Tim Foli: Former Mets Number One Draft Pick (1970-1971 / 1978-1979)

Timothy John Foli was born on December 6, 1950, in Culver City California. Foli was a star high school baseball & football player in the Los Angeles area in the late sixties.

Foli turned down a football offer from USC to play baseball instead.

"Crazy Horse": The fiery, passionate shortstop with the quick temper was nicknamed “Crazy Horse” by his fellow teammates. They said he keeps wandering up & down the dugout like an Indian on the warpath. 

Anger Issues: The shy mild looking Foli was notorious for getting into fights with opposing players, umpires & his own team mates as well.

Early on he would throw temper tantrums & cause trouble if the situation wasn't right. But he was a fierce competitor & hardnosed player that gave it his all. Ed Kranepool noted that Foli was so hyper, he brought his bat back to the hotel room with him.

Foli was the number one overall draft pick in the 1968 draft, chosen by the New York Mets. Although he was a tough hitter to strikeout, he had little power, not much speed on the bases & didn’t draw many walks. He was a very good bunter & sacrifice hitter, finishing in the league's top ten in sacrifice hits eight times. Foli was all about his glove as he was an excellent defensive short stop. 

Foli's biggest obstacle was that the Mets had one of the league's best defensive short stops in Bud Harrelson as well as veteran Al Weis on the club. Foli's chances of breaking through were slim. 

In 1969 while the Mets were on their way to winning the World Series, Foli showed off that glove & hit over .300 for their A ball Visalia club.

Mets Career: In 1970 he spent most of the year at AAA Tidewater, hitting .261 getting a cup of coffee in September, making his debut on September 11th, 1970.

On September 12th, his second career game, he had two hits and drove in an 8th inning run off the Cardinals Reggie Cleveland in Jim McAndrew's 3-0 shut out. He got two hits in each of last two games of the season as well.

Fight w/ Ed Kranepool: Early on in his Mets career (1971) he got into a dugout scuffle with Mets veteran Ed Kranepool. Kranepool was throwing infield grounders in between innings & said Foli was firing balls back wildly having Kranepool chasing the throws. One ball even went into the stands. When Kranepool said something to him, Foli started bouncing balls in the dirt.

Kranepool then threw grounders to all the other infielders except Foli. In the dugout Foli confronted Kranepool, soon words turned to shoves with Kranepool smacking Foli in the nose before teammates broke it up. The veteran Kranepool  said "he was showing me up in front of my teammates & I can't have that."

In 1971 manager Gil Hodges used Foli at second (58 games) & third base (36 games).

Four RBI Game: On May 9, he had one of his biggest offensive games, with an RBI triple & three run double off the Cards Steve Carlton in a 9-5 win over St. Louis at Shea Stadium. It would be his only four-RBI game until eight years later in 1979.

On August 3rd in the second game of a double header with the reigning NL Champion Reds, Foli had a three RBI game with a two run double & RBI single off Jim Merrit in the 9-5 win. 

On the last day of the season, he drove in two runs as Tom Seaver beat the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium for his twentieth victory of the year.

Overall, Foli finished 1971 playing in 97 games, batting .226 with 12 doubles, 32 runs scored and 24 RBIs. In 12 games at his natural short stop position he was perfect, making no errors. He posted a .964 fielding % in 58 games at second base making nine errors & .954 % in 36 games at third.

Traded to Montreal: Just before the 1972 season began, Foli was involved in a huge Mets trade, he along with Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen were sent to the Montreal Expos for star outfielder Rusty Staub. 

Expos Career: In Montreal, Foli became the Expos main shortstop for the next five seasons, batting between .238 and .264 each year.

Brawl: Foli was a popular player in Montreal, and in a July 1973 game against the Houston Astros the fans showed it. Houston's' Bob Watson slid hard into second base, to break up a double play raising his forearm to Foli. 

Foli was leveled falling to the ground, bleeding from the mouth, suffering a broken jaw & had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.

When Watson went to left field in the next inning, the Montreal fans at Jarry Park hurled any kind of debris they could find at Watson stopping the game. 

Foli missed the next month of the season but did make a triumphant return, still playing in 126 games that year. Three days after his return he got suspended for three games for bumping Umpire Ken Burkhart.

Foli was hated by players around the league, in 1974 he got into another scuffle with the Dodgers Rick Auerbach. Dodger players called him a cheap shot artist & a player who can dish it out but cant take it.

In 1975 he led all NL short stops in games (151) assists (497) put outs (260) & was fourth with a .973 fielding %. One story says Foli spent the whole night sitting on second base at Montreal's Jarry Park after making an error leading to an Expo loss. This was similar to a minor league game where he spent the night sleeping at second base after going 0-5 in a day game.

In 1976 he posted career highs with 36 doubles (5th in the N.L.) HRs (6) and slugging (.366%).

In an April 21st, game, he singled, doubled and tripled against the Chicago Cubs before the game was suspended due to rain. The next day, the game resumed and he hit a HR to complete the first cycle in Montreal Expos history. He was third in fielding that season & in the top five in assists & put outs once again.

Foli remained in Montreal until mid-way through the 1977 season, when he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for their short stop Chris Spier. After 104 games as a Giant, rated as the league's fourth best shortstop, his contract was purchased by the New York Mets.

Return to the Mets: In 1978 he returned to a very different Shea Stadium than he had left six years ago. The Mets were in last place and playing to empty crowds in Shea Stadium in what was known as "Grant's Tomb". Foli struggled at the plate, not hitting over the .200 mark until mid-June. 

On June 5th he doubled in the bottom of the 9th inning off the Dodgers Terry Forster, tying up the game. He then scored the winning run when Doug Flynn reached on an error.

Walk Off Hit: On June 23rd in an extra inning game with the Pirates, he had his own walk off hit with an 11th inning single off  Ed Whitson, scoring John Stearns with the winning run. 

On September 19th he hit his only HR of the year, coming off Tom Bruno in St. Louis. 

Foli would play in 113 games for manager Joe Torre’s last place Mets, batting .257, hitting one HR with 21 doubles and 27 RBIs. 

He posted a .967 fielding%, turning a league leading 78 double plays with second baseman Doug Flynn. Foli made 18 errors in 522 chances in 112 games on the year.

After playing just three games for the Mets in 1979, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for shortstop Frank Taveras. The trade sent Foli from the worst team in the league to the best team in the league that was on their way to a World Series title.

He set career highs in Pittsburgh in batting average (.288) RBIs (65) runs (70) and hits (153). He only struck out once in every 38 at bats, which the best ratio in baseball. 

Foli hit well when it counted most, as he compiled a .333 batting average in the 1979 postseason.

1979 Post Season- NLCS: Pittsburgh went on to sweep the 1979 NLCS, with Foli driving in a run in all three games.

1979 World Series: In the World Series, against the Baltimore Orioles, he had a hit in six of the seven games, with a double, triple, two walks & three RBIs.

In Game #5 with the Pirates down three games to one, Foli tripled in the 7th inning off Tim Stoddard & scored on Dave Parker's double. In the 8th inning, Foli hit a two-run single off Don Stanhouse in the 7-1 win.

In Game #6, he would collect two hits including a double & run scored against Orioles' Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, as the Pirates evened the Series in the 4-0 win. In Game #7 Foli collected a hit in the 4-1 Pirates victory as they won the World's Championship. 

Trivia: Defensively, Foli led the league in put outs (1972 & 1975) & double plays (1975 & 1976) as well as assists (1975). In the eighties he led all shortstops in fielding in 1980 & 1982.

In 1982 he was traded to the Angels, where he was reunited with his old Expo skipper Gene Mauch. When main short stop Rick Burleson went down with injury, Foli took over the starting role, batting .252 with 56 RBIs as the Angels went on to win the AL Western title. 

1982 Post Season- ALCS: In the 1982 ALCS he went 2-16 with an RBI hit. In the Game #2 win Foli singled off Pete Vuckovich driving in Fred Lynn.

In 1983 at age 33, Foli shared time with veteran Rick Burleson & Dick Schofield at short, batting .252 in California as the Angels fell to fifth place. 

In 1984 Foli went to the AL New York team playing 61 games behind Bobbt Meachum. He was traded to Pittsburgh in exchange for Jay Buhner. In 1985 he played in just 19 games batting .189 & was released in June. He retired at the end of the season.

Career Stats: In his 16-year career, Foli played 1524 games at short stop (63rd most all time) with a .972 fielding percentage (72nd all time) making 4804 assists (53rd all time) & 2687 put outs (63rd all time) making 210 errors in 7701 chances.  He batted .251 with 1515 hits, 25 HRs, 241 doubles, 20 triples & 501 RBIs. He struck out 399 times & walked265 times with a .283 on base % & .593 OPS. He also had 81 stolen bases in 1696 games.

Retirement & Coaching: After playing he coached with the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals and then managed in Puerto Rico under General Manager, former Met Felix Millan.

Millan had to fire the quick-tempered Foli during the Caribbean World Series claiming he had been disrespectful.

Mets Organization: In 1998 Foli managed the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League. From 1998 to 2000 he was the New York Mets infield & base running coordinator.

Foli then went to the Cincinnati Reds & got into a brawl there with his fellow coach, Ron Oester. 

In 2004 he began working in the Washington Nationals organization, as a manager in their AAA minor leagues. He would move on to the New Orleans Zephyrs (2004-2005) Columbus Clippers (2008) & Syracuse Chiefs (2009). 

Family: Foli lives in Ormond Beach, Florida with his longtime wife of over forty years, Ginette. 

Ginette was a former Montreal Playboy Bunny, marrying Tim in 1974. 

They have five children together. Thier son Daniel Foli spent seven years as a minor league pitcher. Daniel spent time in the Mets organization in 2005.