Stearns was a two-sport star in college, and he entered professional baseball after being selected in both the MLB and National Football League drafts.

[2] The Oakland Athletics selected Stearns in the 13th round of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft at 17 years old, but he chose to attend the University of Colorado Boulder instead.

[1] Stearns's professional career started with the Reading Phillies of the Class AA Eastern League in 1973.

Mid-season, he was promoted directly to the Toledo Mud Hens of the Class AAA International League.

With budding prospect Bob Boone firmly entrenched behind the plate for Philadelphia, Stearns became expendable.

He was traded along with Del Unser and Mac Scarce from the Phillies to the New York Mets for Tug McGraw, Don Hahn, and Dave Schneck at the Winter Meetings on December 3, 1974.

In 1976, Stearns hit poorly in limited time and was soon replaced in backup duties by lefty hitter Ron Hodges.

With his good mid-season statistics and the Mets firmly in last place in the National League East, Stearns was chosen as the team's sole representative to the All-Star Game, catching the bottom of the ninth inning.

He also led the team with a career high 25 stolen bases, and in the process broke the National League record for catchers, which had been held by Johnny Kling since 1902.

While police were unable to catch them, Stearns grew frustrated and ran from behind the plate onto the third base side of the infield, tackling and subduing one of them.

At Shea Stadium on July 4, 1980, Montreal Expos rookie Bill Gullickson sailed a pitch over Mets first baseman Mike Jorgensen's head in the second game of a doubleheader.

Jorgensen didn't appreciate this as he had been the victim of one of the worst beanball injuries in baseball history the previous season with the Texas Rangers, and motioned toward Gullickson his disapproval.

Play resumed in mid-August and Stearns finished with a respectable .271 average, but his run production dropped quite a bit from 1980 and he had only 14 extra base hits all season.

After the season, the Mets traded Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans to Montreal for Carter.

Stearns became a free agent and attempted a comeback with the Winter League's Ponce Lions, until re-injuring his elbow.

[19] Stearns made one final attempt at a comeback with the Texas Rangers, competing for a spot on their Opening Day roster in spring training in 1986.

Schott was oblivious to the situation because it was never mentioned in her presence and Stearns wore a jersey without his name on the back.

[24] He left the Orioles two years later in January 1998 when he was not retained by Ray Miller who had succeeded Johnson as manager.

He was wearing a microphone for Fox television when the Mets' Mike Piazza hit a run-scoring double in Game 1 of the 2000 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals.

[31] Stearns joined the Seattle Mariners as minor-league catching coordinator in 2011 and then served as a professional scout in 2012.

However, Stearns underwent surgery for a hiatal hernia prior to spring training and his slower-than-expected recovery compelled him to resign on March 7, 2014.

[34] Also in 2015, Stearns was interviewed at length in the book The Seventh Year Stretch: New York Mets, 1977-1983,[35] by author Greg Prato.