Marvin Eugene Throneberry, September 2, 1933 (Collierville, Tenn.) – June 23, 1994 (Fisherville, Tenn.)
VP candidate for Metropolitan Party (1964)
Running mate with nominee: Wilbur Allan Huckle (b. 1937)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The origin of the Metropolitan Party is a murky one. Was it the product of the publicity branch of the New York Mets, or the facetious invention of tongue-in-cheek prankster fans with a soft spot for the underdog?
To say in 1964 that the Mets were not doing well as a baseball team is sort of an understatement. Although they had become a punchline for comedians they also had a fierce fanbase. Late in the 1964 political campaign season it seemed the fans had almost organically singled out an obscure player named Wilbur Huckle for President. Signs showed up in the stands paraphrasing Sen. Barry Goldwater:
"Extremism in defense of the Mets is no vice."
Then "Huckle for President" signs and buttons began to appear and the Metropolitan Party was born with a baseball as the Party emblem.
The movement grew to include recent ex-first baseman "Marvelous Marv" Throneberry as the Metropolitan Party Vice-Presidential candidate. Throneberry was beloved by many Mets fans due to his proclivity for being involved in some of the most entertaining bumbling plays. Also his name Marvin Eugene Throneberry had the initials MET.
When confronted with the fact that both of the candidates on the Metropolitan Party ticket were legally too young to serve in office if elected, the fans countered with the slogan "Huckle and Throneberry in 1980." By 1964 the era of frivolous and/or commercially promotional Presidential candidates were coming into full force.
Election history: none
Other occupations: baseball player, trucking company worker, television advertising spokesperson
Buried: Fisherville Cemetery (Fisherville, Tenn.)
Notes:
"Having Marv Throneberry play for your team is like having Willie Sutton play for your bank."--Jimmy Breslin
Throneberry "never wanted to be a lovable icon of ineptitude, but after it happened, he went along with it. He was Marvelous Marv, the ultimate Met."--George Vecsey
"I’ve written and said in the past that where other bad baseball teams merely suck, the Original Mets sucked ... with style. Throneberry was a style setter."--Jeff Kallman
A Cincinnati rock band is named "Throneberry" in 1990 after Marvelous Marv.
Some sources list Memphis as his birthplace.
Throneberry had a second career as a TV pitchman, chiefly for Miller Lite Beer. Exhibiting his well-
known good-natured sense of humor he is quoted in one commercial, "If I do for Lite Beer what I
did for baseball, I’m afraid their sales will go down."
Lefthander!
