NEW YORK -- Butch Huskey, who played seven major league seasons and was one of the last players to wear No. 42 before it was permanently retired, has died. He was 54.
The New York Mets said Huskey died because of a blood clot in one of his lungs.
"We are saddened to learn about the passing of former Met Butch Huskey," the Mets said in a statement Friday.
Huskey, who was born and raised in Anadarko, Oklahoma, continued to wear No. 42 after Major League Baseball retired it in honor of Jackie Robinson in 1997. Players who wore the number at the time were permitted to continue wearing it until they stopped playing.
Huskey wore No. 10 during his rookie season in 1993, No. 44 in 1998 with the Boston Red Sox and No. 35 with the Colorado Rockies in 2000. Otherwise, he wore No. 42. The Mets selected Huskey in the seventh round of the 1989 amateur draft, and he played parts of five seasons in New York.
In 1997, Huskey set career highs with 24 home runs and 81 RBIs in 142 games for New York. He also played for Seattle and Minnesota.
He is the penultimate Met to wear No. 42. Mo Vaughn wore the number from 2002 to 2003.
Huskey hit .267 with 86 homers and 336 RBIs in 642 career games.
"Just want to acknowledge a solemn day with the passing of Butch Huskey this morning," Mets interim manager Andy Green said Friday. "Just want to send prayers and thoughts to his family. I know all of our Mets family is thinking of him, and the people who love him today."
