Where are they Now: 3rd baseman Hubie Brooks

It has been a while since we did a where are now feature. It is something we both enjoy doing since we get a glimpse of a player that probably has faded from the Met fan consciousness. Here is our latest .

Before the likes of David Wright, Robin Ventura, Howard Johnson the Mets always had issues finding good 3rd baseman’s that could hit and field the position. During the early to mid 70’s Wayne Garrett was the Mets regular 3rd baseman but he really didn’t for much of an average. So we had guys like Roy Staiger, Lenny Randle and Richie “digs ditches”Hebner .Well then the Mets finally made a good draft pick and in the early 80’s the Mets landed a star in his own right on a team that was going nowhere named Hubie Brooks.

Hubie was the 3rd player selected in the June 1978 draft for the Mets and made the big league club in 1980. In 1981 he hit .307 with 4 homers and finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year balloting behind Tim Raines and some guy named Fernando Valenzuela. In 1984 he had his best year with the Mets when he hit 283 with 16 homers and 73 rbi’s. He was of course over shadowed by Darryl Strawberry but he was a consistent 3rd baseman with a great arm.


The Mets looking for a difference maker traded Brooks after the ’84 season to the Expos along with a couple of other Mets to obtain Gary Carter. Brooks did return to the Mets for the ’91 season and played the outfield. Brooks played out his career with the Angels and the Royals before retiring at the age of 37 after the stroke shortened ’94 season. He is 4th all time on the Mets with playing 516 games at 3rd base only behind Wayne Garrett, Ho Jo and of course David Wright.

Earlier this year the NY Daily News did a feature on Brooks who is now 53, After he retired he moved back to the Los Angeles area, where he grew up. "I came on back home and had a daughter and we've been raising her," Brooks says of he and his wife Nedjin. "I haven't been in baseball at all. I've been able to be home.

On playing with the Mets during the early 80’s "The best thing that happened to me was to start my career where and when I did," I really enjoyed it. To see it change, it was so exciting to see." Here is the article from the NY Daily News 


Well we wish the best to Hubie and maybe we will see sometime at Old timers day at Citi Field.