1999 NL Wild Card Champion Mets Hitting Coach: Mickey Brantley & His MLB Family

Michael Charles Brantley was born June 17th, 1961, in Catskill, New York. The youngster starred in baseball, as well as soccer & basketball in the Catskill Mountain Region of New York. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the second round of the 1983 draft. He became known as Mickey Brantley.

Playing Career: Brantley played four years with the Mariners, seeing the most playing time in 1988 (149 games). In his MLB career he batted .259 lifetime, with 32 HRs 56 doubles 125 RBIs in 1222 games. Brantley then went on to play in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants.

Coaching Career: Brantley returned to MLB as a roving coach with the San Francisco Giants in 1994. From there he moved to the New York Mets organization, managing the St. Lucie Mets in 1996 & 1997.

 1999 Mets: After a struggling Mets team had lost eight games in a row, the Mets front office, led by GM Steve Phillips felt they had to make a move. There was no way they were going to touch Bobby Valentine, so Phillips fired most of Bobby Valentines coaching staff without consulting him. Mickey Brantley was brought in as the new Mets hitting coach. 

  
At the point that Brantley took over as Hitting coach, the Mets went 70-38 the rest of the way, securing a tie for the Wild Card spot with the Cincinnati Reds. 

1999 Mets Team Stats: The Mets had the best on base % in the National League (.363%) The club's .279 batting average was second best in the league. They were also second in walks (717) third in the league in hits (1553) & OPS (.797). There's no doubt that Brantley did a fantastic job.

The Mets beat the Reds in a one game tie breaker, then beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS, before falling to the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS in six games.   

Unfortunately, for Brantley he did not return in 2000, he would go back to being a minor league hitting instructor. 

The Mets brought back Tom Robson in 2000, mostly as a peace gesture to Bobby Valentine, who was never told about his coaches being fired the previous season.

Brantley went on to coach with the Toronto Blue Jays through 2007.

Michael Brantley Jr.: Brantley's son, Michael was 12 at the time his father was coaching the Mets in the post season. 

He would attend the games & mimic stances of the Mets star hitters of the day, Mike Piazza, John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo. Young Michael was in attendance at Shea Stadium, the day of Robin Ventura's walk off grand slam single in the NLCS. 

He himself would go on to a big-league career of his own, starting just nine years down the road. 

Michael Brantley would play ten years (2009-2018) with the Cleveland Indians, batting .300 or better four times, leading the league in doubles in 2015 with 45, getting to three post seasons. 

In 2019 he signed on with the Houston Astros getting to two World Series there.

Justin Brantley: Mickey Brantley's nephew Justin, pitched briefly in the Mets organization with the St. Lucie Mets in 2017. 

He then moved on to the Independent League baseball.