This Date in Mets History: February 25 - It's Ed Lynch's Birthday

Only one Met has been born on February 25 and that's pitcher Ed Lynch. He turns 57 today. Lynch was a perfectly cromulent pitcher for the Mets from 1980 to '86, putting up roughly replacement level numbers while shuttling between relief work and the rotation. In 1986, the righty broke camp as the long man in Davey Johnson's bullpen, but made just one appearance with the future world champs before injuring his knee. Unable to clear a roster spot for Lynch when his DL stint ended in July, GM Frank Cashen sent him to the Cubs for a pair of minor leaguers. The second-longest tenured Met at the time of the trade, Lynch remained popular enough with teammates and brass that the organization made sure he received a World Series ring the following spring.

After one more season with Chicago, Lynch retired and joined the Cubs front office, working his way up to general manager in 1994. Coincidentally, the Mets happened to be one of Lynch's favorite trading partners during his six-year regime. Among the players shipped to New York under his watch were Matt Franco, Brian McRae, and Turk Wendell. Lynch also fobbed Mel Rojas off onto his old organization, a move that could certainly be read as revenge for missing out on those champagne showers in '86.

Transactions
New York purchased Luis Alvarado from the Tigers on this date in 1977. Clearly they kept the receipt, because the team returned him to Detroit in April after the infielder made his one and only Met appearance as a defensive replacement for Felix Millan.

Amazin'-ly Tenuous Connection
Inventor Samuel Colt was granted a U.S. patent for his namesake pistol on February 25, 1836. One hundred and twenty-six years later, the repeating revolver would serve as the namesake for the Mets' expansion partner, the Houston Colt .45s. Only three players have donned both Met orange and blue and Colt .45 orange and navy: Bob Aspromonte, Jerry Grote, and Rusty Staub.