From East Meadow Jet to New York Met: Frank Viola Talks Baseball: Part Two

For Part One of the Frank Viola story,

In 1987, Frank Viola notched 17 wins to go along with a 2.90 earned run average, and the Twins made the playoffs.

They went on a magical run, which ended with a World Series Championship over the St. Louis Cardinals. Viola won the pivotal seventh game, 4-2. He was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.

"I had bits and pieces of 15 years in the Major Leagues, and never would have thought that was the only time I’d be in the post season," Viola said. "The only thing I regret is that I didn’t take it all in as it went along because I thought I’d get another chance."

A year removed from the World Series win in 1987, Viola had a career year. He piled up 24 wins in 1988, winning the American League Cy Young Award.

Following the 1988 season, the Twins decided to move on without Viola, as they dealt him to his hometown New York Mets for Kevin Tapani, Rick Aguilera and three others. The trade worked wonders for the Twins, as Tapani and Aguilera played key roles in their 1991 championship season.

"It was a high and a low," Viola said. "It was time, because I was at a contract hassle. Andy McPhail made the right trade. It just hurt a little bit."

Viola now was playing for the team he grew up rooting for. His father started taking him to Shea Stadium when he was five years old, and now he was wearing the Mets uniform.

"The talent on the Mets was great," Viola said. "The problem was, once we got between the white lines, we couldn’t put it together as a team."

Viola went on to pitch 20 wins for the Mets in 1990. The next year was Viola's contract season, and despite going 11-5 in the first half of the season and being named to the All-Star team, Viola struggled after that, earning just two wins against 10 losses in the second half.

"The second half, I was total garbage," Viola said. "I couldn’t do anything right. It was going to be [Doc] Gooden or myself. I made that decision for them so much easier by being terrible."

Viola spent the next three seasons in Boston with the Red Sox before ending his career with short stints in Cincinnati and Toronto. He has since spent the last 14 years with his family.

"I can’t trade in my last 14 years because I got to watch my kids grow up," Viola said. "As a family, we got so much stronger over the past 14 years because I was there."

Now, Viola is the pitching coach with the Brooklyn Cyclones, and he says he's thrilled to be working with kids with Major League dreams.

"I’ve had an absolute blast thus far," Viola said. "I’m here to help some of these pitchers develop, and maybe they can wear the big league uniform like I did."

When asked whether or not he'd consider a return to MLB in a coaching capacity, Viola said that's "yet to be determined."

"Sometimes you have to pay your dues," Viola said. "If that means working your way up, than so be it. Right now, I am thankful to the Mets organization for giving me the chance."