Think things are bad with the Mets? Think again

Catching up with the players from that woeful 1993 Mets team

Jim Baumbach

12:24 PM EDT, June 18, 2007

While watching the Mets continue their June swoon last night at Yankee Stadium, I found myself thinking about other more difficult times for the Mets. Times when it was a struggle to win games all season long.

Obviously we're nowhere near that stage right now. Most people believe the Mets are going to snap out of this funk sooner or later, most likely long before it's too late. But do you remember when a stretch of 11 losses in 13 games was considered typical?

Do you remember the 1993 season?

Just for the fun of it, I pulled up their roster from baseball-reference.com today and felt inspired to run down the list and do a quick where-are-they-now.

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Just in case you were wondering what happened to the players on the team that went 59-103

C Todd Hundley

Feels as if the last time we saw him he was trying to learn how to judge flyballs in leftfield. Ever since injuries forced him to retire in 2003, Hundley has disappeared from the baseball scene. He did, however, find trouble with the law in September of 2005 when he faced charges of driving under the influence and endangering the life of his children, who were in the backseat of his new Hummer. Hundley told the Chicago Tribune there was no alcohol involving, blaming the incident on a reaction to the painkiller Vicodin that he took for his back.

1B Eddie Murray

The man who has forever held a grudge against the media and refused to speak with reporters was fired last week as hitting coach of the Dodgers. It was the second time in recent years he was let go mid-season; the Indians dumped him during the 2005 season.

2B Jeff Kent

Speaking of the Dodgers, Kent is their second baseman. He's actually the only player from these Mets still playing on a major-league roster. Who knew Kent would become such an offensive force at second? As much as an oddball as he is, the Mets certainly wouldn't have dealt him in the ill-fated deal for Carlos Baerga had they known 354 homers and drive in 1,413 runs (and counting) in his career.

3B Howard Johnson

Don't need Google to tell us where HoJo is these days. He's the Mets first-base coach, not to mention he's also one of the closest people in the organization to star third baseman David Wright. That's not a bad player to get close to, from a career standpoint.

SS Tim Bogar

Wikipedia reports that Bogar is currently managing the Indians' Double-A affiliate in Akron. And the former Mets utility infielder appears to have a bright future in managing, if being named manager of the year in the Eastern League last year is any indication. (We gave Bogar the nod because he played more than Tony Fernandez, who was out with kidney stones.)

OF Joe Orsulak

Best known for his years with the Orioles, Orsulak retired following the 1997 season and, according to Cal Ripken's Web site, helps out at Ripken's youth baseball clinics along with former major-leaguers John Habyan, Mark Parent and Ken Gerhart.

OF Vince Coleman

Ahhh, Vince. Not exactly the best free-agent signing in team history. A quick search of newspaper stories containing the words Vince Coleman and Village Idiot (just kidding) comes up with several interesting tidbits. He appears to be enjoying his retired life in Arizona by playing lots of golf. Coleman recently vehemently defended Barry Bonds, telling the Reno Gazette-Journal, "He hasn't tested positive for anything. He's just shown he's a great home run hitter and a great player. For him to go through what he's going through is not fair I've always told him, 'Tough times don't last, tough people do.' I think he will persevere." Coleman actually was the Cubs' minor-league baserunning instructor in 2005.

OF Bobby Bonilla