But I remember him so much more than I should, mostly because the brevity and randomness of his Mets career are so noteworthy. He's that OTHER catcher the Mets used in 2003. He's that old guy they threw out there to give him his gold watch taste of the majors. He's so memorable because he's so unknown—he's that name you'd least expect to see on a big league roster. I've used him as the answer to multiple trivia questions on other websites, just because I know so few people would guess him.

This is, I must repeat, no disrespect to Joe. He worked his way through the minor leagues, never giving up the dream. He didn't even reach Triple-A until his seventh pro season, yet he still kept chugging along. With his power and decent average he kept giving teams reason to bring him on board for depth.

He spent two years in the Mets system and finally got his chance at the big leagues, brief though it was, in 2003.

What's more, he stayed in pro ball through 2005, hitting .455 in 22 at-bats in indy ball that final season.

In 2020, I sent him an autograph request through the mail. The perfect coda to this post would be that he signed the card in bold ink and returned it quickly. Alas, he never responded.