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Amos Otis

Amos Otis
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 218 of 1218 players
Otis
Amos Joseph Otis
Born: April 26, 1947 at Mobile, Ala.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 5.11 Weight: 170

Amos Otis was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on April 26, 2008, March 15, 2011, May 18, 2020, April 26, 2021, April 26, 2022, and April 26, 2023.

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First Mets game: September 6, 1967
Last Mets game: September 27, 1969

Share your memories of Amos Otis

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

RheingoldFan
March 16, 2001
Who needs him? Here's a guy that admitted to corking his bat for the vast majority of his career. He cheated, flat out, and that's a fact. Sure his numbers were good, but how great would he have been if he was playing on an even keel with everyone else. Now I know that other men have cheated...we have scuffed balls, steroid abuse, etc...but the audacity with which he later flaunted it is disgusting. Before it was outlawed, the spitball was a legal pitch, but nowhere in the annals of baseball history have I found any acceptance of doctoring the bat. And that is why Otis will never be in the HOF, pure and simple.

Logan Swanson
April 14, 2001
Rarely can you say one player might have made the difference between championships and frustrating also- ran status in a franchise's performance over a long period.

But a perusal of Amos Otis's stats strongly indicate that had he stayed in New York and produced similar numbers, Met's history would have been dramatically altered.

Check out Otis's Royal campaigns in 1971, '73, an '76. In 1971, the Mets were in third place, and one wonders what Otis's RBI's and stolen bases would have added to the Met's dynamic. In 1973, the Mets might have taken the A's instead of the reverse. And in 1976, you might have seen a subway series.

At the very least, the Mets would have finished higher than the teams featuring third basemens Joy Foy saddled with personal problems, a fat Jim Fregosi, a mediocre Wayne Garret, slow footed Joe Torre, or "top prospect" Roy Staiger.

In the early and mid sixties, the Mets showed admirable patience with Ed Kranepool, Ron Swaboda, Tug McGraw, and others. From 1969 until the mid 70's, the Mets boasted a premature win now attitude, when they should have look for offense in their fertile farm system, a decision which cost them budding stars.

VIBaseball
June 22, 2001
The Mets felt they were dealing from strength because they had Agee (they even played Otis out of position at 3B instead of CF), but Tommie sure went over the hill physically in a hurry.

Goose
August 13, 2001
When I think Amos Otis, sweet music fills my ears. Hard Work. Determination. Integrity. Perfection. A rock group from CT was even names after Mr. Otis, due to his hunger to be the best. A to the O. Simply, the best there was, best there is, and best there ever will be.

Gary from Chesapeake
April 20, 2002
Say what you will about the dumb Met trades over the years, like Tom Seaver for an assortment off the Reds' bench and Rusty Staub for Mickey Lolich, I think trading Amos Otis was their all-time bone-headed transaction. But it sure gave the KC Royals some credibility early in their history.

Bobster1985
May 21, 2003
Gary, I agree with you totally. With all the lousy Mets trades down the years, this one stands out. Consider: Amos Otis went on to play 14 years with the Royals, giving them a solid center fielder at a time when the Mets usually lacked one. He helped get the Royals into the playoffs in four different seasons and to the World Series once. His career average was .271, with two .300 seasons and over 2,000 lifetime hits. He led the American league in doubles twice and in stolen bases once. Meanwhile, Joe Foy played just one season with the Mets, batting .236 before being sent to the Washington Senators, where he left baseball forever after just 41 games there. Was there ever a more lopsided trade in Mets history? I don't think so.

Phil Thiegou
June 9, 2004
The biggest childhood memory I've had of Amos Otis was that I always got his card in boxes of cereal in the 70's when you got a free baseball card in Kellogg's cereal. No, Tom Seaver, no Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, or even a Graig Nettles for that matter. It's hard to play a fantasy baseball game when you have 9 Amos Otises playing on your team. All that Raisin Bran, all those Apple Jacks, all those Corn Flakes and for what? Amos Otis. The Mets had no problem getting rid of him. I however couldn't.

Jonathan Stern
March 21, 2005
In light of the steroids madness going on right now, I personally don't have a problem with players "cheating" if: A.) It does not involve something harmful health-wise. B.) It does not involve something illegal under US law. C.) If it is done in order to help the team win rather than to simply inflate one's stats for personal goals and big money. D.) If the player is good and fundamentally sound at most other aspects of the game, not a one-dimensional type whose one dimension is enhanced by his cheating to the neglect of virtually everything else. And, E.) If the player eventually admits his cheating.

In amazingly direct contrast to Mark McGuire, Amos Otis falls under all of the above. Corked bat and all, he played when contracts were not what they are today and he injected the Royals with so much fun, enthusiasm and leadership, remaining to this day one of their most popular players ever. While he was there, they won everything except the ultimate prize, which they finally bagged a year after Otis's retirement with a number of his former teammates still on board. Otis was not a HOFer, but I'd sooner enshrine him in Cooperstown than McGuire.

On the same day he was elected to the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame, Otis was also elected to Nash and Zullo's Baseball Hall of Shame for his cheating. He was cheerful enough to acknowledge both "Halls" in his speech to his loyal KC fans. We gave up this guy for Joe Foy?

Michael
March 28, 2005
I think that this trade, not Ryan-Fregosi, was the worst trade in Mets history.

Bob R
April 10, 2005
I totally agree, Michael. When they traded him, Agee had only a couple years left in him, and then there was a big hole in the outfield. Having a star like Otis in center field all those years would have made a big difference. Nolan Ryan just didn't like playing in New York, and trading him was inevitable - although they certainly could have done better than over-the-hill Jim Fregosi. But throwing away Amos Otis was just a crime.

jim tagariello
September 1, 2007
Having Amos Otis in center field instead of Don Hahn, and the Mets Beat the A's in the 1973 Series. This has to rate as one of their worst trades just from the long term effect. Did they really need Joe Foy that bad? They did no background check on him. The 1967 American League champion Red Sox let him go in the expansion draft to the Royals, what does that tell you?

Richard Weinberg
February 23, 2023
Member of the 1969 Champs, but his tenure with the Mets was mismanaged. Gil Hodges wanted him to play third base, and this did not work out. Otis was a great outfielder, and should have been the natural successor to Tommie Agee. Otis's displeasure at being moved to the infield frustrated the Mets front office, and he was included, along with a useful pitcher named Bob Johnson, in the horrible 1970 trade to Kansas City for third basemen Joe Foy. We all know how well that trade worked out. Otis played center field for KC into the 1980's, and Joe Foy was out of baseball by 1971.








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