Better Know a Metstache: John Franco

John enjoyed the fact that his mustache and eyebrows were interchangeable.

What is a save?  You may think that it’s when a pitcher finishes the game for the winning team and enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches at least one inning, enters the game with the potential tying run on base, at bat or on deck or pitches for at least three innings.  Here at The Wright Stache, we view a save as someone who joins a team and brings with him hometown pride, respectability and a sweet stache.  As such, there was no one better at the save in Mets history than one John Franco.

John joined the Mets for the 1990 season after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds.  John brought a Brooklyn attitude to the Mets (he’s from Bensonhurst) and had no problems pitching in Queens (he threw two no-hitters while playing for St. John’s).  The son of a Department of Sanitation worker, John was a hard-working, no-nonsense workhouse out of the bullpen.

14 years after joining the Mets, he left us having compiled an amazing resumé: team captain, a team record 276 saves and a mustache that served as a beacon of hope during even the dreariest mid-90s Mets seasons.  After one partial season with the Houston Astros that we refuse to acknlowledge, John retired from baseball with 424 saves, the fourth most in MLB history, the most by any left-handed pitcher and the second-most by a pitcher with a mustache (trailing only Lee Smith).

John Franco was a leader, an inspiration and a hairy, hairy man.  He would often sport an 11am shadow.  But he knew how to rock a stache.  And you don’t need to shave when you know how to save.

Now you better know a Metstache.