That was a commercial for "The American Express Card: Don't leave home without it," from 1981. I have to admit, I didn't recognize him as a chef -- although I knew he was a chef. Every baseball fan knew that at the time. But once he put on the Mets cap, he was completely recognizable.
Sadly, that commercial doesn't appear to be on YouTube.
The "adorable redhead" was Rusty Staub.
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Daniel Joseph Staub was born on April 1, 1944, in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of many people from that State, and particularly from that City, who were descended from the Acadians of New France, in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Maine.
After the Seven Years War (known as the French and Indian War in America), the British expelled a lot of French people from what became Canada, and many of them settled in what was still French-controlled territory, in Louisiana. "Acadian" became "Cajun." Staub was not the only New York baseball legend of the 1970s and '80s to be one: So is former Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry.
Just as having very light blond hair gave the nickname "Whitey" to Edward Charles Ford, Don Richard Ashburn and Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog, Daniel Joseph Staub had very red hair, and was nicknamed "Rusty."
He wasn't rusty at the plate, though, starring for New Orleans' Jesuit High School. He's not the only ballplayer who graduated from that school: Others include father and son Larry and Charlie Gilbert, former manager Connie Ryan, Putsy Caballero of the Philadelphia Phillies' 1950 "Whiz Kids," and Will "the Thrill" Clark. Other sports figures include father and son football players John and Richie Petitbon, All-Pro safety Steve Foley, and University of Florida basketball coach Michael White.
In 1961, he was signed by one of the expansion teams that would debut the next year, the Houston Colt .45's. The other would be the Mets, the team with whom he would finish his career.
The Colts began their history the opposite way of the Mets: Instead of bringing in lots of veterans whom fans would recognize and pay to come and watch, they invested in young players. Although, as it turned out, the Mets dumped this strategy in 1967 and started over, and each team ended up getting into their 1st Pennant race in 1969 -- and while the Astros tailed off in September, the Mets won the whole thing.
Rusty made his major league debut on April 9, 1963, just after his 19th birthday. The Colts hosted the San Francisco Giants at Colt Stadium, a 33,000-seat temporary structure that was to be used until the Astrodome could open. Rusty wore Number 10, played right field, and batted 4th. Batting against Jack Sanford, he drew a walk against Jack Sanford in the 2nd inning, flew out to right in the 4th, and singled home a run in the 6th. Against Jack Fisher, he popped up to 2nd in the 8th. But Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou all hit home runs, and the Giants beat the Colts 9-2.
Officially, the team was the "Colt .45's,"
complete with decimal point and apostrophe.
But because of the uniform, "Colts" was frequently used.
Rusty batted only .224 that rookie season, but the Colts, who changed their name to the Astros in 1965, were willing to let their young players develop. By 1966, age 22, Rusty was a .280 hitter. In 1967, he batted .333, led the National League with 44 doubles, 10 home runs and 74 RBIs, and made his 1st All-Star Game. The next year, he made it again, with the All-Star Game held at the Astrodome.
But Montreal fans loved him. They saw him as a fellow Frenchman, and turned his nickname into "Le Grand Orange." (Pronounced "Oh-RANZH.") But while many people from New Orleans, in acknowledgement of the city's French heritage, can speak French, Rusty couldn't: "I couldn't talk to a child. I couldn't say something encouraging. I felt like I was not doing my job, not being able to respond to the media in some basic form." So he learned the language, and became even more popular. In 1970, he had career highs to that point with 30 home runs and 94 RBIs.
This trade could well have decided the 1973 NL Eastern Division race. True, Singleton was a good hitter, and did well in Montreal before moving on to Baltimore and then becoming a Yankee broadcaster. But in a wild race, one of the few 5-team races in baseball history, the Mets won the Division by a game and a half over the St. Louis Cardinals, 2 1/2 over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3 1/2 over the Expos and 5 over the Chicago Cubs.
Rusty could well have made the difference for the Mets. Wearing Number 4, as 10 was worn by catcher Duffy Dyer, he batted .279, hit 15 home runs and had 79 RBIs, and played fine defense in right field. As relief pitcher Frank "Tug" McGraw gave them the rallying cry, "Ya gotta believe!", the Mets went just 82-79, but it was enough to win the Division, the fewest wins of any 1st-place team in a season of at least 145 games in Major League Baseball history.
In the NL Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Rusty hit a home run in Game 2, and hit 2 of them in Game 3. In the 11th inning of Game 4, he made a catch that robbed Dan Driessen of at least a double, but crashed into the outfield fence. The Mets won Game 5 without him to take their 2nd Pennant in 5 seasons, but he was unable to play in Game 1 of the World Series against the Oakland Athletics. Although he hit another home run in Game 4, his inability to throw properly may have cost the Mets, and they lost the Series in 7 games.
Rusty was never the same fielder, and his love of cooking was beginning to catch up with him, as he put on weight. He was now, basically, a designated hitter in a League that didn't use it. In 1975, his 105 RBIs made him the 1st Met to have more than 100 in a season.
But, after the season, yet again, he was involved in a dumb trade: The Mets sent him and Bill Laxton to the Detroit Tigers for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin. (Not the actor.)
Lolich was one of the heroes of the Tigers' 1968 and 1972 postseason runs, and then had more strikeouts than any lefthanded pitcher in history. But he was washed up. Rusty, on the other hand, was revitalized by the short right field porch at Tiger Stadium. His batting average of .299 was his highest in 5 years, and he made the All-Star Game for the 6th and last time.
In each of the next 2 seasons, Rusty topped 100 RBIs, including a career-best 121 in 1978. He finished 5th in the voting for the American League's Most Valuable Player, the closest he would ever get to an MVP. But at age 35, his batting average dropped from .273 in 1978 to .244 in 1979, and the Tigers traded him, and he returned to Montreal. At the start of the 1980 season, the Expos traded him to the Texas Rangers, for whom he hit .300 in 340 at-bats.
The Mets got good again, but Rusty made only 134 plate appearances in 1984 and 1985, including in the July 4, 1985 thriller in Atlanta, the rain-delayed 19-inning "Rick Camp Game."
It was in the top of the 19th inning, and he was sent up to bat for pitcher Tom Gorman. John Sterling, then broadcasting for the Braves, said, "It looks like Rusty Staub may pinch-hit here, and it will be Babe Ruth." By this point, there was a resemblance to the Bambino, in the face as well as in the gut. Camp walked Rusty intentionally, and, having to remain on base because he was the last available nonpitcher, he managed to score a key run in that inning that began tied 11-11 and ended 16-13 to the Mets.
He finished his career with a .279 batting average, a 124 OPS+, 2,716 hits and 292 home runs. He remains the only player to collect at least 500 hits with 4 different teams: 792 with Houston, 709 with the Mets, 582 with Detroit and 531 with Montreal, plus 102 with Texas.
He was also the 2nd player in major league history, after Ty Cobb, to hit a home run both before his 20th birthday and after his 40th birthday. The Georgia Peach and Le Grand Orange have since been joined by only 1 other player: Gary Sheffield.
The next season, with the All-Star Game again at the Astrodome, Rusty was named Honorary Captain for the National League, and wore a Colt .45's uniform.
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Should Rusty Staub be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? For what he did with the Colts/Astros, he was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. For what he did with the Expos, they honored him by retiring his Number 10, and he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. For what he did with the Mets, they honored him by electing him to their team Hall of Fame. And for what he did with all his teams, his home State elected him to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. But is he worthy of Cooperstown?
Baseball-Reference.com, a website which is your friend whether you know it or not, has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," at which it defines a "Likely HOFer" at 100; Rusty comes in at 59. It also has a "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career statistics, and defines the "Average HOFer" at 50; Rusty comes in at 38. He is one of the few players who does better at the latter category, but he still doesn't make it.
B-R also has "Similarity Scores," at which it compares a player to other players, weighted most (but not entirely) toward players who played the same position. Of Rusty's top 10, 2 are in the Hall: Tony Perez and Brooks Robinson; 4 are close calls: Dave Parker, Harold Baines, Steve Garvey and Al Oliver; 3 were perhaps a step below that: Chili Davis, Garret Anderson and Torii Hunter; and 1 should not be considered, as he was almost certainly a steroid cheat: Luis Gonzalez.
Are there mitigating factors? Not really. Rusty didn't have a particularly notable stat that would boost his qualification. 2,716 is a lot of hits: Of players eligible for the Hall but not yet in it, and not tainted by steroid accusations, only Baines and Oliver have more. (UPDATE: Baines has since been elected.) And while he played much of his career in the pitching-friendly Astrodome and Shea Stadium, he also had 3 full seasons at Tiger Stadium, which probably gave him back a few of the homers he lost in Houston and Flushing. A total of 292, while impressive, is not a Hall-worthy number.
He wasn't a good baserunner, only once stealing more than 10 bases in a season, and 5 times grounding into at least 20 double plays, twice leading the NL. And after his 1973 injury, he wasn't a good outfielder anymore. He only reached the postseason once, though he made the most of it. If character counts, then he's closer. But, I'm sorry to say, Rusty Staub should not be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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As a player. He became a Met broadcaster, in time to call their 1986 World Championship season, and a generation of fans who didn't remember him as a great hitter -- maybe as a good pinch-hitter -- became fans of his. Maybe he will eventually receive the Ford Frick Award, tantamount to election to the Hall for broadcasters.
Also in 1986, he founded the Rusty Staub Foundation, to provide educational scholarships for youth and to fight hunger; and the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, to help widows and orphans of policemen, firemen, and emergency medical personnel. To do the same thing, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner founded the Silver Shield Foundation. Both organizations were heavily involved in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which endeared Rusty to yet another generation of New Yorkers.
In 1977, he opened Rusty Staub's, specializing in French and New Orleans-style cooking. It was on the Upper East Side, at 1271 3rd Avenue at 73rd Street. For a while, it was one of the most popular gathering places for New York baseball fans, but it has been pointed out that it was a serious restaurant, and not a "sports bar." He opened a 2nd restaurant, on 5th Avenue, Rusty's On Fifth. Both closed in the 1990s.
He attended reunions for the 1973 Mets, and was on hand for the closing ceremony of Shea Stadium in 2008. In 2015, he suffered a heart attack on a flight from Dublin to New York, and had to be revived. Just 11 days later, he threw out the ceremonial first ball before a Met Playoff game at Citi Field. The following April, he was one of the former Mets invited to raise the previous season's National League Pennant up the flagpole.
My grandmother, who was a Brooklyn Dodger fan while Rickey ran that team, and a Met fan while Rusty was with them, suspected that Rusty was gay, but she remained a fan of his. Rusty never commented on his personal life during his lifetime. Whatever the truth was, I hope he was content with it.
His heart trouble returned, and he developed kidney trouble as well. He was one of several 1973 Mets who have had serious health difficulties recently: 1st baseman Ed Kranepool also needs a kidney transplant, shortstop Bud Harrelson has Alzheimer's disease. and pitcher Tom Seaver, while hardly debilitated, has been dealing with Lyme disease for many years. (UPDATE: While Kranepool got his new kidney in 2019, that year, it was announced that Seaver is also dealing with dementia.)
Rusty Staub died today, March 29, 2018, of a heart attack brought on by kidney failure, at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was just short of his 74th birthday. He was survived by his brother Chuck, and his sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson.
Also from the '73 Mets, pitcher Bob Miller died in a car crash in 1993, catcher Jerry May in a farming accident in 1996, 1st baseman John Milner of cancer in 2000, Tug McGraw of cancer in 2004, 1st baseman Jim Beauchamp of leukemia in 2007, pitcher Harry Parker of natural causes in 2012, pitcher Ray Sadecki of cancer in 2014, 3rd baseman Jim Fregosi of a stroke in 2014, pitcher Phil Hennigan of cancer in 2016, and pitcher Tommy Moore of natural causes last November.
Still alive: Pitchers Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, Jim McAndrew, George Stone, Craig Swan, Bob Apodaca, Buzz Capra, John Strohmayer and Hank Webb; catchers Duffy Dyer, Jerry Grote and Ron Hodges; infielders Kranepool, Harrelson, Ken Boswell, Wayne Garrett, Ted Marintez, Felix Millan, Brian Ostrosser and Lute Barnes; and outfielders Cleon Jones, Don Hahn, George Theodore, Rich Chiles, Jim Gosger, Dave Schneck, Greg Harts... and Willie Mays.
UPDATE: Rusty Staub was cremated, so there is no gravesite. John Strohmayer died on November 28, 2019.
Nice overview of Rusty; a charter member of the Hall of Very Good; but a Hall of Fame humanitarian in his adopted home town. Remembering him on what would have been his 76th birthday.
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