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Joe Foy

Joe Foy
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 209 of 1218 players
Foy
Joseph Anthony Foy
Born: February 21, 1943 at New York, N.Y.
Died: October 12, 1989 at Bronx, N.Y.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.00 Weight: 215

Joe Foy was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on October 13, 2013, and October 12, 2020.

3b

First Mets game: April 7, 1970
Last Mets game: September 28, 1970

Share your memories of Joe Foy

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

John Foy
March 25, 2001
My brother is often criticized by Mets fans. This is completely unfair. My brother's poor performance with the Mets was a direct result of the unfair treatment accorded him by M. Donald Grant!

Jim Snedeker
November 27, 2001
Joe has a special place in my memories--after all, he and Cleon Jones hit back-to-back home runs in the first Met game I ever attended. Neat!

Nelson
December 17, 2001
Joe was never really given a chance to play for the Mets. But this I say he contributed off the field for hundreds of kids playing ball in the South Bronx.

E.J.Baron
February 21, 2002
What a dissapointment after the Championship season of 1969. And to think we would not give up Amos Otis for Joe Torre but we eventually gave him up for Joe Foy.

I remember the Mets releasing him after the season because they were about to trade for Jim Fregosi!

Bob R.
January 6, 2003
I really don't why Joe Foy played so poorly for the Mets in '70, but he was part of the worst trade ever made by the Mets. Amos Otis was a born outfielder and should have been put there along with Agee and Jones. But for some reason they tried to make him into an infielder, and then traded him for Foy. Otis became one of the best players in the American League and led the Royals to several pennants. Foy played briefly, and disastrously, with the Mets before leaving baseball. I often think about the pennants the Mets could have won over the years had they kept Otis. What a screw-up the Mets made there.

Darin Shepherd
May 21, 2003
When I was 13 or so playing little league baseball in the Bronx, Joe was one of the coaches who led us to a second place finish in N.Y.C.. He was a good coach and more importantly a good man.

William Blackman
September 30, 2004
I can't believe the comment on him being a bum. He made it to the big leagues and showed he belonged. I am honored to say that I knew him. He showed my cousins and me how to catch, throw and hit. Even though I was not related to him by blood, he always treated me like I was his nephew. My cousins that he taught were his nephews.

Don DeAngelis
May 9, 2005
I don't know how Joey got screwed up in the majors. I did have the pleasure of playing against him when he played sandlot ball for the Billikens. He was a tough competitor but most of all he was a very friendly gentleman. He would often joke around and could he hit. It is a shame. He had the talent to be a great one.

Said D Allah
August 18, 2005
Joe Foy was my 1st little league coach. He was a no-nonsense coach and knew how to prepare us for a game. He taught us what to look for in a pitcher and taught us to play without fear. I owe all I know about the game to Joe Foy. I recall all the moments clearly at Roberto Clemente state park in the Bronx, NY. I played in the military for my entire 16-year career and always say he was my 1st coach proudly. I just learned of his passing as I was bragging to my coworker about him. I was in the Bronx a month after his passing and would have gladly given my condolences to his family and shared my memories with them as I have with my seven children. He was a Great Man!

Feat Fan
March 16, 2007
Top prospect along with George Scott on '66 BoSox. Crushed 31 home runs first two years and thought to have been well on his way. Was always a player that I enjoyed watching and rooting for. Stole 37 bases in KC before coming to Shea. Rumors of drug and alcohol abuse led to demise. Sad, he was a YOUNG man who never quite blossomed for whatever the reason. Easy to call him a "bum"; let us TRY to be a successful big leaguer. No one escapes the harsh realities of life nor has the right to judge.

Robert Jenkins
May 7, 2009
I grew up in the Bronx, New York during Joe Foy's playing days. What I remember most about Joe was his caring, always giving ways.

Joe Figliola
May 18, 2009
Just went over Foy's game log on this site. It seemed that he teed off on the Giants. If I did my math right, he hit .444 (12/27) with three home runs and nine RBIs. Even if you take that five-hit game away, he still hit over .300 against them.

A statistic overlooked in his one year with the Mets was his decent stolen base total. Judging by his 22 steals and 35 attempts, his baserunning may be comparable to another guy who ran wild on the bases, Lenny Randle.

VIBaseball
May 19, 2009
Joe Figliola has reminded me of an infamous Joe Foy moment I recall from when I was a little boy. I looked it up, and my memory does not deceive me. It was July 6, 1970. I quote the New York Times of July 7:

"Joe Foy got picked off second while two cats chased each other from dugout to dugout."

centerfieldmaz.com
January 30, 2013
Joe Foy attended Evander Child's high school on Gun Hill Road and Barnes Ave. in the Bronx during the early sixties. He was a standout baseball player originally signed by the Minnesota Twins but was then drafted away by the Boston Red Sox. In 1965 he won the International League batting title, hitting .302 with 14 HRs and 73 RBIs at AAA Toronto. In his rookie year of 1966 he got the job as the Red Sox everyday third baseman replacing the departed Frank Malzone.

Foy debuted in the second Sox game of the year at Fenway Park going 0-3 against the Baltimore Orioles. In just his third career game he was back home in the Bronx where he had grown up playing against the AL New York team. He got his first career hit that day, an RBI double off Bob Friend, as the Red Sox went on to an 8-5 win.

Foy had a fine Rookie year, coming in second in the league in walks (91) fourth in triples (8) fifth in runs scored (97) and eighth in on base percentage (.364). He hit .262 with 15 HRs, 23 doubles, 63 RBIs and was rated the league's fifth-best third baseman. He was a member of the Red Sox 1967 "Impossible Dream" Pennant season.

On a road trip to New York that summer, he learned of a fire at his family's house while on his way to the ballpark located less than a mile away. In that series he was involved in a bench-clearing brawl when he was hit in the helmet with a pitch by Thad Tillotson. Foy just went to first base after he was beaned, but later when Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg retaliated against Tillotson when he came to bat, the two pitchers had words. Foy stepped in and said, "why don't you just fight me since it all started with me?" The benches cleared and a full-scale brawl ensued.

In the 1967 World Series Foy hit only .133. In 1968 he was selected by the expansion Kansas City Royals and on Kansas City's Opening Day, was the team's first cleanup hitter.

His stay in K.C. was short though, when on December 3rd, 1969 the New York Mets sent a young Amos Otis and Bob Johnson to the Royals for Joe Foy. Foy was in the 1970 Mets Opening Day lineup, batting in the third position, going hitless with a sac fly RBI. Foy did have a few shining moments in a Mets uniform; On May 3rd his 7th inning double off the Padres Pat Dobson in a game at San Diego broke a 2-2 tie and was the game's winning run.

In July he had a seven-game hit streak on a West Coast road trip. In that series he had a three-hit game in Los Angeles and a huge five-hit day in San Francisco. On July 19th in the second game of a Mets-Giants doubleheader, Foy had five hits, hitting two HRs and driving in five runs. His tenth-inning HR off Don McMahon proved to be the game-winner in the Mets 7-6 victory.

As the season went on Foy never fit in with Gil Hodges' ballclub. He was back in his hometown of New York City playing with the Mets, and hooked up with the wrong crowd from his old neighborhood. He got mixed up in drugs and developed an addiction problem.

During a summer doubleheader, he noticeably appeared to be under the influence as he stood in front of manager Gil Hodges and began cheering a pitch loudly while awkwardly laughing. Hodges chose to start him in the nightcap to prove a point to his team. A hard grounder was hit to Foy at third and he never saw it. Reportedly even after the ball passed him he kept shouting "hit it to me." Pitcher Jerry Koosman and his teammates were furious, but Hodges made his point; "this guy doesn't belong here!"

1970 was his only season with the Mets; he was picked up by the Washington Senators in 1971 (Rule 5 draft) and was released in July.

Foy did give back to the community, appearing at Mets events, teaching children to play base ball and coached little league in the South Bronx as well. Sadly he had his demons and maybe wasn't given enough of a chance by M. Donald Grant and the organization. In 1989 Joe Foy died of a heart attack in the Bronx, New York at the age of 46.

The Mets tried Bob Aspromonte at third in 1971, Jim Fregosi in 1972 and neither one worked out either. Eventually Wayne Garrett got the job and in 1973 the Mets went to another World Series. Garrett remained at third for the good part of four seasons.

L. Brown
April 27, 2013
I'll always remember Joe as the coach of our neighborhood baseball team in the Bronx. He always had great stories from his days in the majors. And for a Mets fan like me he was a hero. He worked really hard to make us a decent team. I only played for one year but they went on for another year or two and did fairly well.

R.I.P. Coach Foy

Leo Swigonski
August 26, 2021
1963! That's when I saw Joe Foy play for my hometeam Erie Sailors. He played 1st base and hit well. His teammates were pitchers Jim Merritt and Gary Rogganburk with OF Ted Uhlaender. As players, they were quite a group! I'm not a Mets fan...a Yankee fan really, but I remember Joe as a fine ballplayer here for the Sailors.

Glenn-Troy NY
February 22, 2024
Remember seeing press photo of GM John Murphy showing Foy an empty Shea Stadium on 12/11/69. Murphy would pass away shortly after in January 1970.








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