Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Mark Bomback

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Mark Bomback
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Memories of
Mark Bomback

Mark Bomback
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 419 of 1252 players

Mark Vincent Bomback
Born: April 14, 1953 at Portsmouth, Va.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 5.11 Weight: 170

Mark Bomback was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on April 14, 2011.

First Mets game: April 12, 1980
Last Mets game: October 4, 1980

Share your memories of Mark Bomback

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Mike
Bomback won 20 games in the minors once (strange because guys pitching that well are normally up to the big leagues.)
Bomback was known (for a short while) as the stopper because he stopped about 5 or 6 losing streaks.

Andy from Rego Park
Went 9-3 in his first go-around in the league for the Mets in 1980. Finished up 10-8. Nicknamed "Bom-bom" he surrendered a tremendous homer to then-rookie Leon "Bull" Durham of the Cards that shattered Jerry Morales' windshield in the players parking lot out behind the Mets bullpen.

Jim Snedeker
November 15, 2001
Mark's 10 wins led the Mets pitching staff in 1980.
Boy, those were the days.

Anthny Pesca
December 18, 2001
When Bomback went 10-8 in 1980, it didn't know that Met starting pitchers were allowed to have double-digit victories and have a winning record.

Charles
January 31, 2002
Not that he was going to the Hall of Fame, but I'll never understand why the Mets got rid of him after only one season. despite a high ERA for that time, he was probably one of the top two (if not the to) pitchers on that 1980 staff.

Mr. Sparkle
April 18, 2002
Hey if you could get a talent like Charlie Puleo you'd trade Bomback too. After all Puleo was traded to get Seaver back so you could look at is as Bomback for Seaver!
I did like Bomback at the time. The Mets were horrible in 1980 and he at least brought a hope of victory when he took the mound. He was OK.

Bill Deegan
June 6, 2002
I saw Mark pitch a two hit shut out against the Phillies in early 1980 at Shea. Thought at the time that we really had a keeper.

Lawrence A. Goldberg
August 6, 2002
After attending college for 4 years in the Boston area, I returned to New York in August, 1980. I missed my Mets, and desperately needed to attend a game. (I went to plenty of Red Sox games between '76 and '80, but the crowds up there were so anti-New York---not just anti-Yankee---that I ended up hoping that the Sox would lose, particularly to the Yankees). Anyway, I got to see the Mets only double-digit winner for 1980, Mark Bomback, pitch a game against the Giants on August 20. Well, let's see. The Mets lost 2-1, and Bomback broke slugger Jack Clark's arm with an errant fastball. Bomback lost the decision, but would ultimately get his 10th win later in the year.

Jason Bomback
April 14, 2003
My uncle Mark loves his baseball. He continues to pitch in the over 35 and over 50 community baseball leagues. Although the speed isn't there, his control and curve fares well. He still has great pitches! Of course he needs a month or two to recover! Ha ha. Love ya man, JB

The Mook (again)
November 15, 2003
I'm sure Mark Bomback is a fine individual as some of the posts indicate. But my lasting memory was after posting the Gibsonian record of 10-8 4.28 in 1978, he held out for more money, pronouncing himself the ace of the staff. The quotes in the press made him sound like he thought he was Seaver or Carlton. He was gone the next year. On the plus side, he was better than Kevin Kobel or Mardie Cornejo. Maybe he was the ace..

Kiwiwriter
July 5, 2004
I remember Mark Bomback's two-hit shutout against the Phillies. I was there. I thought he would be the Mets' answer to Ron Guidry.
Of course, that was his first and second turns through the National League, in which he went 9-3. After that, the rest of the National League figured out how to hit him, and he finished 1-5, earning his "Boom-Boom" nickname.
He probably would not have got the ticket out of town if he hadn't asked for more money. But he probably would not have fared well in New York

Bill
March 21, 2005
What sticks in my mind was the origins of his nickname (Boom-Boom) First boom off the bat, the second boom off the outfield wall.

Mark
August 27, 2005
Mets starting rotation circa 1980: Ray Burris, Pat Zachry, Mark Bomback, Pete Falcone, and Craig Swan. And Bomback was the "stopper". Yikes! Dosen't get much better than that!

JFK
March 24, 2006
Bomback got his nickname "Boom-Boom" by the sound one heard when he was pitching--the sound of the ball off the bat and the sound of the ball hitting the wall afterwards.

fatclemenenza
July 27, 2012
The only thing I remember about Mark Bomback, other that the fact that he wasn't very good, was Jerry Koosman joking that Bomback was a disgrace to Jerry's number (36)!

Craig Dougherty
September 26, 2013
I watched Mark throw a one hitter when I was playing right field in Kingsville, Texas circa 1964-65 for a youth league team (10-12 year olds). He had a guy named Possum Turcock (he was so short he had no strike zone and he walked half the time) come up to the plate from the opposing team, Turcock stuck his bat out on a screaming side arm fast ball; all it did was hit the bat, it looped a Texas Leaguer just over the second baseman's head and perfectly in front of me just far enough away to screw his no-hitter. I could not get to it on the dead run. I always felt bad about that, but it was perfectly placed, even if Turcocks' eyes were closed when he connected. He didn't even swing, the ball was thrown so hard that it went that far on contact.
His brother Hiram was the best 1st Baseman I ever saw for his age, he made a put out at first on a long infield throw from shortstop once by doing the complete splits off the first base bag and catching the ball forward of his right foot; he was a southpaw. I have never seen a first baseman ever duplicate that play in the minors or the majors; he was 12 when he did that!
We were coached by Mr. Huff. If anyone doubts this, contact Ruben Soliz, he still lives in the Kingsville, Texas area. His dad was stationed with mine at NAS Kingsville with the US Navy.

Alex
January 30, 2024
For all intents and purposes, Bomback wasn't a great pitcher for New York, but he did win 10 games and post a .500-plus winning percentage for a 67-95 club in 1980. He was the only Mets starter with a winning record that year.
He also helped bring Tom Seaver back to New York, in an indirect sort of way, as Charlie Puleo was one of the players traded to get Seaver back, and Bomback had been traded away from New York for Puleo.
In 2017, I wrote an autograph to Bomback through his home address, but he never responded.

Steve
March 27, 2024
I remember catching Mark in high school in 1970. He was a junior at the time and had great control of his pitches. His brother Herman was a year older and also was a great pitcher but got injured and never fully recovered. Mark helped Durfee High win the state championship in 1971.