With the offseason here, let’s commence our Friday conversation series. I think of them as more “conversations” than “interviews,” as I like them to be more casual than inquisitional.
On Oct. 30, just hours before the baseball season concluded with the Red Sox’s World Series title, I spoke with Cardinals third-base coach Jose Oquendo, whom Mets fans of a certain age will remember as someone who looked like their shortstop of the future – a defensive whiz, at a time when you didn’t expect your shortstops to hit much – until the Mets dealt him to the Cardinals on April 2, 1985.
Oquendo backed away from me when I first approached him, but it turned out he was trying to protect me. He had the flu. Nevertheless, he took a few questions before the Cardinals began batting practice.
KD: I was wondering what you remember about those early days with the Mets. You were there when they started under Davey, when they started becoming a good team. What do you remember about that team?
JO: I was there a short period of time. Davey was there. I think George Bamberger was there. Then Frank [Howard] took over. The following year, I had only a little bit of time with Davey before I got traded.
KD: Could you tell they were going to be a very talented team, with Strawberry and Gooden?
JO: Oh, yeah. Strawberry, Gooden, myself, [Kevin] Mitchell. We all came up through the minor-league system together. So it was a bunch of young guys coming up who were going to be pretty good. Kind of like some guys coming through here [in St. Louis].
KD: So was there disappointment when you were traded in …’84, right? (Note: Wrong. It was ’85).
JO: Yeah, but that’s a long time ago. You’re always disappointed when the team that you grew up with gives you up in a trade. But you’ve got to move on and forget about it.
KD: But as they went onto win the World Series in ’86, you obviously had some success with the Cardinals…
JO: I’ve been here a long time. I got traded in ’85. That’s a long time.
KD: But as that was happening in ’86, you didn’t feel any regrets that you missed out on the ’86 Mets?
JO: No. That’s part of what baseball is. Guys are going to get traded. Guys are going to be disappointed when they do. But the good players move on and become better.
KD: You have two rings here as a coach.
JO: Yeah.
KD: Yeah. Pretty good. I’m curious, how cold does it have to get for you to go with the hoodie when you’re coaching?
JO: For me, I come from warm weather. So it can be not that bad, but it gets cold for me. So basically now that I’ve got the flu, it makes it worse.
KD: Is there a number, a temperature number where you know, ‘All right, I’m going to wear the hoodie tonight’?
JO: I’m not going to wear the hoodie tonight.
KD: 50 degrees? Or 40 degrees?
JO: Around 40-something.
KD: 40-something?
JO: 50 is not that bad. Depends on the wind. If the wind is blowing, I’ll wear it. If not, I won’t.
KD: Can I ask you one more? You gotta go? You’d still like to manage someday, right?
JO: We’ll see. I’m not even thinking about that now. Right now I’m thinking about what’s going on right now with this team. Hopefully we can do something tonight.
KD: I was just going to ask about being bilingual and how important that is to relate to players nowadays.
JO: It’s a big advantage. Not just myself. I think every organization should have one, a bilingual guy, on the team. Here, they’ve got two. They’ve got Victor [Rodriguez] and [Juan] Nieves, the pitching coach. That helps a lot. You can communicate with a lot of these young guys that, even though they speak both languages, it’s easy to express yourself in their native language.
KD: Thanks for your time. Feel better.
JO: All right.