Nolan and Paquin

Mets fans with a taste for trivia may remember the name Frank Estrada, who was part of one of the most infamous trades in Mets or baseball history. On December 10, 1971, Estrada, Don Rose and the young, flame-throwing pitcher Nolan Ryan were traded for the perennial All-Star shortstop Jim Fregosi. Fregosi failed to play for the Mets at his prior level of performance, while Ryan went on to pitch for more seasons than anyone in baseball history, obliterating records for most career no-hiters and total strikeouts and establishing standards for these categories that seem unchallengable.

The career of Frank Estrada (or rather Francisco Estrada, or Paquin, his Mexican League nickname) might seem, if you just checked his major league stats, the exact opposite of Ryan's unprecedentedly prolific career. Estrada, brought up to the Mets from the minors late in the 1971 season entered the first game of a double header at Shea against the Expos, on September 14, 1971. He replaced Jerry Grote behind the plate with the Mets trailing 12 to 0 in the top of the sixth. When the Expos' fifth batter of the inning came up, he allowed his first and last major league passed ball. Estrada, who was 23 years old, came up for his first major league at bat in the seventh with two outs and nobody on -- he knocked a single to left. In the botom of the 9th he came up again with two outs, the Mets still trailing 12-0, and grounded out to end the game (everybody in the park but Frank was probably rooting for an out). He never played in the majors again -- finishing his MLB career with a .500 batting average and 1 passed ball in four innings caught.

Estrada's sounds like an obscure career but his life in baseball has actually turned out much more like that of Nolan Ryan's than most fans are likely aware. Indeed, Paquin Estrada has had one of the most illustrious careers in the long history of the Mexican proessional baseball, catching more games than anyone in the history of the Meican leagues, or indeed more games than anyone in the minor leagues, in the US or Mexico. Nolan Ryan pitched in an astounding 27 seasons in the US major leagues, from 1966 to 1993, missing only 1967 during that span. Yet the man he was traded with, Franscisco Estrada, was playing professionally in the top Mexican leagues in 1966 and he actually went Ryan one year better -- Estrada's final season as a player was 1994! And Estrada has continued to play a huge role in Mexican baseball, as a top manager for many, many years, winning numerous titles. The Mexican national team that knocked the US team out of the 2006 World Baseball Classic was managed by none other than Paquin Estrada. He's a distinguished member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, and the current manager of the Chihuahua Dorados. I wonder if Nolan Ryan, who was born in southern Texas about a three hour drive from the Mexican border, has met Estrada since they were ever so briefly on the Mets together more than 36 years ago.

Ricardo Rincon was recently signed by the Mets to a minor league contract, with a chance to compete this spring for a chance at making the big club. Rincon would be the fifth Mets pitcher in history born in Mexico. Ollie Perez was the fourth, after Armando Reynoso, Juan Acevedo and Rigo Beltran. (The 1997 and 1998 Pirates, by the way, each had five pitchers from Mexico in a single season, including Rincon in his first two seasons in the majors). The Mets have had only three position players born in Mexico: Alex Trevino, Karim Garcia and, the Mexican-born player to play for the Mets, the catcher by the name of Francisco Estrada who went on to the Ryanesque career in his native country.