The Tidewater Tides themselves were famed for being a fantastic farm system for every
team in the league except the Mets... usually training some of the best "up
and coming" phenom players only so that the Mets front office would trade them
elsewhere in exchange for players who were washed up and at the end of their
careers. The New York Mets front office was (and still perhaps is) infamous for
making some of the worst trade mistakes in history and it certainly began right
here in 1970. At their previous ballpark the Mets had already begun by sending
.327 hitting Tidewater Tides' Amos Otis to the Royals for Joe Foy who only played
for 2 more seasons while Otis went on to a 17 year Gold Glove and 5x All-Star
career. The new Met Park based 1970's Tidewater Tides would no doubt follow
that horrible tradition as Ken Singleton came to town and on this stadium's inaugural
opening day in 1970, not only did he hit a home run to dead center field...
but he would be the one who would clear those trees in CF. Ken Singleton would
only play 64 games here and in just 219 At Bats, he would bat a whopping .388
with 16 2B, 17 HR, 46 RBI's and a mind-blowing .513 On Base Percentage to finish
his time here with a 1.216 OPS. Had he played a full season here, that Batting
average, On Base percentage and OPS would probably have set not only
the all time record for this stadium for its entire existence but for the entire
Norfolk region and perhaps even the entire International League. The Mets would
of course do what they do best and trade him away (for Rusty Staub). Singleton
would go on to lead the Majors in OBP in 1973 batting .302 with a .425 On
Base Percentage, then lead the Orioles to the World Series. The 3 time All-Star
would come in 2nd in MVP voting in 1979 when he had a massive 29 2B, 35 HR, 111
RBI, .295, .405 OBP season... the first of many players to come to this ballpark
and give Mets fans hope, only to be sent to superstardom elsewhere. The inaugural
Met Park 1970 team would also produce 16 year MLB veteran Tim Foli (10 2B,
6 HR, .261) and Leroy Stanton (19 HR, 94 RBI, .303 in 1970; 23 HR, 101 RBI,
.324 in 1971). |