Have You Met...?

1981 Fleer, #318

A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Alex Trevino was signed by the Mets as an undrafted free agent in 1974.  His major league debut came in 1978, thus beginning a modest 13-year MLB career.  Alex spent his first four seasons in Flushing, appearing in 247 games.  His best season as a Met occurred in 1980, when he and John Stearns split primary catching duties.  That season Trevino caught a team-high 86 games and batted .256 with a career-best 37 RBIs.

But, Trevino's notoriety in Mets annals has more to do with who he was traded for, rather than what he did in Queens.  On February 10, 1982, New York shipped a package that included Trevino, Greg Harris and Jim Kern to Cincinnati for high profile slugger George Foster.  A rather underwhelming package for a past MVP it would seem, though Foster never lived up to his name or contract as a Met and was a mostly cantankerous presence in the clubhouse and beyond.  In other words, a typical Mets transaction!

Trevino would only play two-plus seasons in Cincy before bouncing around the league, making stops in Atlanta, San Francisco, L.A., and Houston.  Late season 1990, Alex came full circle and signed with the Mets.  But, he only appeared in nine games and contributed just three hits and an RBI during that particular cup of coffee.  He would make one more cameo in as a Red that same season before calling it a career.

Alex Trevino hit 23 big league home runs over his 13 seasons, yet none of them occurred in a Mets uniform. This is in spite of the fact that he played more games (256) and had more ABs (733) as a Met than he did with any of his other four teams.  Weird.

Trevino, I'm told, works as the analyst for the Houston Astros' Spanish radio broadcasts.

MK