Signed by Boston as an undrafted free agent in 1978, Bob went 1-6 with a 4.81 ERA in his first year of pro ball at Elmira. Then that offseason, Brooklyn Dodgers legend Johnny Podres taught him how to throw a changeup, the pitch that became his signature, the "dead fish". In 1979, he went 15-7 with a 2.43 ERA for Winter Haven. In 1981, he pitched in the 33 inning Pawtucket-Rochester game and got the win, and later that year he took a no-hitter into the 9th inning during a September game at Yankee Stadium.
Traded to the Mets for Calvin Shiraldi (that's a lucky omen right there) during the 1985 Winter meetings, I first learned about Bob Ojeda when my dad bought me the 1986 Mets Yearbook in April. I recognized him from his 1986 Topps card, and I was like- "This guy's on the Mets now?" His 1985 stats were unimpressive, but in 1986, he won every game he pitched in that I saw, with the exception of a home game against the Giants at the end of May, which I saw live on ABC. He got hit hard in that game and lost, but besides that loss, he was strictly a winner. His other 1986 losses must have been on Sportschannel.
On August 3, 1986, he took a no-hitter into the 7th inning in a game at Shea vs. the Expos. I was there, watching from the best seats I've ever had. He had no-hit stuff that day, at least until he lost his magic touch in the 7th inning. Still, after that game, #19 ranked as one my favorite Mets for that outing alone.
Bob was a model of consistency in 1986. His season ERA was 2.57 and his NLCS ERA was also 2.57. He was even better in the World Series, with an ERA of 2.08. He saved the 1986 season by pitching the Mets to a 5-1 victory in Game 2 at Houston. He also kept the Mets in Game 6 of the NLCS, keeping the Mets from suffering a knockout blow by Mike Scott in a potential Game 7.
In the World Series, he confidently secured the Mets' first win of the Series in Boston. That start in Game 3 helped turn the series around. In Game 6, he gave a heroic effort, even though I heard or read somewhere later that he was running on fumes in that game; he had never pitched that many innings in a season so he had a dead arm. You would have never known from the way he pitched.
His 1986 won-loss record is also a microcosm of how the 1986 Mets compare to the rest of reality as we know it.
In 1986, Bob won 20 games, if you count the postseason. He was 18-5 in the regular season and 1-0 in each postseason series. As a 9 year old, I thought he would win at least 18 games (if not 20) for the next five years, and I thought the Mets would play in (if not win) every World Series for at least the next 10 years.
Well, in 1987, Bob got hurt and ended the year with a 3-5 record.
Bob wasn't the only one who deteriorated after 1986. The Mets, Major League Baseball, film, television, society in general, and everyone living in it seemed to slowly start going downhill in varying degrees in 1987.
However, like the Mets, Bob rebounded temporarily for most of 1988. Fast forward to the eve of the 1988 NLCS, and I hear on WFAN that he cut his finger off cutting hedges and is out for the rest of the year. As I remember it, they said he cut his entire finger off, not just the tip. Anyway, can't say for sure because I was 11, but that's how I remember it, really gruesome. I also remember Al Michaels and Tim McCarver talking about the injury during the 1988 NLCS and they were wondering why Bob didn't hire a landscaper. I was wondering the same thing. That injury removed the Mets' 1986 postseason ace from their 1988 run, with horrifying results for the Mets and their fans.
Besides the unfortunate hedge clipper accident, I remember hearing about his tragic boating accident in Florida during Spring Training of 1993. As a member of the Indians, Bob was piloting a boat on Little Lake Nellie in Florida under a darkening dusk sky and the boat slammed into a dock. His teammates Steve Olin and Tim Crews were gravely injured and didn't make it. That accident was especially shocking to me because I had gotten Steve Olin's autograph during Spring Training in 1992, when the Indians still trained in Tucson.
After the tragedy in Florida, it seemed like Bob's career was over, but he fought his way back, starting seven games in 1993. After posting a 24.00 ERA in two starts for the 1994 Yankees, Bob retired. In 2009, he resurfaced on the Mets' postgame show on SNY. I enjoyed his work on SNY until 2014, when he was replaced with Nelson Figueroa. After that happened, I never watched SNY again because I was so sick of the Wilpons. I'm sure Bob was too.
All in all, Bob was a pivotal 1986 Met whose two Game 6 starts in that postseason will go down as two of the greatest games in the history of baseball.
