Mike Cubbage: Former Mets Player / Coach & Manager (1981-1991)

Michael Lee Cubbage was born July 21, 1950 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The six foot, left-handed hitting Cubbage; attended the University of Virginia.

Cubbage was drafted twice by the Washington Senators; first in 1968 but he did not sign. In 1971 he did sign as the club's second round draft choice in the June secondary draft.

He was primarily a third baseman who would also play some second base in his pro career. After batting .345 while playing for Geneva in the New York Penn. League he was promoted to A ball Burlington in 1972. In 1973 he hit .312 at AA Pittsfield getting promoted to AAA Spokane.

MLB Career: Mike Cubbage made his debut against his cousins World Champion A’s in April 1974. He was sent back down to the minors returning in September for a call up. 

At that time, the Texas Rangers had Lenny Randle hitting well at second base. Toby Harrah was settled in at short & Roy Howell was set for taking over the third base position. There was no room on the infield for Mike Cubbage.

 In 1976 he was part of the trade that brought Bert Blyleven to Texas, Cubbage went to the Minnesota Twins along with Roy Smalley & pitcher Bill Singer for Blyleven & Danny Thompson.

Twins Career: Cubbage became the Twins main third baseman for the 1977 & 1978 seasons, having his best year in 1978. That year he batted .282 with 7 HRs 12 doubles & 57 RBIs, playing a solid third base with good range, posting a .971 fielding percentage (4th best in the A.L.). 

On July 27th, 1978 he hit for the cycle in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. In that game he was thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple, that was his credited double in the game.

The next season he lost his starting job to John Castino who hit .285 & followed that up with a .300 average the next season. Cubbage became the Twins backup third baseman until he was granted free agency in 1980.

He signed on with the New York Mets as a free agent for the 1981 strike shortened season.  

Mets Career: Cubbage made his Mets debut on Opening Day 1981, at Wrigley Field in Chicago as a pinch hitter. He would be used in that role in the majority of his playing time going 11-46 in that role.

On April 12th, in the last game of the Opening Series, he hit a sac fly in the top of the 9th inning scoring Hubbie Brooks in what would be the game winning run over the Cubs.

On October 3rd, Cubbage hit a pinch-hit HR, in what was his final career at bat. It came off Montreal’s Jeff Reardon in a 5-4 Mets loss on the next to last day of the 1981 season.

He got into 67 games mostly as a pinch hitter, seeing
limited action (12 games) at third base, behind Hubie Brooks. Cubbage only hit .213 overall (17 -80) driving in four runs, with five extra base hits. Cubbage would get released the next April.

Career Stats: Mike Cubbage in his eight-year career batted .258 with 503 hits 34 HRs 74 doubles 20 triples & 251 RBIs with a .336 on bae %  in 703 games played. 

He played 454 games at third 73 at first base 53 at second base & 35 games in a DH role.

Retirement: After his playing days he became a long-time manager throughout the Mets organization.

He first managed A ball at Lynchburg (1983-1985) then AA Jackson (1986) & finally, AAA Tidewater (1987-1989). 

Quotes- Mike Cubbage: "I got to manage five years in the state of Virginia which I loved. When I was done as a player, I had some offers but when I saw the Mets had teams in Virginia, I decided to stay with that organization. We had really good teams in Lynchburg & Norfolk".

Cubbage became highly regarded and seemed destined as a future MLB manager, expecting to one day take over the Mets. But that never came to pass.

Mets Manager: In 1990 he was hired as a third base coach under manager Bud Harrelson. During the last week of the 1991 season, Harrelson was fired as the Mets were in third place, 18 ½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Cubbage got a brief chance to manage as he became the 13th manager in Met history. 

On September 29th 1991 Frank Viola & the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium giving Cubbage his first managerial win. Cubbage would go 3-4 as skipper winning the last game of the season 7-0 at Veterans Stadium.

After all the years of Cubbage managerial hype, he didn't get the position the next season. He was replaced by Jeff Torborg for the 1992 season.

Trivia: Cubbage has the distinction of managing the fewest games for the Mets in their history, winning & losing the least number of games. 

Overall, he spent 13 years in the Mets organization, seven of them on the big-league level; mostly as a third base coach.

He moved on to coach the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and then scout for the Tampa Rays. 

Health Issue: Cubbage is a diabetic and in 2003, had a seizure while coaching third base for the Red Sox. The seizure was a result of a hyperglycemic event; he was taken to a hospital then soon released.

In 2002 he became an interim manager for the Red Sox when the club fired Joe Kerrigan. He remained on the coaching staff when they hired Grady Little as manager.

Cubbage became a scout for The Houston Astros, Tampa Rays & Washington Nationals. In 2018 he was named special assistant to Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, winning a World Series with them there. In 50 years of pro baseball, it was Cubbage's second World Series ring.

Family: Mike & his wife Jan are longtime residents of the state of Virginia.

Honors: In 2018 Cubbage was elected to the Virginia Hall of Fame, along with the Mets David Wright.