Mike Hampton will be on the Shea Stadium hill tonight to face the Mets and Pedro Martinez. Pedro will be attempting to help the Mets sweep the Atlanta Braves while Hampton will continue to try and resurrect his career.

Eight years ago, tonight’s pitcher for Atlanta helped the Mets do something they had not accomplish in 14 previous years. Mike Hampton pitched a complete game 7-0 shutout as the Mets won their fourth and last National League pennant.

Hampton had spent most of his career with the Houston organization. He came up with Seattle and was traded to Houston following his first season. After compiling a record of 70-43 and spending six years with the Astros, the Mets obtained him over the winter of 1999 for outfielder Roger Cedeno and relief pitcher Octavio Dotel. The Mets also received Derek Bell in the deal. Adding Hampton to the Mets staff that already featured Al Leiter and Rick Reed gave the Mets a starting three they felt could compete with Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddux for the Braves.

Hampton won 15 games while losing 10 in his only year as a Met. The Mets had traded for him in his walk year and would need to sign him long term to keep Hampton in a Mets uniform. Through the entire season there was never much discussion with the lefty. The Mets brass led by GM Steve Phillips said it would be handled at the end of the season when the Mets would have exclusive rights to negotiate with the pitcher for a period of time following the World Series, a series the Mets lost to the Yankees five games to one.

Apparently the school systems in the New York area were not up to snuff for the Hampton family or at least so he said. In December of 2000, Mike signed a then record 8 year 121 million dollar deal for a pitcher with the Colorado Rockies. The Mets made a solid offer but felt that was too steep a price to trump. The Mets would never regret not countering Colorado’s offer.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out Hampton’s motivation. Considering that Denver is where pitcher’s careers go to die, it was obvious the only concern for Hampton and family was money. Off the record some Mets players were not disappointed regardless of how Hampton helped the Mets to win the pennant. Hampton had a reputation of being aloof and not a real team guy.

After spending two years in Colorado and compiling a record of 22-28, Hampton was shipped off to Florida with Juan Pierre for catcher Charles Johnson, former Met Preston Wilson and a couple of others. But he never threw one pitch for the Marlins as two days later he was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Tim Spooneybarger and Ryan Baker. The odd thing about this deal was that Colorado, Florida, and the Braves were all paying parts of Hampton’s ludicrous salary on the original contract that the Rockies must still be regretting.

From 2002 through 2005, Hampton won 32 games while losing 20. But in 2005 Hampton’s season was cut short by injury. Mike would require Tommy John surgery at the end of the season. Subsequently Hampton missed all of 2006. Then in April of 2007, Hampton underwent a second surgery on the elbow to repair a torn tendon. He missed his second consecutive season. After recovering from his second elbow surgery, Mike was sent to the Mexican Winter League to get back into game shape. In his first game back on the mound Mike severely pulled his right ham sting while attempting to field a ground ball. He missed all of winter ball recovering. As he prepared to start the 2008 campaign, yet another injury be felled the left handed pitcher. This time he strained a pectoral muscle.  Would Hampton ever come back?

Finally Hampton made his first start in three years on July 26th. Since then he has a record of 2-1 with an ERA of 6.92. This is why it is so dangerous to give a pitcher so much money for so many years. Since Hampton left the Mets to sign with the Rockies he has posted a 53-48 record, hardly worth 8 years and 121 million dollars. Plus he missed almost three full seasons of work.

Tonight Hampton continues to try and restore his baseball career. But so does his opponent Pedro Martinez. While Martinez has suffered his own sever injuries the last couple of years, his legacy will live much longer than Hamptons, probably all the way to the Hall of Fame.

Say what you want about Hampton and his unwillingness to stay in New York. Regardless of his stature amongst Mets fans, Hampton owns a small piece of Mets history in that he helped them reach their fourth World Series in team history. Let’s not forget the Mets have not made it back since.