FLUSHING, NY – The return of Pete Alonso to CitiField will surely fuel the hatred towards David Stearns, the man who dismantled the Mets. He has turned the team with the highest payroll into the worst team money can buy. Stearns accomplished this by getting rid of the team nucleus of Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Alonso. There’s one more Mets personnel that Stearns waved bye-bye to: first base coach Antoan Richardson.
Fans of the Mets didn’t even realize who Richardson was. His shining moment as a player came when he was a NY Yankee. It was September 25, 2014 when Richardson pinch ran for Designated Hitter Jose Pirela after he singled. Brett Gardner laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Richardson to second base and set the stage for the next hitter. The batter was Derek Jeter, and it would be his last Yankee Stadium at bat of his career. Jeter singled on the first pitch he saw and Richardson slid head first to home with the winning run.
Richardson had a couple of sips as a Major League outfielder with the Yankees and Atlanta Braves. He wound up coaching with the San Francisco Giants for 4 seasons and the Mets for 2 seasons. He was a valuable source to Juan Soto’s career high of 38 stolen bases in 2025.
Richardson left the Mets claiming there was a difference of opinion over his value. What really happened was Stearns’ disrespect for a guy that played in the Major Leagues for a minute, who was trying to build his pension service time thru coaching. The smiling Stearns basically told Richardson there was a restriction of the number of coaches on the Mets staff who were allowed to receive a pension slot. Richardson departed to the Atlanta Braves, and with that Soto’s legs departed his torso.
While Alonso returns to Queens with his Baltimore Orioles, my thoughts will be with the departed energetic first base coach who was dissed by Stearns.
