Robin Ventura
From The Met Wiki
Robin Ventura was a third baseman for the Mets from 1999 to 2001. He had 394 hits in 444 games with the team. Ventura had 77 home runs and 265 runs batted in as a Met.
Ventura joined the Mets after ten seasons with the Chicago White Sox. In the ’99 season, he had a .301 batting average and 311 total bases. From April 5 to April 15, Robin had a ten-game hitting streak in which he went 15-for-40 (.375) and drove in 11 runs. He became the first major league player ever to hit grand slams in both games of a doubleheader as the Mets defeated the Brewers 11-10 and 10-1 on May 20 at Shea Stadium. Ventura hit three-run homers in consecutive innings in a 10-4 Mets win at Florida on June 28. At San Francisco on August 15, he had a single, a double and a grand slam in the Mets’ 12-5 victory over the Giants. Robin singled, doubled, homered and drove in four runs in a 9-5 Mets’ triumph at Houston on September 1. He also had a homer and a run-scoring single in the 11th inning to give the Mets a 3-2 victory over the Pirates on October 1 at Shea.
On October 17, 1999, Ventura had an RBI single in the 15th inning for a 4-3 Mets win over the Braves in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. The bases-loaded hit cleared the right-center field wall for an apparent grand slam. However, Robin was mobbed by his jubilant teammates between first and second and was unable to circle the bases. Only one run scored on the play. This became known as Ventura’s “grand slam single”.
In 2000, Ventura had 24 home runs and 84 RBIs. He had a total of 109 hits in the Mets’ Wild Card and pennant-winning season. At Pittsburgh on April 16, Robin had three hits, a sacrifice fly and six runs batted in as the Mets defeated the Pirates, 12-9. He hit a grand slam in a 10-7 Mets win over the Brewers on April 18 at Shea. Ventura hit a three-run homer in the Mets’ 12-8 victory at St. Louis on May 27. He homered twice in a 10-8 Mets triumph over the Pirates on June 24 at Shea. Robin had two doubles and four RBIs in the Mets’ 10-3 win at Houston on August 10. He also had a two-run double and a sacrifice fly in a 10-6 Mets triumph over the Cardinals in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on October 15 at Shea.
Ventura played in 142 games for the Mets in 2001. He had 20 doubles and a team-leading 88 walks during the season. In the season opener at Atlanta on April 3, Robin hit a pair of two-run homers in the Mets’ 6-4 victory over the Braves in 10 innings. He hit a grand slam (his fifth as a Met to tie John Milner’s team record) in a 7-5 Mets victory over the Astros on May 1 at Shea. Ventura hit two home runs in a 10-3 Mets win at Baltimore on June 12. He homered in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 4-3 win over the Phillies on July 28 at Shea. Robin had a single, a double and a home run in the Mets’ 7-4 victory at Philadelphia on September 5. He also had a homer and a pair of singles in a 7-3 Mets triumph over the Braves at Shea on September 22.
Following the ’01 season, Ventura was traded to the Yankees. He played in the Bronx before being dealt to Los Angeles during the 2003 season. Robin completed his career with the Dodgers in 2004.
