He hasn’t homered as a Met yet, and Jonathan Araúz went 0-for-3 yesterday to fall from .333 to .167 (DJ Stewart now has a .259-.256 lead on Brandon Nimmo for active roster batting average, regardless of plate appearance totals), but let’s go ahead and head into the weekend with Araúz’s home run chain.
Jonathan Araúz hit his first home run off Josh Tomlin, 9/27/20
Josh Tomlin gave up his first home run to José Molina, 7/31/10
José Molina hit his first home run off Rocky Biddle, 5/10/01
Rocky Biddle gave up his first home run to Joe Oliver, 8/10/00
Joe Oliver hit his first home run off Ricky Horton, 8/18/89
Ricky Horton gave up his first home run to Jeffrey Leonard, 4/7/84
Jeffrey Leonard hit his first home run off Pete Falcone, 4/25/80
Pete Falcone gave up his first home run to Vic Correll, 4/13/75
Vic Correll hit his first home run off Randy Moffitt, 7/31/74
Randy Moffitt gave up his first home run to Garry Jestadt, 6/25/72
Garry Jestadt hit his first home run off Mike Torrez, 5/14/72
Mike Torrez gave up his first home run to Adolfo Phillips, 4/19/68
Adolfo Phillips hit his first home run off Barney Schultz, 9/6/65
Barney Schultz gave up his first home run to Ernie Banks, 4/16/55
Ernie Banks hit his first home run off Gerry Staley, 9/20/53
Gerry Staley gave up his first home run to Sid Gordon, 7/11/47
Sid Gordon hit his first home run off Jim Tobin, 4/27/43
Jim Tobin gave up his first home run to Dizzy Dean, 8/22/37
Dizzy Dean hit his first home run off Ed Brandt, 7/31/32
Ed Brandt gave up his first home run to Andy Reese, 4/19/28
Andy Reese hit his first home run off Bill Sherdel, 6/19/27
Bill Sherdel gave up his first home run to Heinie Groh, 6/22/18
Heinie Groh hit his first home run off Frank Allen, 7/28/13
Frank Allen gave up his first home run to Owen Wilson, 7/15/12
Owen Wilson hit his first home run off Johnny Lush, 4/23/08
Johnny Lush gave up his first home run to Johnny King, 5/18/06
Johnny King hit his first home run off Ed Poole, 4/29/03
Ed Poole gave up his first home run to Elmer Flick, 5/16/01
Elmer Flick hit his first home run off Red Ehret, 6/1/98
Red Ehret gave up his first home run to Billy Shindle, 7/7/88
This was the first home run allowed by Ehret, pitching for the Kansas City Cowboys in the American Association against Shindle and the Baltimore Orioles. Ehret was sold after the season to the Louisville Colonels for $500, and stayed there for three years. In the 1890 proto-World Series against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Ehret pitched two complete games, winning both, and he closed out Louisville’s other win in the series, which went down as a 3-3-1 tie. Ehret also was 3-for-7 with a triple in the series, but the real hitting stars were Germany Smith with two triples and seven runs batted in for Brooklyn, and Chicken Wolf, who knocked in eight of Louisville’s 32 runs in the series, while going 9-for-25 with four extra-base hits and four more runs scored.
Chicken Wolf’s given name was William Van Winkle Wolf, and he led the American Association that year with 197 hits, 260 total bases, and a .363 average. He was Louisville’s all-time leader in games played, with 1,193, and collected 1,437 hits to lead the franchise, as well as 109 triples and 591 RBI.
Ehret didn’t stick around that long. In 1892, he joined the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates, and in 1893 led the league with four shutouts — and 23 hit batsmen. He was traded to St. Louis after the 1894 season, and on to Cincinnati a year later. Finally, Ehret was dealt back to Louisville before the 1898 season, but the real prize for the Colonels in that deal was Billy Hoy, the deaf player who in his age 36 and 37 seasons racked up 29 triples and scored 221 runs. Hoy was previously a tangent at the end of the Jeff McNeil home run chain, so that’s fun. More fun than the Mets are having.
We Can Pod It Out 165: Here Comes The Sun