Endy Chavez (Jacob Resnick/Mets Minors)
The first and third base coaching boxes at MCU Park, for at least eight half-innings during every Brooklyn Cyclones home game, act virtually as a living Mets history museum.
In his third year as the team’s manager, Edgardo Alfonzo occupies the space behind the third base bag. He owns the fourth-most wins above replacement among hitters in Mets history and has been at the helm in Brooklyn for, literally, as long as anyone.
Over at first base is a new face to Coney Island in 2019. It’s Endy Chavez, author of arguably the greatest catch in major league postseason history and a Mets fan-favorite during his three years in Queens. He re-joined the organization this past winter following the conclusion of a playing career that spanned over 20 years and now serves as the Cyclones’ bench coach (a position that Alfonzo held from 2014-2016).
Alfonzo and Chavez aren’t some randomly assigned coaching pair. Both natives of Venezuela, they represented their country together during the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 and teamed up over many winters for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Now, they have reunited in Brooklyn, New York, and have converted their friendship into a working relationship.
“Fonzie is one of the baseball players that I followed from my young career,” Chavez said. “He’s the example that I took in how to do stuff on the field and off the field. He talked to me about a lot of stuff like situations in the game, and he’s still doing it. He’s like my father here.”
Chavez serves as a de facto coach-of-all-trades with the Cyclones. Some days he’ll flip to the hitters in the cages, and on other days, he’s in the outfield or on the bases during batting practice providing hands-on instruction.
“It’s great for us,” Alfonzo said, “but it’s even better for the players.”
“I’m enjoying it. I’m just very happy to be continuing to work in baseball,” Chavez said. That’s part of myself, so I enjoy it a lot. Here in Brooklyn, I never had the opportunity to play here, but it’s a good atmosphere to play baseball in.”
The Alfonzo-Chavez relationship was born during that 2006 WBC experience [“I hit two home runs and Fonzie was on base for both of them,” Chavez remembers fondly] but turned into something special with Magallanes. They teamed up from the winter of 2007-08 through 2010-11 and both served as captains, a designation that carries more weight outside of the United States.
“It’s a very big thing in our country,” Chavez said about winter ball. “We got a ton of respect from the fans and our team. It was a big thing, like ‘we’re the captains, everyone follow us.’ It was Edgardo first, then when he retired everything came to me. I was very happy to be in that position, that they considered me to have that level of respect.”
Now, Chavez is calling on his 2,297 games of professional playing experience as he makes his first foray into the coaching ranks. He spent the March-through-May months in Port St. Lucie, Florida, at the Mets’ extended spring training camp to get reacclimated with the organization that first made him a professional.
“It was very cool, especially getting to meet the young players,” Chavez said. “We had fun. Working hard and having fun at the same time. All the Venezuelan players, they know me from our country. They look at me as an example for playing baseball.”
Much like his early beginnings in American professional baseball, Chavez isn’t sure where this new journey will take him. Still, it’s fitting that it begins with the Mets.
“The Mets for me, it feels like home,” he said. “It’s the first organization that I played with, and I spent around eight years with them and I really felt like a part of it. They gave me the opportunity to be around them, and it’s very important for me to keep working for the organization because I love baseball and I have a passion for the game. I want to just continue to contribute and put something in for the new talent.”
