Mar
17
2013

Happy St. Patrick’s Day: Remembering A Longtime Irish Met

An article by Joe D

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Every St. Patrick’s Day I think of many of my favorite Irish Mets, and one guy that always comes to mind isn’t even a playewr, it’s in fact longtime New York Mets head groundskeeper, Pete Flynn. Watch this video:

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Flynn comes out of County Leitrim in Ireland, from a town called Ballinamore. He came to this country in 1961 and went to work for the Mets in 1962, the team’s first year of existence.

He helped build the Advance Ticket booth at the Polo Grounds. “Then I went out on the field and stayed there,” he said. He became head groundskeeper at Shea in 1974.

“You’ve got to be dedicated,” he said. “You’ve got to love what you do, and you have to spend an awful lot of time at it.”

Flynn’s a great guy, and he has certainly seen it all, from the formative years at the Polo Grounds in 1962-1963 to the Beatles in 1965 to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and of course our last World Series in 1986.

I met Pete once during a torrential rain storm at Shea in between games of a doubleheader, many, many years ago. He was kind enough to direct us to where we could purchase Mets ponchos and umbrellas for me and my soaking wet cousins. To meet him is to love him, the guy is a pure gem.

Pete is also one of the original nine founding members of the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame sponsored by Foley’s NY Pub and Restaurant.

After 50 years of meritorious service to the New York Mets, Pete retired after the 2011 season. To me he will always be an original Met.

Happy St. Patty’s Day to all of you and I’ll leave you with this funny Irish limerick:

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About the Author: Joe DeCaro

I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.

7 Comments + Add Comment

Joey D. March 17, 2013 at 10:58 am

Hi Joe,

Wonderful tribute.

Though he had his work cut out for him preparing the field for the Pope, the Beatles and others, am sure his greatest challenge was getting Shea Stadium back in shape after the turn was literally torn apart after the division clincher in 1969. But what I remember about that was the torn up turf not being replaced after the world series probably due to the time of season. What Flynn was able to do was to cover and level off those big blotches with sand to make it playable. Sure looked strange, however.
- Joe D March 17, 2013 at 11:10 am
  
  I just finished reading Greg’s book “The Happiest Recap.” It was a fantastic read if you haven’t had the chance to read it yet. I’m going to post on it either Monday or Tuesday.
  - Joey D. March 17, 2013 at 3:43 pm
    
    Hi Joe,
    
    Yup, it’s a great read and brings back so many memories of those early years.
    
    Gonna give Greg a friendly tease about one thing – in the book he thanks the magic of recording technology enabling him to transcribe Lindsey Nelson’s call of the eighth inning of Seaver’s 1969 imperfecto – but didn’t thank me for giving him that recording like he did when he first wrote about the game on his blog!
    
    He was listening to the recording on and off for a few days so I told him he was going to hear something during the broadcast that was so out of place and co. Greg wrote back and knew what I meant – the civil defense announcement on what to do in case of nuclear attack.
    
    I think Leo was more worried about Seaver pitching in Flushing than he was the Russians bombing it that night, don’t you?
Mr North Jersey March 17, 2013 at 12:39 pm

Happy St Patrick’s day & Lets Go Mets.

https://twitter.com/Mets/status/313327271966547970/photo/1
BrooklynsOwn March 17, 2013 at 1:21 pm

Spin knows how to celebrate St. Patty’s day.
- Hitman March 17, 2013 at 1:40 pm
  
  You know Collins is seething about that.
Jerseymet March 17, 2013 at 8:10 pm

Ah yes, the keepen’ of the green.

NL East Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Braves	23	18	.561	-
Nationals	23	19	.548	0.5
Phillies	20	23	.465	4.0
Mets	16	24	.400	6.5
Marlins	11	31	.262	12.5

Last updated: 05/18/2013

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