John Franco

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John Anthony Franco (born September 17, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former left-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three National League teams from 1984 to 2005, primarily the New York Mets. His 1,119 career games pitched are an NL record, and rank third in major league history; his 424 career saves ranked third in major league history when he retired, and remain the most by a lefthander. For 14 of his 20 seasons, he played for the New York Mets, serving as team captain in his final years with the team.

[edit] Early life

Franco grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His father, the late Jim Franco, was a New York City Department of Sanitation worker who encouraged his son's baseball aspirations. John graduated from Lafayette High School in Brooklyn and St. John's University in Queens, where he pitched two no-hitters in his freshman year.

[edit] Career

Franco was originally selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 8, 1981 in the 5th round of the amateur draft. Before reaching the major leagues; however, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on May 9, 1983 with Brett Wise for Rafael Landestoy. A horribly one-sided trade, Landestoy batted under .200 before retiring the following year while Franco was a star reliever for much of the next two decades. Franco debuted with the Reds on April 24, 1984.

Throughout his six seasons with the Reds, Franco was a successful closer, winning the National League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award in 1988. He helped the Reds finish second four seasons in a row (1985 - 1988).

On December 6, 1989, at the age of 28, he was traded with Don Brown to the Mets for Randy Myers and Kip Gross. He remained with the Mets organization until the end of the 2004 season. During his time with the Mets, he won the Rolaids Relief Award in 1990, became team captain, and remained the closer until 1999, when he moved to a setup role in front of Armando Benitez. He reached the postseason for the first time in 1999 and the World Series in 2000.

Injuries caused Franco to miss the 2002 baseball season, but he made a successful recovery from surgery and returned in June 2003. He signed a one year contract for the 2004 season. He finished with a 2-7 record with 36 strikeouts and a 5.28 ERA in 46 innings.

In January 2005, he was signed to a one-year deal with the Astros, at the age of 44, making him at that time the oldest active pitcher in Major League Baseball. On July 2, 2005, Franco was designated for assignment, and he was subsequently released, which proved to be the end of his playing career.

Franco is among a handful of major league pitchers to utilize a screwball. He also most recently appeared on the television show Pros Vs Joes.

[edit] Allegations of mafia ties

According to published reports, Franco has been accused of associating with several members of the Bonanno mafia crime family. ^[1][2] The New York Times reported that the FBI believes that Franco gave several Bonanno associates free tickets to games, clubhouse passes for before the game, and frequently went out with them after games. Although Franco has never been accused of criminal activity relating to these associations, fraternizing with known organized crime figures would be a violation of major league baseball policy. ^[3]

[edit] Career accomplishments

• Pitching record: 90-87
• Saves: 424, 4th most in major league history behind Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, and Mariano Rivera and the most for any left-handed pitcher.
• Strikeouts: 975
• ERA: 2.89
• Innings pitched: 1245⅔
• Games pitched: 1119
• 4-time All-Star (1986-87, 1989, 1990)
• Postseason record: 2-0, one save, 1.88 ERA in 15 postseason appearances
• New York Mets 3rd team captain (2001-2004)

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball saves champions
• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders
• Games finished

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference

[edit] References