Comments on: Old Time Mets: Rod Kanehl

By: Joey D.

Joey D. — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:46:59 +0000

I was fortunate that at ten, I was at the age when many a kid begins to develop a bond with teams and players at the same time when the Mets were born. Both were new growing up experiences for me and both coming at the same time the attachment just clicked.

By: gategem

gategem — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:20:34 +0000

I was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan that was overjoyed when there was another team to root for besides the Yankees. Although I must admit after the Dodgers and Giants went west I did start to follow the Yankees. After all if Red Barber could switch from announcing the Dodgers games to work with Mel Allen with the Yankees it was easy to justify rooting for the Yankees. Especially since my team deserted me and the Yankees remained in New York. But the Mets filled a void left by those teams and I was very familiar with the work of Stengel and Weiss from their Yankees days. An interesting thing about Marv Throneberry was that he copied Mantle’s mannerisms in every way until he got up to the plate and attempted to hit or run or went out on the field and attempted to play defense. Thanks for the memories.

By: Joey D.

Joey D. — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 05:19:37 +0000

Hi Barry,

Wonderful article and good to know I’m not alone having been around since the beginning, even though as a kid I was a true new breeder before you saw the err of your ways as a Yankee fan. “Hot Rod” was one of my favorites from those early days and being a kid had no idea that he was so bad as were most of his teammates even though they lost a combined 231 games those first two years in the Polo Grounds. And because Rod was a typical met, a player of the people as you said, like the team itself, that’s why the losses didn’t matter. We truly could identify with them, both young and old.

Remember in 1964 he started off real strong as a regular and was one of the league leaders in batting for the first few weeks of the season. The revised yearbook even gave him a full page spread as opposed to sharing it with two others in the first edition. But by the middle of the year, Hot Rod was gone.

Miss him and so many other of our early heros who have since passed on.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 03:50:53 +0000

Nice article. Thanks for the read.

By: Des

Des — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 03:14:07 +0000

I too remember all the Mets from their earliest years. Rod was a fan favorite and a man of the people. He gave it his all. Let’s not forget that Rod was competing against the best of the best, in the highest level of baseball in the world. If he were playing in local communities, he’d be regarded as Ruthian. Thanks for the memories, Barry.