Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Dick Rusteck

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Dick Rusteck
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Memories of
Dick Rusteck

Dick Rusteck
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 659 of 1233 players

Richard Frank Rusteck
Born: July 12, 1941 at Chicago, Ill.
Throws: Left Bats: Right
Height: 6.01 Weight: 175

First Mets game: June 10, 1966
Last Mets game: October 2, 1966

Share your memories of Dick Rusteck

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Richard Kissel
Rusteck came up, I think in 1965, won two games and we never heard from him again. He was at one of our Little League dinners. Maybe it was the overcooked roast beef that did him in.

Chris
Rusteck's only big-league win was a 3 or 4 hit shutout he tossed at Shea. I think it was against the Reds. I was there! Ed Bressoud hit 2 homers in that game. Anyone remember any more details about it??

michael
June 16, 2001
Struck me out so many times my head is still spinning. Best pitcher I've ever seen. Go Dad!

len
November 9, 2001
best pitcher, best man, and best cousin i've ever had and I wish he would get a hold of us.

Alan
January 5, 2002
Chris, I was there that night too. He looked really impressive. Does anyone know why he never was heard from again

Feat Fan
May 3, 2002
His debut was on June 10, 1966. We were there, jazzed to see *46, Jimbo Maloney throw for the Reds. Earlier that day, Bob Shaw was purchased from SF. I remember a Gordy Coleman quote claiming that Dick Selma had the nastiest slider in the NL. Anyway, Rusteck throws a neat 4 hit 6k cg sho and Maloney is gone early.
Not sure, but I think Eddie Bressoud hit one out. Al Luplow was in cf, made a nice catch, we ate lots of hot dogs and as usual, travelled to Dairy Queen afterwards for a nightcap!

Frank L
February 5, 2003
He threw a shutout in his ML debut and was hailed as "Golden Arm" in the headlines for his next start...as I recall he came up very soon after with a bad arm, was shelled in his other two starts and that ended that. So we had to wait for Tom Seaver to arrive!

blue and orange 4 ever
June 3, 2005
It was about 2 weeks prior to me graduating for HS. Taking a rest form studying for the English Regents, I went with my dad to Shea to see this kid form Notre Dame, Dick Rusteck, against Cincinnati. If I remember he shut them out 4-0, and never did anything again.

Mike Lukas
November 21, 2007
When we were growing up together in Chicago we used to play "fast pitching" against a brick wall using one of those little pink rubber balls. I never could hit him very well, so I felt a lot better about that many years later when he became a pitcher for the Mets! It was a real tragedy when medical problems cut his career short.
He was a good friend growing up, but we have lost track of each other over the years. Great guy - hope he's doing well today.

Mets fan in Maine
January 6, 2008
He has two baseball cards: the 1979 One-Year Winners and the 1981 TCMA '60s series. In 1965, the year before his short Mets career, he pitched for three teams in the minors, compiling great ERAs: 2.14, 1.64, and 1.98.

R Oplawski
March 30, 2008
He was going to be a great pitcher for the Mets but unfortunately was hit in the left elbow the day after his 4-hit shutout against Maloney and the Reds. After the season he had elbow surgery which isn't what it is today. His love for baseball had him pitch for years in Triple A with great success. Dick and I met in the army in 1963 and were very good friends during the 1960's. Hope all is well with him and his family.

Tracy
May 8, 2008
Dick, most commonly known now as "Rich", "Dad", or "Grandpa" is my husband. Although, I did not have the opportunity to witness first hand, his famed major league debut game shut-out, I'm still amazed and proud of the number of letters and cards he receives on a monthly basis from the loyal fans of baseball.
This is a brief summary of his story as I know it:
Dick was a 1963 Notre Dame graduate who made 3 stops in 1965 en route to the New York Mets. He successfully began his career with Greenville, SC, moving on to Auburn, NY, then to Williamsport (Eastern).
In 1966, in his major league debut with the Mets, he delivered a shutout against the Cincinnati Reds. The rest of the year, he was plagued with arm trouble. He was bumped down to AAA in the hopes of rehabilitation. The following year, he had an elbow operation and continued to pitch for the AAA and AA teams from 67-71, never fully recovering the dynamic speed of his famed left-arm pitch.
In 1982, he retired from baseball, moved his family to the small town of Wasilla, Alaska (just outside of Anchorage) where he worked for the State. He remained in Alaska for 10 years.
He is now fully retired and lives, healthy and happy, with his wife (me) in Arizona, where he enjoys watching the AZ Diamondbacks and the up and coming Phoenix Coyotes (NHL).

Lou
January 9, 2011
Played with Dick in Greenville. A great talent and a better person.

Gary Pillar
March 18, 2012
I spent the 1963 season with Rich on the Salinas, CA Mets class A ballclub. I remember him as having great stuff as a hard throwing left-hander. Rich was one of the finest guys you could ever know. I'm sorry we lost contact with one another. I now live in the Vail, CO area and teach skiing in the winter and golf in the summer. Will try to connect with Rich down in AZ.

Bruce Bellandi
April 28, 2014
Rich and I played at Salinas, Auburn and Williamsport. We had lots of fun off and on the field. One time we were sitting at a bar in Santa Barbara on the pier, looking at sail boats when Rich said...look at those Yatges..what....look at those Yatges...you have to love those people from Chicago . Rich was a great athlete and good person.

Paul Ivice
June 30, 2020
Dick is one of a handful of pitchers in MLB history to throw a complete-game shutout in his major-league debut and never win another MLB game. I did a telephone interview with Dick years ago and wrote an article for the Jacksonville Suns (now the Jumbo Shrimp) about him and Tom Saver as teammates on the 1966 Jacksonville Suns, which was then the Mets' Triple-A affiliate.

Philip Donnelly.
April 18, 2021
A great guy and great friend.