Hubie Brooks

Hubert Brooks, Jr. (born September 24, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, United States) is a former Major League Baseball player. During his career, he played as a third baseman, shortstop and right fielder for the New York Mets (1980–84, 1991), Montreal Expos (1985–89), Los Angeles Dodgers (1990), California Angels (1992) and Kansas City Royals (1993–94).

Brooks played varsity baseball at Arizona State University — winning an NCAA championship there in 1977 while playing shortstop, with Bob Horner at third — and was the third player chosen by the Mets in the June 1978 amateur draft. Shortly after arriving in New York in 1980, he became something of a minor sensation, being the first player in Mets history to provide stability at third base — the team having spent its first 18 seasons trying in futility to find a regular at the hot corner. He became entrenched at the spot in 1981, finished third in that year's National League Rookie of the Year voting (behind Fernando Valenzuela and Tim Raines), and stayed until 1984.

On December 10, 1984, he was sent to Montreal with Floyd Youmans, C Mike Fitzgerald and OF Herm Winningham that brought catcher Gary Carter to the Mets.

Brooks was a career .269 hitter with 149 home runs and 824 RBI. He collected career-highs in home runs (20) in 1988 and 1990; in RBI (100) in 1985, and finished 8th in batting average (.307) in 1981. Brooks also appeared in two All-Star games in 1986 and 1987.

Brooks had a unusual development mid-career, playing his first few seasons of his career as an opposite-field hitter, before developing a power stroke in 1984. That same season, as the division race entered its final weeks, Mets manager Davey Johnson tried to strengthen his offense late in the year by putting the newly acquired Ray Knight at third and moving Brooks to shortstop, where he was able to play with some success. These two moves combined to boost his value, switching him from the middle of the pack among starting major league thirdbasemen to an All-Star-quality shortstop. This boost made him attractive enough to the Expos for them to ask for him in the Carter trade, and he would flourish for Montreal, having a very productive 1985. He was putting up MVP-quality numbers in 1986 when an injury ended his season at about the halfway-point. When he returned to the field, he continued to produce with the bat, but his years as a shortstop ended after 1987. He finished his career as a journeyman corner outfielder.

Brooks co-held the Mets record for the longest hitting streak with 24 games, tied with Mike Piazza until broken by Moisés Alou in 2007 with a 30 game hitting streak.

After the end of his career, Brooks received no votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America for the Baseball Hall of Fame and was subsequently removed from the ballot. This became notable several years later, when Jim DeShaies, a relief pitcher with a career clearly more marginal than Brooks', openly (and humorously) campaigned for at least a single vote, claiming that he didn't want to "get Hubie'd." He did, in fact, receive a single vote, before he, too, was removed from the ballot.

He was number 70.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• BaseballLibrary
• Ultimate Mets Database