“Lord, that I’m standin’ at the crossroad, babe I believe I’m sinkin’ down” —Robert Johnson Well actually, it would be more correct to say, Curtis Granderson is sinkin’ up. The reason for that statement is that Terry Collins has moved him up to the number two position in the batting order. So, he is out [...]
“I’m a steady rollin’ man. I roll both night and day. I’m a steady rollin’ man. I roll both night and day.” —Robert Johnson So far, so good. At least as far as Carlos Torres goes this year. He has maintained a very effective approach to hitters throughout all his appearances out the New York [...]
By the end of the 1982 baseball season, Neil Allen was arguably one of the best pitchers in New York. Yes, the Yankees had Ron Guidry, Dave Righetti, and Tommy John and yes, the Mets had Craig Swan but consider what Allen had achieved in his career by that point. By the end of 1982, [...]
I met Tommie Agee one time at the bar in the Charcoal Room at Shea Stadium. Most of the people had left to go to their seats but there was a rain delay at the start of the game and I had stayed back. It was probably 1987. He grabbed a paper “Met” napkin off [...]
I found an old Baseball News article written between the 1970 and 1971 seasons. The premise of the article, “The Mets Under A Microscope” is that Tom Seaver’s diminished level of performance following his superlative 1969 season was a major factor in leading to a third place finish by the New York Mets. In 1969, [...]
I was going through some old game programs and I came across one that stands out in particular. It was a doubleheader; the Mets against the Chicago Cubs on July 29, 1984. Here’s the story: I was able to obtain two Press Box seats to this game before the season even started through the Long [...]
If you search the internet, it isn’t difficult to locate old videos of baseball games. There are plenty of interesting and noteworthy Met videos. I located an interesting grouping of these last week. These were all videos showing classic bouts between the Mets and the Reds. I use the term “bout” because all of these [...]
I’ve been in the book production business now for over thirty years. In the summer of 1982, my first job after college was at Simon & Schuster in New York City. I was hired as an assistant and I was put in charge of making advanced reader copies for new books being published. This was [...]
I picked up a 1966 Topps Ernie Bowman baseball card last week. This is an interesting card in its own right because Bowman never actually played a game for the New York Mets. In 1966, Bowman played for their minor league affiliate, the Jacksonville Suns. What also makes Bowman particularly interesting is because of how [...]
I picked up a complete set of the New York Daily News 1969 Mets portraits at auction a few weeks ago. These “Portraits of the Stars” were published by the newspaper to celebrate the team’s championship. The portraits were drawn by cartoonist, Bruce Stark and are printed on oversized parchment paper. The portraits contain a [...]
There have been some solid long relievers in the history of the New York Mets: Don Cardwell, Ray Sadecki, and Terry Leach all come to mind. A good performance by a team’s primary long reliever is a mixed blessing. A significant contribution by a long reliever (just like a team’s primary pinch-hitter) can be beneficial [...]
So you won’t find Ed Bouchee’s name in any list of the 50 Greatest Mets. He didn’t set any team records and he didn’t help the New York Mets win a pennant. What he did accomplish though is very significant. He was the first player to ever appear in a Mets uniform on a Topps [...]