‘Le Grand Orange’ was adored by New York
Rusty Staub passed away Thursday, leaving a legend and an impact on New York that were both outsized, like his game. He was beloved as a man as much as a Met.
“It’s a sad day for the Mets. Ironic that it’s Opening Day,” general manager Sandy Alderson said before the Mets’ 9-4 victory over the Cardinals at Citi Field. “Perhaps the overcast was an indication of how Mets Nation is feeling.”
Staub, born April 1, 1944, in New Orleans, passed away in West Palm Beach, Fla. of multiple organ failure at the age of 73, matching the year — 1973 — he spurred the Mets’ stunning comeback to win the NL pennant. Though he had a 23year career that included stints with five teams, six AllStar berths and 292 home runs, his biggest hit was arguably as a humanitarian.
“Obviously this is a sad day for Metland here. Rusty’s a very dear friend, and he has his place in Met lore, and also the city. It’s a tough day,” said an emotional Keith Hernandez, Staub’s fast friend and teammate in 1984-85.
“He was the one who first got me to live in the city. When I came at the start of the season in ’84 and I was single he said, ‘Well you’ve got to live in the city.’ So he’s the one that introduced me to the city and all that it had to offer. He’s just been a great friend. But he was in a lot of pain, so it’s better. He’s in a better place.
“He was so giving. Obviously all of his charitable work is above and beyond the line of duty. … He’s a very contrasting person, a paradox. He can be tough as hell and as soft as a mushroom. He was just a great dear friend. I was down there and I saw him Saturday, and he’d been in ICU for two months. He was in a lot of pain.”
That pain is over now, with Staub fondly remembered as a prolific hitter on the field, and off the field as a successful restaurateur, staunch proponent of players’ rights and a longtime Met broadcaster.
Staub ended his career with a .279 average, 2,716 hits and 499 doubles. He’s the only man in MLB history to get 500 hits with four different teams: the Astros, Tigers, Expos and Mets, spread over two stints. In Montreal he earned the nickname “Le Grand Orange,” for his burly frame and ginger hair, but in New York he earned the love of the city both with his play and his philanthropy.
“I have his jersey autographed,” Alderson said. “I bought it in an auction, really out of respect for him as a person more than even as a player.”
Staub established the Rusty Staub Foundation to fight hunger and provide educational scholarships for kids. And his foundation eventually started the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund to help families of local police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. It’s served over nine million meals in the last decade.
“It was so impactful, you felt at some point, ‘Boy, I wish I could do something like that someday.’ A lot of players that Rusty played with and were affected by him probably have their own foundations, or at least have done a lot of charitable work, because of Rusty,” said Ron Darling. “The stuff he did was so large in comparison to what we all try to do because he just had a connectivity to people that I certainly don’t have, that very few people have.
“For Keith and I, the potato skins and ribs at Rusty’s on 73rd and 3rd after it seemed like each and every ballgame … with me, Keith, [Ed Lynch] and Rusty is pure, baseball, beautiful innocence. Miss those days.”