Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Tim Teufel

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!

flushing flash
Who will ever forget the famous Teufel Shuffle? If he hadn't been so plug-ugly, the girls would have screamed every time he swiveled his hips and shook his butt. Unfortunately, as my sister often said, he looked like he needed corrective neck surgery.

He was one of the "Cooter's Four" in that Houston bar brawl, was he not?

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.

murphy
Two memories of Teufel, one good one bad. Of course the bad one was letting the grounder go through his legs to cost the Mets Game 1 of the '86 Series. The good memory....kicking the crap out of Rob Dibble on the mound at Shea after getting beaned. I will always love him for that.

Me
February 28, 2001
To the Flushing Flash: Tuffie was one of the guys who got busted at Cooter's? Damn, if so, I'd totally forgotten that. I always remembered Tuff as one of the bible-study dudes on the team.

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.

Steve
July 21, 2001
I played with and against Timmy in Little League and up through Babe Ruth League. I played next to him (2nd) when he played short for the K of C in the Senior Babe Ruth League in Greenwich. Tim was a great person to play with. He was always a great line drive hitter. When he joined the Mets and shared duties with Backman, he provided a strong bat and decent glove for our '86 team. My greatest memory was during Tim's worst moment as a Met. He let the ball on under his glove in the post season to lose a close game. After the game, he faced every reporter, held is head high, and took the blame like a man. Tim was a class act and a hitter.

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

Mike Michela
November 19, 2001
I was at that game when Dibble of Cincy beaned Tim square in the back right between the numbers. Tim was 5-5 that day. One of the best fights I ever seen. Remember Juan Samuel and his karate kick to some Red player behind home plate.

Al
November 24, 2001
Always liked this guy as a Met. Everytime he came up, Murphy would announce that he would like to see Teufel face Jim Gott "because Teufel is German for devil and Gott is German for God!" Murph, you crack my stones! A friend of mine also sees Teufel regularly at a golf tournament in Greenwich.

gene
December 20, 2001
I remember Teufel facing Jim Gott.... and somebody mentioning that Teufel and Gott translates to Devil and God in Germany... Who do you think won that duel??

Yorkwriter
January 23, 2002
When he was in the field, we used to call him Tim Awful. Hands of stone, no arm.

revolve
February 5, 2002
Ah yes, Tim Teufel. Many memories here. There's that Teufel Shuffle--the little hip wiggle he did when setting up in the batter's box. And there's also seeing a picture of his family in the back of the yearbook every year (his son always looked really unhappy). But my favorite moment is Game 1 of the 1986 World Series. Seated in Section 47, Row M, seat 4 of the Upper Deck, I sat in front of a woman who absolutely hated the man. Despite facing the lefty Bruce Hurst, she did NOT want to see Teufel out there (though she didn't mention any affinity for Backman, but anyway). The whole game this woman rode Teufel hard. Every at bat, from his walk from the on-deck circle, all the way until the at-bat was over, she had nothing good to say about the man, yet talked constantly about him. When the 7th inning arrived, and Teufel let Rich Gedman's grounder go through his legs, she really let him have it. Seeing as I was 8, my jaw dropped to the cement ground below as this woman unleashed an expletive-laced tirade the likes of which sailors don't often dispatch. Had she been much louder, her acid tongue might have gotten her ejected, but thankfully, she was far happier a few nights later for Game 7, understandably so.

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.

Bob
July 2, 2002
How about when Teufel batted against RHP Jim Gott? That, in German, is God against the Devil!

Metsmind
December 30, 2002
I sat with Tim at Shea about 3 summers ago, when he was working as a Mets scout in the San Diego area. This was a day or so after Valentine's coaches had been fired. We talked about his days with the Mets, and laughed so much. (Randy Niemann had been on of the guys involved in the coaching change-- see my comments on him!)

Tim's son was there, but Tim didn't hold back on his story telling. David Wells was pitching for the Blue Jays vs the Mets that night, but neither of us saw much of the game, we were trading so many stories, and he REALLY loved hearing this fan's memories of 1986 as much as I loved hearing his. Great guy-- love to go to a ballgame with him anytime.

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.

Pete Ceppo
December 14, 2004
Tim Teufel is a class act! I happen to have the opportunity to coach his son Shawn in High School. Tim would work with our team whenever his schedule would allow him. He is a great all around guy with a passion for helping others. Tim's son Shawn has a great left handed swing. He will be playing college baseball next year for a Div. I program. Shawn and Tim are both outstanding individuals.

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!

Putbeds 1986
February 12, 2006
Yes, he was one of the Cooter's 4. They were celebrating the birth of Tim's son. I'll always remember the front page of the Sunday New York Daily News where on the top it had: 4 Mets ACCUSED IN BAR BRAWL and the rest of the page had a big picture of Caroline Kennedy in her wedding dress and she's posing by telling people to be quiet and the banner read: SHHH!!! I'M GETTING MARRIED! Never forgot that.

Steve
June 12, 2007
Tim is now managing the Mets' Class A team in Savannah, the Sand Gnats. I saw them sweep a double- header from the Rome Braves last night - perhaps the highlight of what is so far a last place campaign. Tim looks a lot thinner than I remember him from his playing days and managed to ignore the "Fire Tim" yells from some of the "regulars." And for somebody I don't remeber as a base-stealer, his players were running like there was somebody chasing them in both games of the twin-bill.

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.

Howard
February 3, 2011
I remember meeting Tim as a kid at a public appearance. Twenty years later I met him again, and he was a class act and a real nice guy. I always thought he got the short end of the stick with the Mets - always overshadowed by Backman or Jefferies. Teufel could crush any fastball and was a doubles machine. I would have loved to see what he could do if he played full-time. Glad to see that he's been promoted to manage AAA in 2011.

PJ
May 24, 2014
Teufel signed his '89 card for me at a shopping mall in Westchester. It was the one time a Met signed something for me - I was just never into it and always felt awkward around people I didn't know well. Anyway, Tim looked eager and was wearing his World Series ring that day. A very quiet guy, very respectable.

Teufel deserved to be a regular infielder. He really should've played shortstop every day, but Johnson was platoon-crazy had a thing for using Santana. He took a lot of heat for the Buckner-style error in game 1 of the Series but it would've helped if we scored runs! A very underrated clutch hitter who spent too much of his career on the bench.

O. B. White
July 21, 2019
In the '86 World Series, Tim was the unlucky victim of lightning striking twice against the Mets. He was a second baseman who made an error that left the team behind for good in a Series opening game. Teufel saw a ground ball go between his legs and the Red Sox scored the only run for an early Series lead. Just like Felix Millan thirteen years before, Tim had a two-out grounder get under him as the opponent broke a tie and went ahead to stay.

The strange thing about the play is that Tim raised his glove in reacting to a rising bounce. The ball then sank back down and he couldn't readjust in time. This was the same exact thing that happened to Millan on his '73 Series miscue. It was a very eerie case of deja vu!

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).