Francesa, Paterson And The Mets

Yesterday, on his WFAN/YES afternoon program, Mike Francesa had a one man guest show with Governor David Paterson, who will be leaving his gubernatorial office at the end of the year. He was promoted from Lt. Governor when the former governor – Eliot Spitzer – was found to have been spending more time with hookers than he spent tending to the business of New Yorkers. Spitzer now has a TV show. The new Governor is Andrew Cuomo – a familiar New York name.

Any way, Governor Paterson, provided an afternoon with Mike that was spell binding. The Governor is blind, but that doesn’t mean he cannot ‘see’. He is more knowledgeable than many fans and has a memory that is encyclopedic.

He is an original Mets fan, going back to his memories of the building of Shea Stadium. Since he is the same age as Mike, they were able to share childhood memories about baseball in general and the Mets specifically.

The conversation between the two of them was informative and also reminded many of us of our own memories of the Original Mets. Since the show lasted from 1PM – 6:30PM there was plenty of time, and Mike made the most of it.

The Governor took us back to his childhood and how he would go to Shea with his Aunt who was a Mets fan – it turned out that Mike had also been at some of those games – and then the memories would take over. I was impressed when each of them could report scores and batters inning by inning.

For a lot of us lucky listeners, it was a walk down memory lane with two guides who remembered much more than the average fan. As he left, Mike offered David an open invitation to join him on the show whenever he could.

Thanks Mike and WFAN – for bringing the Governor on for a Mets Fest. It was terrific.