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Tim Foli

Tim Foli
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 67 of 1218 players
Foli
Timothy John Foli
Born: December 8, 1950 at Culver City, Cal.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.00 Weight: 175

Tim Foli was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on December 23, 2008, October 5, 2010, April 2, 2016, November 20, 2018, and July 23, 2023.

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First Mets game: September 11, 1970
Last Mets game: April 18, 1979

Father of Dan Foli

Share your memories of Tim Foli

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Mr. Sparkle
March 29, 2001
Amazing that this guy was a #1 draft pick. He was pretty horrible. I couldn't stand him.

Big J
September 18, 2001
There is a TV show on MTV that sums up the entire person of Tim Fooli (pun intended). It's called "JackA$$" and that is exactly what he is. He is the most arrogant, ignorant, unpersonable jerk to ever wear a Met uniform. I had the "pleasure" of working with him (thank God for only a limited amount of time) in the late '90s when he came back as a minor league coach with the Mets. He had already allienated himself from the entire minor league coaching staff before lunch on the 1st day of spring training. Let me tell you, that ain't easy to do! But he did it with ease. I can only hope that the reason he bit Oester in the leg, was because Ron had already kicked his jewels into his brain (which would be the 1st time anything rattled around between those ears in years, if not ever) and that he was in the fetal position on the floor in agony. Talk about a Clubhouse Cancer: this guy would make you wish for a 25 man roster full of Carl Everetts!

Rich S
November 12, 2001
My memory of Foli is this - warning track power. This is confirmed by his 1 career Mets homer.

Jim Snedeker
January 15, 2002
One vivid memory of Tim Foli was when I went to Veteran's Stadium in 1971, the year after it opened. I was sitting near the field and watching the Metsies and Phillies warm up before the game. Artificial turf was still kinda new in those days, and I saw Foli running down the third base sideline bouncing a baseball on the turf like he was playing basketball, and shooting right when he got to home plate.

I was happy for him when he won with the Pirates. I remember seeing him in the champagne-soaked locker room saying how he couldn't believe such a second-rate infielder such as himself could be part of such a great team!

I think he's called Crazy Horse cos he's got some Native American blood in 'im.

Larry Burns
May 31, 2002
First round draft pick, no talent. Complete tool. His lack of talent was enough to wish bad things on him, but he compounded it by being a classless jerk also. From his picture he looks like he should be sitting behind you at a Lynryd Skynryd Concert circa 1978 getting baked. The 1979 Pirate World Series is due to Foli? I guess Pops Stargell and Dave Parker had nothing to do with it. But I do have one shining memory---that the idiots in Montreal were so enamored with him Jorgensen and Singleton that they traded us the Grande Orange for this scrub.

Hartford
March 5, 2003
As apparent by what these so called fans have said, they're mostly not true baseball fans and don't know the true meaning of the game. Foli always played to win. I never remember seeing him hold back anyhting. Think about all the players today that sit out for seasons at a time for injuries and don't give a flip about whether or not their team wins as long as they get their check. I remember when Foli played with a broken finger and never made any stink about it.

Sure Foli was a hothead, but that was only because he gave 150% when he played and wanted nothing less than a win for his team. Most of his career he batted 2nd and was not recognized for his ability to move guys around whether he sacrificed his batting average or not. Foli was a REAL player!!

Winning is the name of the game and Foli was the best at it! What true athlete accepts defeat easily? Foli never did! And yes he was a true first-round pick. He was also eligible to be drafted in basketball, and football. Not many athletes can boast that. I think the fact alone that he was in the bigs for 16 years is a tribute to his ability as an athlete! Unfortunately baseball today has become way too political and I miss "the good ol' days" when winning was all that mattered, not money! Foli was the best example of that that I can think of!

bill nason
May 13, 2005
Tim was a great example of how tough it is to be a sucessful major league player. I played little league with him in the San Fernando Valley. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that if anyone was going to make it, it would be him. He hit 100 points higher than anyone else he played with thru high school. He was probably the best all around athlete in the valley in the late 60's.

For those of you who aren't familiar, the San Fernando Valley is a suburb of LA and a hotbed for great young athletes. I played at Cal State Northridge when we had Lyman Bostick and Jason Thompson. We played against Fred Lynn and Anthony Davis at SC. Yes, that Anthony Davis. Foli was better than any of them!

As good as I was, I knew from the age of 9 that Tim Foli was going to be a major leaguer and I was going to need to get a day job. The fact that Tim was a career .250 hitter in the majors is a testament to how hard it is to reach the pinnacle. Yes, he was a pain in the ass as a little leaguer too, but I'd take him on my team any day.

Eric
May 22, 2005
I went fishing with him once In New Smyrna Beach Florida! I think it was in 1982. I was about ten at the time. We caught a bunch of nice blue fish! Had a great time.

Jonathan Stern
June 10, 2005
Looked a lot like my rabbi when I was a kid. All I heard about Foli was that he was this jerk. But he looked like my rabbi. He was also the starting SS for the "We are Family" Pittsburgh Pops Pirates of 1979, having replaced Frank Taveras. Hated that team, though I still wasn't sure if playing for it made Rabbi Foli a jerk.

Jeff Foli
March 1, 2006
Tim is my father's, Joseph John Foli's, cousin. I met him in about 1975 in Tuscon, AZ, and he gave me a neat glove. What a memory for a child!

Craig De Serf
May 19, 2006
A cousin of mine, he came to my school when I was 9 and played catch with me and signed a ball. My friends were amazed. Showed the same class and respect to my 6-year-old son 30 years later. He must have been some kind of talent to last in the majors for 15 plus years!

Tom Macaulay
August 14, 2007
I was the starting shortstop on the Marion Mets in 1968 when the announcement came that the Mets had signed their number one draft pick, Tim Foli, a shortstop, and that he would be reporting to Marion. That was the last I saw of shortstop unless Foli got hurt (or kicked out of a game) or it rained and the Mets didn't want him to get hurt. I was with Tim when he received his glove contract in the mail from Rawlings. They asked him to sign his name ten times. Presumably, Rawlings would pick one of the autographs from the list to burn onto the Tim Foli model baseball glove. Tim signed on the top two lines, and I made a remark about the signature looking like a first grader's handwriting. I urged Tim to sign better. "Tim, cmon," I said, "you have to sign better. Otherwise, the kids in America will wrinkle their noses and think 'Tim Foli writes like a first- grader.'" Without a word, Tim handed me the sheet of paper, and I signed the other eight 'Tim Foli' signatures. Years later I occasionally looked for the Tim Foli model baseball glove, but I never saw it. I always wondered if there was a Tim Foli model glove and whether that was 'Tim Foli' signed in Tom Macaulay's handwriting on the gloves.

Aase2Zim
November 25, 2007
Just one more thought on Mr. Foli... I was at a memorabilia show in Secaucus last year and Kranepool was signing stuff at a nearby table. As I waited in line I mentioned the Foli/Krane match to the guy standing behind me, who said he had never heard the story. He also apparently knew Eddie personally and called out "Hey Ed, what's Tim Foli up to these days?" just loud enough for Kranepool to hear. Kranepool kept signing, never looked up, and simply said "Yeah, I heard he found religion." It was a special moment indeed.

Mike Zocchi
April 12, 2013
I remember Tim Foli always giving 100 percent. He was called Crazy Horse because of the way he ran to first base. Always at full throttle; a fun ball player to watch.

Don Lambert
February 14, 2014
For some reason I was just thinking about the Foli - Kranepool confrontation and was gratified to see that I'm not the only one who remembers it. If my memory serves me well (to paraphrase Dylan) I was watching the game in question on the Phillies network (living in Philly at the time) and remember the between-inning skipped warmup throws which provoked the incident and the TV action cutting away to commercial just as Foli charged Kranepool in the dugout after the inning. Coming back from commercial, Phillies announcer Richie Ashburn (former Met!) remarked something to the effect that you won't believe what happened between innings. I don't know if they showed a replay then, but I do remember seeing a clip of it at some point.

It was about the only time I remember teammates tussling during a game. (I don't count the Reggie - Billy Martin shouting match) Anyway, as a lifelong Yankee-hater (I'm actually a Pirate fan and was in 5th grade when they beat the Yankees in '60), I'm somewhat of a Met fan by default and wish they had held on to Nolan Ryan. He was truly special, but that's another story!








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