Kelvin Keith Chapman (born June 2, 1956) is a retired
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
player. He played his entire Major League career with the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
.
Early career
Kelvin Chapman attended
Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a feeder school for the University ...
.
He was signed by the Mets organization as an amateur free agent on December 3, 1975.
His first season as a professional was with the Met's
Rookie League team,
Marion Mets The Marion Mets were a minor league baseball team based in Marion, Virginia that played in the Appalachian League from 1965 to 1976. They were affiliated with the New York Mets and played their home games at the Marion High School baseball field. ...
of the
Appalachian League
The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...
in 1976. That season he played 62 games and had a
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of .269, a
slugging percentage
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...
of .347, and an
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
of .342.
The following year he was promoted to the Mets A-league team, the
Wausau Mets Wausau may refer to:
Places
* Wausau, Florida, town
* Wausau (town), Wisconsin, town
* Wausau, Wisconsin, city
Other uses
* ''Wausau Daily Herald''
* Wausau Downtown Airport, a city-owned public-use airport in Wausau, Wisconsin
* Wausau East H ...
of the
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
. In 127 games his batting average improved to .306, his slugging percentage improved to .456 and his on-base percentage improved to .378.
[
This performance led to another promotion to the Mets AA-league team, the ]Jackson Mets
The Jackson Mets were a professional baseball team based in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1975 through 1990. As of 2010, they were the longest-tenured club to be based in the Jackson metropolitan area. For their entire sixteen seasons of existence, t ...
of the Texas League
The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...
for the 1978 season. The team featured several other future New York Mets players, including Mookie Wilson
William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson (born February 9, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach remembered as the Met who hit the ground ball that rolled through Bill Buckner's legs in the bottom of the 10th inning of ...
, Neil Allen
Neil Patrick Allen (born January 24, 1958) is an American baseball former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Playing career
New York Mets
The New York Mets drafted Allen out of Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas, in the elevent ...
and Jeff Reardon
Jeffrey James Reardon (born October 1, 1955) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1979–1994 with the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta B ...
. Chapman played 131 games for Jackson, 129 of which were at second base.[
]
Major League debut
Although he had never played AAA baseball, and although his performance at Jackson was not outstanding, Chapman had an excellent spring training in 1979 for the Mets and earned a spot as the Mets starting second baseman to begin the season. He replaced strong fielding but light hitting Doug Flynn
Robert Douglas Flynn, Jr. (born April 18, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1975 to 1985 as an infielder for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos a ...
, who was the Mets regular second baseman in 1978. Chapman's major league debut occurred on April 5, 1979 against the Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...
.[ However, Chapman only batted .150 for the Mets in 80 at bats that season,][ relinquishing the starting second base job back to Flynn by late April. He was sent to the minors in May, returning to the Mets only in September after the minor league season ended.
Chapman played for the Mets AAA-league team, the ]Tidewater Tides
The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...
of the International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...
for most of the 1979 season. He played 106 games as second base for the Tides, with a batting average of .241, a slugging percentage of .318 and an on-base percentage of .341.[
From 1980 through 1983 Chapman played in AAA without getting back to the Major Leagues.][ He played with Tidewater in 1980, 1982 and 1983, and with the ]Syracuse Chiefs
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
in 1981.[ During that time he played primarily second base, but also played a few games at ]third base
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
, shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
and outfield
The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area.
In cricket, baseball and ...
.[ He batted poorly in 1980 and 1981 but improved in 1982 and 1983. He also played for Tidewater at the beginning of 1984.][
]
Return to the Major Leagues
The Mets regular second baseman in 1984 was Wally Backman
Walter Wayne Backman (born September 22, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball second baseman. He is best known for his time with the New York Mets from – and was a member of their 1986 World Series-winning team. He was also the for ...
, a switch hitter who was much better when batting lefty. The Mets needed a right-handed hitting second baseman to platoon with Backman. After Chapman got off to a strong start with Tidewater in 1984,[ he was recalled to the Mets in May, more than 4 years after his previous Major League game in 1979. His first game for the Mets in 1984 was on May 6. Chapman played 75 games for the Mets in 1984, finishing with a batting average of .289, a slugging percentage of .401 and an on-base percentage of .356,][ helping the Mets finish 2nd in the ]National League East
The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title.
The division was created when the National Leag ...
. Chapman also posted a league average fielding percentage in 57 games at second base of .979 that season, also playing 3 games at third base for the Mets.[
In 1985, Chapman continued to platoon with Backman as the Mets second basemen. On June 1, 1985, the Mets were playing the San Diego Padres and were down 2-0 when the Mets rallied for three runs in the sixth inning, a rally that was spurred on by Chapman and ]Ray Knight
Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets. Originally drafted by the Reds in the tenth round of the 1970 Major Leag ...
. Chapman got the rally going by leading off the inning with a single. Not long after Knight singled, George Foster hit a ball that scored both Chapman and Knight. However, he did not hit as well as he did the prior season. With a batting average of just .174,[ Chapman was sent back to the Tidewater Tides after playing his last Major League game on July 24, 1985.][ Chapman batted just .185 with Tidewater in 1985][ and was released by the Mets after the season on November 13, 1985.][
The Mets did make an offer to remain in the organization, as perhaps a manager in their farm system, but Chapman, who had injured his knee during the 1985 season, opted retire and return home to California.]
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Kelvin
1956 births
Living people
Major League Baseball second basemen
New York Mets players
Baseball players from Mendocino County, California
Wausau Mets players
People from Willits, California
Tidewater Tides players
Jackson Mets players
Marion Mets players
Syracuse Chiefs players
Santa Rosa Bear Cubs baseball players