Six months after he damaged his personal reputation, Vince Coleman got a chance to extend his baseball career because he maintained a valued professional reputation.
On Jan. 5, 1994, the Royals traded one problem player, Kevin McReynolds, to the Mets for another, Coleman.
McReynolds was a bust in two seasons with the Royals, who got him from the Mets after the 1991 season, and they were glad to send him back. McReynolds was an underachiever, but, unlike Coleman, he didn’t get in trouble with the law for injuring people.
Coleman disgraced himself when, as a prank, he tossed an explosive device similar to a grenade toward a group of baseball fans, injuring three. He was charged with a felony and the Mets wanted no part of him.
The Royals took a public relations risk in acquiring Coleman, but justified the move because of their need for a premier leadoff batter.
Big trouble
Coleman made his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 1985, established a rookie record with 110 stolen bases, sparked the club to a pennant and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award. He led the league in stolen bases in each of his six seasons with St. Louis (1985-90).
After the 1990 season, Coleman became a free agent and signed with the Mets.
On July 24, 1993, Coleman tossed a M-100, described by authorities as a military device used to simulate grenades, into a Dodger Stadium parking lot where people gathered to seek autographs from players. The M-100, which packed the equivalent power of a quarter-stick of dynamite, exploded and injured a 2-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
A month later, on Aug. 26, 1993, the Mets cut their connection to Coleman. Club co-owner Fred Wilpon said Coleman “will not play here again as a Met” regardless of the legal outcome of the case.
On Nov. 5, 1993, Coleman pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possession of an explosive device, a misdemeanor. A one-year jail term was suspended. He was given three years of probation and assigned 200 hours of community service. He also agreed to make restitution to the people he injured.
Limited market
After the plea bargain was reached, the Royals contacted the Mets about a trade, the New York Daily News reported. Felix Jose and Brian McRae were the Royals’ primary leadoff batters in 1993 but both were better suited for other spots in the order. The Royals saw Coleman, 32, as being similar to Willie Wilson, the leadoff man for their pennant-winning clubs in 1980 and 1985.
Until the Royals got interested in Coleman, “I didn’t think we would be able to trade him,” Mets general manager Joe McIvaine said to the Los Angeles Times.
Coleman’s former Cardinals manager, Whitey Herzog, who was in charge of baseball operations with the Angels, explored the possibility of acquiring him, but the Royals were more aggressive.
The Royals wanted the Mets take McReynolds, who was described by Kansas City Star columnist Jonathan Rand as a “sluggish underachiever” and “a player who didn’t seem to care how he looked on the field.”
When he played for the Mets from 1987-91, McReynolds was booed by fans and criticized by media. Before he was dealt to the Royals as part of a package for pitcher Bret Saberhagen, McReynolds, an Arkansas native, said New Yorkers “like to kick someone when they’re down.”
Eager to rid themselves of Coleman, the Mets agreed to take back McReynolds.
Opinions and explanations
Media mocked the trade. A headline in the New York Daily News called it, “Slop Swap,” and the New York Post countered with, “Tradin’ Fools.”
Daily News columnist Vic Ziegel declared the Mets got the best of the deal “because McReynolds will not have to spend the coming season splitting his time between the playing field and visits to his probation officer.”
“The Royals are the last organization in baseball you should have expected to obtain Coleman,” Jonathan Rand observed in the Kansas City Star. “Ever since their drug scandal of 1983, they have bent over backward to avoid problem players, and Coleman has the worst reputation of any player in the major leagues.”
Royals general manager Herk Robinson and vice president of baseball operations George Brett met with Coleman and talked with people who knew him before making the deal.
“We cannot condone Vince’s past conduct off the field, but George and I have spent a lot of time with Vince,” Robinson said. “We’re convinced Vince can be a solid citizen on the field and make a contribution in the community. We strongly believe he deserves an opportunity.”
Coleman “recognizes what he did was stupid and is genuinely sorry about it and highly motivated to resume his career,” Robinson said.
“We were convinced Vince Coleman is not a bad person,” Robinson said. “I think there’s a difference between somebody who’s a bad person and someone who made a mistake.”
Brett told The Sporting News, “If the reports had come back negative, I don’t think we would have made the trade.”
Coleman said, “What I did was wrong and I’m very sorry.”
At home in KC
Cardinals fans saw irony in Coleman landing with the Royals. During the 1985 National League Championship Series, an automatic tarpaulin at Busch Stadium in St. Louis accidently rolled over Coleman’s left leg and chipped a bone. The injury prevented Coleman from playing in the 1985 World Series against the Royals, who won four of seven from the Cardinals.
“I think if he’d have been healthy in the ’85 Series, we would have lost,” Brett said to the Kansas City Star on the day the Royals acquired Coleman.
The Royals opened the 1994 season with two games at Baltimore before playing their home opener on April 8 versus the Indians. Coleman “received a hearty welcome” from the 38,496 in attendance, according to the Kansas City Star.
Cheers grew louder in the fifth inning when Coleman got a single, his first hit as a Royal, and stole second base. In the eighth, Coleman hit a home run against Derek Lilliquist. Boxscore
“It was very special to hear the response from the fans,” Coleman said. “The way they cheered, it was all very motivating. Even when I was in left field, they were shouting encouraging things.”
Coleman batted .240 for the 1994 Royals and ranked second in the American League in both triples (12) and stolen bases (50) in the strike-shortened season.
McReynolds batted .256 with four home runs for the Mets in 1994, his final season as a player.
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