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Bernard Gilkey
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 128 of 1252 players
Otis Bernard Gilkey
Born: September 24, 1966 at St. Louis, Mo.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.00 Weight: 190

Bernard Gilkey was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on March 11, 2011, April 27, 2012, and November 14, 2012.

First Mets game: April 1, 1996
Last Mets game: July 30, 1998

Share your memories of Bernard Gilkey HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY: Blade "Money, money, money, monnneey!" Bernard was a true pro, and a great Met. In 1996, he had an MVP year for the Mets, even though he got blackballed in the all star voting. That was just a precursor to the black balling that Bobby Valentine would inflict on Bernard. Ever the professional, Bernard kept quiet about his lack of respect for Valentine, and played hard every day. I still go to the ballpark with a sign saying bring back Bernard - the greatest Met to ever wear #23. Mr. Sparkle The most amazing one year career ever. The guy was awesome for one year. He was clutch, he had power, he hit for average, he set a team RBI record. And then nothing! Zip. What the hell happened to this guy? Even after being traded he's done absolutely nothing. How can one guy be so dominant one year and then fall off the table after that? Good thing we got rid of him. He was a great defensive right fielder though. Joe "Metsie" Feltman Only Met ever to appear in a blockbuster movie...He starred in "Men in Black" ... He got hit on the head with a flyball as he watched a UFO fly over Shea Stadium. Pretty funny. murphy An absolute stud in 1996, Gilkey is the epitome of the guy whose bat gets slow in a single season. Matt Franco is going through the same thing right now. Shipped out to Arizona for Willie Blair and Jorge Fabregas...and he's only gotten worse. Released outright by Arizona, and they have so many injury problems it's a joke. Boston is so desperate they signed him. cj February 3, 2001 i was at a game in 1997 when bernard hit a homer to help the Mets beat cincinnati he really crushed that ball. murphy May 5, 2001 Boy, the Braves are truly desperate. They called up Gilkey yesterday. Struck out in his first appearance to end the game. Glad to see he hasn't gotten any better with a Braves uniform on. I'll never understand how this guy's bat speed abandoned him so quickly. Mr. Sparkle November 10, 2001 He just plead guilty to drunken driving for the 3rd time. He faces up to 6 years in the can. What a loser! murphy November 13, 2001 After reading about all of those DWI arrests, now I know what happened to his bat speed. He drank it away. Big Ben December 1, 2001 This guy had a cannon in leftfield. I went to a game in '97 against the Phils. Late in the game, the Mets were leading by a fair amount. Anyway, Scott Rolen drilled a pitch into the leftfield corner, and Kevin Stocker tried score from first. Gilkey threw a bullet, no hop, from the wall to nail Stocker at the plate. Too bad dhe drank away his career, he was a great hitter. 1-DaWg January 17, 2002 After starring in "M.I.B." - Bernard's head inflated quicker than a spalding basketball. What a waste this guy was/is....he was the second Met to be in a major movie [Kevin Elster in Little Big League] - I hear he pulled some strings in Hollywood for Ron Darling to get that 2 second role in "Shallow Hal" too. - I'm sure if you stop by the bar in Shea, you'll find him and Hundley knockin' a few back. Then drive home a few hours later.....cheers, boys..... Mr. Sparkle January 19, 2002 Just sentenced to 4 years in the joint for drunk driving. How patheric do you have to be to actually get time for DWI. Bernard have you ever heard of AA? bobby b January 22, 2002 Just wanted to share that in early '98 season me and my son had just rushed home to catch the Mets game on t.v, and when we did Jeff Torborg was announcing the game, and Gilkey happened to be up at bat. And all we heard Torborg say was: here's Gilkey at the plate and "he's still got potential." Then all you heard was a "crack" and that ball was long gone, lol. I'll remember that forever, me and my son joke to this day about it because of the timing of it.=) Just a short note to the people that condemn Bernard for his off field actions. Hey, the guy made some mistakes - no one's perfect. If theres a perfect person out there, then let you cast the first stone in the glass house. God speed, Bernard. Jim Snedeker January 25, 2002 Yeah, nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. But I hardly call driving drunk and thus knowingly endangering the lives of other people a "mistake." A mistake is when you forget to pay your phone bill. What he did was a crime. Larry Burns May 24, 2002 Awesome for a year, complete booze hound thereafter. Another waste of potential in a stellar athlete. I guess the fact that he performed only one time makes his less known then his other substance abusing brethern. I loved his appearance in Men In Black---highlight of his Met career! Larry Burns November 13, 2002 Until someone changes it, he will be known as the guy who hit the most doubles in a season for the Mets. Hard to believe this reject actually has a positive record of any kind. Rumored to be auditioning for a recurrent role on HBO's OZ series. Good Luck Bernie! Marc Weinstein March 17, 2004 I've seen a bunch of posts here talking about how Gilkey's bat speed suddenly disappeared. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he have some sort of eye problem? (I can't remember if this was known at the time or found out later.) I seem to remember him having the lasick surgery after leaving the Mets, being very optimistic...and then hitting .200. But I might be confusing him with someone else. r kleinke October 20, 2004 In his best season he was one of the best right handed hitters the Mets ever had. He hit the ball like a rocket and I'll always remember the TV replay (that showed him just before he swung and hit a home run) with his eyes completely open and similar to a Honeymooners episode in which Ralph Kramden has his eyes wide open as he's trying to watch the late late show on TV. He did it in his own Gilkey Way. JFK September 24, 2005 Had one of the best seasons ever for a Met in 1996 and then never was the same. Last LF prior to Floyd to hit 30 homers in a season and the last LF to drive in over 100 RBIs in a season. Jonathan Stern January 17, 2006 The 1996 performances of Gilkey, Todd Hundley, and Lance Johnson gave me reason to believe despite 91 losses. Give the Mets credit: they started winning with Bobby Valentine from 1997 on while the above three evaporated into nothing (Hundley took more time to do so than the other two). If you had told me after 1996 that Gilkey would become invisible and Johnson would be gone after season's end, I would have been one depressed Mets fan. But they won anyway. Raffybabe April 24, 2012 Despite his off the field problems, I was a big fan of Bernard Gilkey and continued to follow his career after he left the Mets. Unfortunately, he never found the magic again. Does anyone know what he's doing today? Sha-Le September 28, 2012 Gilkey had quite an amazing year in 1996, but like Hundley, I'm pretty sure Gilkey was juicing up that year as well. Look at his career numbers before 96 and the 96 numbers. It looks pretty obvious. Maybe he stopped using them in 97 and 98, which caused him to regress back into the player he was before. He certainly got snubbed from the 1996 NL All-Star team. Nonetheless, thanks for the one great year in 96 and the decent 97 season! Maybe if he had hit in 98, the Mets could have made the postseason instead of missing it on the very last day. Also, if he had such a great arm in left field, why was he a left fielder? Usually, outfielders with great arms are in right field. Doctor Worm November 28, 2014 When Gilkey was traded by the Mets to the D-Backs in 1998, the D-Backs were on the hook for about $12MM in salary through 2000. At the time, they were trying to win on the cheap. So they deferred his money, much as the Wilpons did with Bonilla. As a result, the D-Backs are still paying Gilkey and will do so through 2017. He was last seen at the D-Backs 2014 fantasy camp, where he was no doubt the highest paid instructor. Reportedly he hopes to parlay that experience into a minor league coaching job. Doctor Worm May 27, 2020 Bernard Gilkey got the coaching job he was looking for. He was named co-hitting coach of the Cardinals Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League. Unfortunately it (along with everything else) is at this writing on hold due to COVID-19.

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