amazing how much the eternal reserve Brent just falls short of an everyday player. A good contact hitter with little power. A good eye, but vulnerable to hard stuff. A good handler of young pitchers, but merely average defensively. A good baserunner who doesn’t steal much. Turn just one of his skills up a notch, and he might have started a lot more regularly in his career.

But there are backup catchers and then there are backup catchers. Brent was Todd Hundley’s primary backup with the Mets in 1996, but – primary schmimary – 1996 would be the year Todd set not only the record for homers by a catcher, but the record for games caught. The Mets were 25 games out, so who knows what possessed Dallas Green (and later Bobby Valentine) to ride Huns so long and hard. At any rate, Brent’s season looks satisfying at first glance – 70 games. But only 21 of those were appearances at catcher, netting only 111 plate appearances total. He basically warmed up a whole lot of Jerry DiPoto. He is 34th all-time among Mets in games caught, and, barring a reaquisition, dropping.

Brent wore 17, in between Bret Saberhagen and Luis Lopez. It was an unusual number for a backup catcher (they have traditionally been issued numbers in the thirties), and he was the first Met backstop to wear that oft-issued number since Jimmie Schaeffer in 1965, and, of course, Choo Choo Coleman in 1962-1963.

He pinch-hit, walked, and scored a run in his first appearance with the team, in 1996’s game two, and singled and drove in the winning run against Dennis Eckersley in game three. He then went two for three in his first start in game five, another win. But then Hundley’s homers started clearing the fences, and it would be three weeks.before Brent would get another start on April 25th, when he would hit a two-run homer, his sole big fly as a Met. And that pretty much tells the story of his lone season at Shea — useful but underutilized. Despite his reasonable success that season (.263 BA, .342, OBP .354 SLG — see his page at baseball-reference.com), the Mets could not find enough at-bats for him. And considering the surprise that was Todd Hundley’s breakout season that year, it can be understood if he had different expectations. Brent’s only experience at any other position was an apparently underwhelming eight games at third for the 1992 Royals. One can imagine Dallas Green stopping by his locker as he was dressing for a game, and him excitedly anticipating a start, only to have his hopes dashed with an announcement like, “We got Harnisch going today and he’s been sucking hog; we’re going to need Mlicki warmed up early.”

Such is the backup catcher’s lot — work as hard as anybody and never hear your name called. You know? If you saw Brent catching, you could assume you were looking at the second game of a double header. There were six double headers for the Mets in 1996. Brent started in four game twos and one game one. He hit in four of those five starts, God bless him.

Two accounts from his Mets tenure are published at The Ultimate Mets Database. One suggests that he didn’t like his lack of playing time as Hundley’s backup (with at least some justification, as I've tried to suggest). Another suggests that he enjoyed taking the number-7 train to the park. Good for you, Brent. Talk to Rocker, would you?

You learn a lot of stuff searching for information on active players, and I’ll spare you too comprehensive a list, but please know that Mayne wears Toolshed undergarments. Who knew? I realize the rules are different in the age of Austin Powers: Goldmember, but the undisguised use of phallic metaphor in thier marketing, is, well, astounding. He is also apparently a happy client of this artist, a little froo-froo for a guy who likes the 7 train, don’t you think?

Of course, Met fans most appreciate Brent for a feat he pulled off after leaving the team, while with the Colorado Rockies on August 22, 2000. In a 12-inning game, marked not only by extra innings, but by Colorado altitude and ejections — all of which tend to help a manager run through his pitching staff — Rockies manager Buddy Bell, despite being ejected, sent Mayne to the mound after a clubhouse conference with Mayne, who was acting as Bell's go-between to the dugout. His appearance, among other things, set a record for pitchers used (9) in one game by a single team.

It was pretty novel as it was set up, but it got better, as Mayne’s first batter was a pinch hitter — pitcher Tom Glavine. This bizzarro universe matchup concluded with Glavine bouncing to the mound. After two runners reached base with two outs, Mayne topped off the improbability by striking out Met-nemesis Chipper Jones. Fate would then step in and reward him with the win when the Rockies rallied in their half of the inning, and Brett would become the first position player to record a win since Rocky Colavito on August 25, 1968 and the first catcher to win a game since Buck Ewing, in 1889. Eighteen eighty-freakin’-nine!

Mayne had never pitched before at any level, and ironically was only available because a ligament injury in his left wrist prevented him from batting in the game. "If I'm healthy, I never get a chance to pitch," said Mayne. "It's weird how things work out." The Mets (who themselves pitched a position player, Derek Bell, in a blowout on the same day) would go on to win the 2000 pennant. The contribution of the Braves humiliation that day is unknown, but it didn’t hurt.

The six-month research project conducted by a dozen lifelong Met fans found Brent to be the 418th best Met of all time.

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