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Bragging Rights

So I'm reading the newspaper in the local pizza place on Monday and there's a story about former Met Darren Bragg and his post-retirement adventures playing in an adult baseball league in Connecticut.

That which most interested us wasn't referenced until near the very end in the print version, when it mentioned that Bragg, who primarily pitched (he only batted once in the league's regular season) hit a walk-off home run to win a league playoff game within the last few days.

Bragg wasn't a Met long enough to have had many important moments. His stint in 2001 lasted three weeks and 18 games, enough to tally five RBI before being claimed off waivers by the Yankees. His was a journeymans career of 11 seasons and 916 games with nine different teams, not particularly memorable to us, with one exception.

Bragg had one walk-off home run in his major-league career (he told newspapers at the time that it was the only one he'd ever had in his life). It came on July 7, 1999 for the St. Louis Cardinals, a 2-run shot to right field in the bottom of the 9th that spared Darren Oliver the pain of a 1-0 defeat. The significance of this was who it came against: Scott Williamson of the Cincinnati Reds, those same Cincinnati Reds with whom the Mets finished tied at the conclusion of 162 games.

"He's a tough, little dude," teammate Willie McGee told the media about Bragg following the game. "He just comes and plays hard. He's got a good attitude."

No doubt that Bragg's current teammates feel the same way

Those who Bragg about the Mets know...That Darren Bragg was a Met long enough to play in two of their walk-off wins (May 20 against the Dodgers and May 25 against the Marlins)

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