Tim Teufel
From The Met Wiki
Tim Teufel was an infielder for the Mets from 1986 to 1991. He batted .256 with 87 doubles, 3 triples, 35 home runs and 164 runs batted in during his years in New York. Teufel was primarily a second baseman, but also spent time at first and third base.
Tim became a Met in a trade with the Minnesota Twins on January 16, 1986. In his first New York season, he played in 93 games, serving mainly as a righthanded hitting second baseman against lefthanded pitchers. Teufel hit two doubles and scored the winning run in a 6-5 Mets victory over the Pirates on April 21 at Shea Stadium On May 12, he got a run-scoring single in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 1-0 win over the Braves. Tim hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 11th inning that gave the Mets an 8-4 victory over the Phillies at Shea on June 10. In the World Series, he batted .444 against the Red Sox and hit a home run in Game 5 on October 23.
In 1987, Tim matched his career highs of 14 home runs and 61 RBIs (his exact totals with the Twins in 1984.) He also tied his career high batting average of .308, which was his mark in 21 games in his rookie season of 1983. Teufel's first home run of the year was a ninth inning blast on May 1 to defeat the Expos, 7-6, at Shea. He had a grand slam in a 10-2 Mets win over the Pirates at Pittsburgh on June 12. On July 5, Tim compiled 12 total bases with two doubles and two homers in the Mets' 7-5 loss to the Reds at Cincinnati. He also hit a three-run homer in a 7-4 Mets victory over the Astros in the second game of a doubleheader at Shea on July 24.
Teufel equaled seasonal home run and RBI totals again in 1988. His 4 homers and 31 runs batted in tied his numbers in both categories from '86. However, his batting average dropped to .234 in 90 games played. At Cincinnati on April 29, Tim doubled and scored the winning run in the ninth inning in a 5-4 Mets triumph over the Reds. On May 4, he had a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly in an 8-0 win over the Astros at Shea. At Houston on May 11, Teufel hit a ball in the ninth inning that appeared to clear the fence for a go-ahead grand slam. It was not ruled that way, but he had a game-tying, three-run double in an eventual 9-8 Mets win over the Astros in 10 innings. Tim also drove in the winning run with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly off Montreal's Tim Burke for a 4-3 Mets win over the Expos in a doubleheader opener at Shea on August 14.
Tim played in 83 games and got to bat 219 times in 1989. After hitting at least 20 doubles in each of the previous three years, he totaled only 11 extra-base hits for the season while driving in 15 runs and batting .256. Teufel's best game of the season came on July 8, when he went 4-for 4 (all singles) and scored two runs in the Mets' 8-3 win over the Reds at Shea. He also singled and scored twice each in a season-closing 7-3 Mets victory over the Pirates at Pittsburgh on October 1.
In 1990, Tim batted .246 in 80 games played. Although he only got to bat 175 times, his totals of 11 doubles, 10 home runs and 84 total bases were improvements from '89. On May 6, Teufel hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the sixth inning of a game won by the Mets, 7-4, in 11 innings over the Astros. Tim also got a game-winning two-run single off the Phillies' Roger McDowell with two out in the ninth to give the Mets a 6-5 win on June 24.
Teufel played in 20 games for the Mets in '91 before his trade to the San Diego Padres for Garry Templeton on May 31. Tim played the remainder of his career in San Diego, finishing in 1993. During the 2000s, Teufel has served as a manager in the Mets' minor league system for the Brooklyn Cyclones ('03), the St. Lucie Mets ('04-'05, '08-'09), and the Savannah Sand Gnats ('07). In 2010, he managed the Binghamton Mets. Tim became the manager for the Buffalo Bisons in 2011. The following season, he served as the Mets' third base coach.
