Mets’ 86 World Champion Tim Teufel to speak at DiamondDawgs Annual Dinner

The Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs, a team in the summer wooden bat Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, announced today that former Major Leaguer Tim Teufel will be the featured speaker at its Annual HOF Dinner on Friday, April 7, 2017 at the Travelodge in Little Falls, New York.

Teufel, who played mostly at second base but filled in at all three other infield positions, had good line-drive power and finished his career with a very respectable 86 home runs in the Major Leagues. After breaking in with the Minnesota Twins in September 1983 and finishing 4th in the 1984 Rookie of the Year voting when he led the league in assists by a second baseman and games played at second base, he went on to play 10 full seasons. Teufel was traded by the Twins to the Mets after the 1985 season for former Little Falls Met and current Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane. 

He spent a little over half that time with the New York Mets, platooning with Wally Backman on the 1986 World Champions. In the 1986 World Series he hit .444 with a home run.  Mets fans always remember Teufel as a mild-mannered member of that hard-partying World Champion crew, yet he had a scrappy side too, as he showed when he got the better of hulking reliever Rob Dibble after the flamethrower drilled him with a pitch in 1989. The lasting visual image of Teufel as a player is the “Teufel Shuffle” hip movement as he settled into the batter’s box.  He would wiggle back-and-forth trying to throw off the pitcher’s delivery.

After his playing career ended, Teufel entered his second career as a coach and manager on various levels including stops with the Brooklyn Cyclones, St. Lucie Mets and Binghamton Mets.  He also had a one-year stint managing in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.  Currently, he serves as the New York Mets’ Roving Minor League Infield Instructor and Club Ambassador.

The event’s doors will open on April 7, at 5:30 P.M. for cocktails, autographs and silent auction with dinner and program following. Tickets cost $40 per person and a table of 8 can be purchased for $275.

To purchase a seat or table, please email Travis@mydiamonddawgs.com or contact team owner Travis Heiser at (315) 985-0692.

Stay tuned as we announce this year’s inductees to the Mohawk Valley Baseball Hall of Fame next week by visiting our website www.mydiamonddawgs.com or by social media on Facebook and Twitter @MVDiamondDawgs.