JUPITER, Fla. — It was the early days of free agency in all sports, so there was nothing to compare it to. That was all we knew. John Riggins became the first player in Jets history to gain 1,000 yards in a season in 1975. His contract was expiring. He was paid $63,000 that year. he wanted more.
“Joe Namaste Money” was a phrase used by his attorney, Bob Billings.
The Jets had already paid Joe Namath Joe Namath money, and no one, not even an elite bell-cow running back, was going to match that. They offered him $100,000, his one-fifth of that amount, and urged him to “go see what you can get elsewhere.” So Riggins embarked on his spring 1976 tour to Houston, Minnesota, and New Orleans.
The Jets said they would ease his terms and move him up based on incentives. Riggins knew the Jets would never be a ground-and-pound team, with Namath still dominating the Jets’ backfield. He resumed touring and headed to Los Angeles. To Washington.
And Riggins finally got there, signing a five-year, $1.5 million contract with George Allen’s team on June 10, choosing Washington over the Vikings or Rams. The Jets didn’t even get a callback, and under the system at the time, the compensation was zero.
“He’s replaceable,” Jets coach Lou Holtz said. “We have a choice.” That choice turned out to be free agent running back Ed Marinaro. He was a hell of an actor in 1982’s “Hill Street Blues,” but he was the guy who gained exactly 312 yards as a Jet in 1976.
For years, it has stood the test of time as a gold standard of sorts. The New York team didn’t know what it was, thought they could do better, and thought they could take a few shots at the guy. How to get out the door. Riggins ended up getting a Super Bowl ring and a Hall of Fame bust. For the past 48 years, the Jets have been mostly bankrupt.
Zack Wheeler anyway.
He makes you think.
For now, he has as good a chance as anyone to eventually replace Riggins on Jets kickoffs. This is the worst decision one of our teams has ever made in not recognizing what they have and allowing him to wander. In pennies on the dollar.
The Phillies further reinforced their decision to pry Wheeler away four years ago, giving Wheeler a three-year, $126 million contract extension on Monday that will allow him to finish out the remainder of his age-37 season, likely in his prime. become.
“This is a first-class organization and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Wheeler said Monday.
Unsurprisingly, he looked a little happier than he did when the Mets decided to send him south after the 2019 season. As you may recall, at the time, Wheeler revisited the Mets to see if they wanted to make his last and best offer, revealing, “What I offered was just cricket,” and added: I added this for added effect: I don’t think everyone was on the same page. ”
Brodie Van Wagenen, the page’s chief architect and the man who bid Wheeler farewell, took the “don’t knock on the door” line even further than Holtz’s. What we expected from Zack didn’t quite match the market he was able to enjoy, either in the short or long term. ” and he added his own mic drop. “We helped him capitalize on two good half-seasons in the last five years. $118 million.”
All Wheeler accomplished with the Phillies was a 43-25 record, 3.06 ERA, and three top-12 Cy Young Awards (second place in 2021) in his four years with the Phillies. Adding to the poignancy is the fact that he clearly wanted to stay and was clearly on the upswing at Metropolitan in his later years after enduring two Tommy John surgeries.
And then it hit the limited edition shelves, and along with John Riggins, Daniel Murphy also fled to Washington, D.C. (“I want that back,” Sandy Alderson admitted, eight years too late), and Bernard King, too. He’s another New Yorker who was banished to the District after two years of rehabbing a blown out knee. King averaged 22 points per game as a bullet. His replacement, Sidney Green, played two underwhelming seasons as a Knick, averaging seven.
It happens. In fact, the Yankees once locked him up after doing a dangerous dance with Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter. The seeds of these deals were probably harvested years ago, after George Steinbrenner called it his “biggest regret” as an owner, signing Reggie Jackson as a free agent after the 1982 season. When he sent him out, at that moment he called Reggie “pretty much a singles player,” but now he’s a hitter. ”
Wheeler had some good games against the Mets, but on April 27, 1982, in his first game back at the stadium, Jackson took a hit into the upper deck facing from Ron Guidry that caused a characteristic Reggie-like hit. The moment of retribution has not yet arrived. Fans took turns shouting “Reg-GIE!” “Steinbrenner is the worst!”
But Wheeler had four more years left to get there.
