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Tim Teufel

Tim Teufel
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 74 of 1218 players
Teufel
Timothy Shawn Teufel
Born: July 7, 1958 at Greenwich, Conn.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.00 Weight: 175

Tim Teufel was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on August 3, 2003, December 21, 2003, December 22, 2003, October 21, 2015, June 11, 2019, June 12, 2019, May 27, 2022, and October 25, 2022.

2b 1b 3b
Non-playing roles with Mets
  • Third Base Coach 2012 - 2016

First Mets game: April 12, 1986
Last Mets game: May 28, 1991

Father of Shawn Teufel

Share your memories of Tim Teufel

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Rexor
Tim Teufel was by far my favorite 86 Met. He got the shaft from Davey Johnson though. He was solid in 86 and great in 87 but they never let him shine; whether it was Backman, or the Keith Miller experiment or the "can't miss" punk Gregg Jeffries the Tuff never got his fair shake.

I remember more than one game he won for them in the late innings. He even hit a 3-run home-run in his 1st Padre at bat to win them that game after the dumb Gary Templeton deal.

A true team player willing to play 2nd or move to 1st whatever the Mets needed. Plus he was quiet but we all saw how Teufel, which means Devil in German, could take care of business; namely with Rob Dibble's face.

I met the man when I was a kid in the late 80's and again when I worked for the team in '99. Both times he was true class. I recently got an '86 style jersey, had the #11 put on it, and wear it to Shea proudly baby! The Tuff was the man!

Brendan
Tim was my favorite Met when I first began to follow the team as a little boy in the late '80's. I loved his baseball card after he had that tremendous 1987. He put up superstar numbers in platoon time that year. His pinch hit grand slam to beat the Phillies in extra innings in '86 is one of the many great moments from that year.

Mr. Sparkle
March 27, 2001
I went to the same small hugh school as Tim. He was 4 years older but in my brothers class. He was as down to earth for an athelete as you can get. A real regular guy. I was glad to see him come to the Mets. I met him after the 86 series at a card signing at the high school. Great all around guy. His wife was hot too.

Ben Tonneson
August 1, 2001
Teufel is the greatest player ever to play the game. I'll never forget the day he hit a 3-1 pitch from Jonathan Papik that traveled 467 feet. It affected Papik so much that he pulled an Ankiel and wound up in the Jamestown ND mental hospital where he lives to this day. Long live the Teufel Shuffle!!

Rexor
September 5, 2001
Hey Rexor here again it's been about a year since my last post. I just had to check back in & say again "the Tuff is the man!" I like the nice comments above, just goes to show the Teufel Shuffle reigns on in the second millenium baby! #11

Steve Green
June 26, 2002
Teufel impressions:
  • Tim McCarver saying that 'teufel' meant 'devil' in German.
  • Teufel hit doubles. Very akin to a Dave Winfield swing -- wanting to put the ball THROUGH somebody.
  • The year he was on a pace (given minimum at bats) to drive in something like 150 runs.

Marc French
January 3, 2003
Tim Teufel's father was a neighbor of mine when I was growing up in Greenwich. I used to love delivering his newspaper every day as I would talk about Tim with his dad before I went on to the next house. I was lucky enough to be given lots of memorabila back then that today people would drool over for its marketability. For me it was a minor league card, a bat, a glove, a hat, an autograph from a neigbor who also was my favorite player in the whole world. The best memory is a free batting lesson I recieved in the backyard. I played Babe Ruth baseball at the time and hit my first slump of the season...I went over when Tim was there out back one day and ended up raking th lawn and getting batting lessons with the handle of a rake as the bat. Classic! And the lesson worked!

John
May 19, 2003
Tim Teufel was (and still is) my favorite all-time Met. I had the chance to meet him a few years back and wanted to say he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He was signing a collage poster at an '86 Mets reunion, and I traveled all the way from South Carolina to meet him. He was so impressed he took the time to chat with me even with a line for autographs behind me. I was always very upset that the Mets traded him away, especially for Garry Templeton. And the funny part is they ended up using Garry (a shortstop) to platoon with Magadan at first, rather than keep Teufel, who was a decent first baseman. They then had the chance to re-sign him after the 1991 season and that moron Torborg wanted Willie Randolph instead. Is it coincidence that since when we parted ways with guys like Knight, Mitchell, Strawberry, Dykstra, and so on that we stared to go downhill, while they flourished with other teams?

Mike Harrison
January 15, 2004
Would love to know the lifetime statistics for Tim vs Tom Browning. He absolutely owned him. Funny that I moved to Cincinnati and just by chance witnesses another Browning Teufel matchup. Two doubles and a dinger later. Teufel was always a favorite despite being a below average glove man.

Jonathan Stern
December 31, 2004
One more reason why the 1986 postseason was the best ever: the World Series featured two games decided by plays in which a ball went through someone's legs, Game 1, and the unbelievable Game 6. Hollywood couldn't write a script like that.

Boy, did Teufel look mortified after that play. I felt terrible for him. In fact, my 86-years-old Grandma, who hardly ever watched baseball, just happened to have the game on and said she, too, felt sorry for him (that just shows how captivated NYC was by that World Series - even Grandma was watching while alone in her Washington Heights apartment). Thank God the Mets eventually won it. But look at how it happened! Teufel's rock erased not only by the Series win, but by a crucial game ending on a similar play. Amazin'!

Teufel was a good guy and a seemingly smart, professional player. I was shocked by Cootersgate, but the recent book put Teufel's role in it into proper prospective. It's a shame there wasn't more to his career then there was.

Glenn Wise
March 28, 2005
After moving to Kentucky I would go to either Cincy or St Louis to catch a weekend series when the Mets came to town. It was the Sunday July 5, 1987 game that Tim had his only 2-homer game as a Met. The two homers (5th & 6th) both cleared the wall and fell below the left centerfield stands where the groundskeeper gathered them up. I got to talk to the guy and said they would be in the Reds gift shop on Monday. I go to the shop and for ten dollars each I buy them and clear ball holders I also get a card with them from the Reds saying what inning off T. Browning they were hit etc.

I get transfered next year to L.A. and get to go to all the Met games in '88 where I finally get Tim's attention during one pre-game and ask him to sign them he asks about why two of them and I tell him that they are both his dingers off Browning in a single game. He looks around and asks where I was sitting and I told him it wasn't here it was in Cincy. I then told him about the homer he hit next after those two as it was also hit off Browning (yeah, Mike Harrison he seemed to own Browning) but that I didn't get that one as it was hit into the Mets bullpen in Shea and I believe Doc Gooden picked up that one making three in a row off Browning. I think Kevin Elster then asked Tim if I was correct and said it was and signed both. I was also able to acquire the Tim Teufel model bat that David Cone cracked on a double against the Dodgers to go with my Mets collection.

Those are my best memories of Tim and I hated that trade for Templeton too.

DavidC
April 17, 2005
Back in his times with the Mets, I remember how Tim Teufel would get some game winning hits (like one off Tom Hume of the Phils in June 1986), virtually all the newspaper would have "When the Going' Gets Tough, Teufel Gets Going'" on a headline, in a reference to a Billy Ocean song back then.

Susan
July 5, 2005
I love the Teufel Shuffle and Tim is cute. I don't care what anyone says. I cried for him when that ball went through his legs. But it all turned out great for us Met fans, didn't it. I was 16 and I think I ate more Tums during that World Series then I did in the 9 months I was pregnant. I remember not being able to eat because my nerves were shot. I love watching my highlight videos and the Lets Go Mets video. I wish they could get some of that magic back.

Wendy
August 15, 2005
Tim is an all around Great Guy! I had the opportunity to get a real look at his passion for life and for his desire to make a difference, as a Nanny for his family. He is a real down to earth guy with his number one priority being his family. A great ball player who wasn't always given the credit or opportunity he deserved. He's done great with what he was given and has taught those he has come in contact with how to handle challenges and become a better person. Great example for the fans!

Jon Royster
October 29, 2010
When Tim and his wife Val were in Toledo, with the Mud Hens, I used to have them over to the house for dinner and occasional party. I took them fishing on Lake Erie just to watch them "Horse in" a walleye or two. What a couple of great people.

Tim
January 9, 2011
Man, I hated this guy! My guy was Wally and I would get so upset when lefthanders threw because it meant that Wally wouldn't play. That ground ball through his legs in Game 1 solidified my hatred for him. I called him "whimp-ull." Even if Backman couldn't hit right handed, he provided more for the team than "whimp-ull." To top it all off, "whimp-ull" is the man in front of Wally in the minor league system. The "whimp-ull" shuffle made me puke! He, Jefferies, McReynolds, and those other vanilla wimps who were traded for after 86 were the downfall of the Mets.

Ron T
April 6, 2021
I live in the Houston area, and vividly remember that bar fight when he got arrested. It has been noted that Teufel is German for "devil". I remember thinking he certainly lived up to his name on that one. One thing I would like to see is if someone can find some game video of him batting against pitcher Jim Gott. It would be amusing to hear how the announcers called the battle between God and the Devil (Gott is German for God).








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