One of the least glamorous jobs in baseball is that of the pinch-hitter/bench player/spare part/25th man. But every club has one of these guys, and on occasion they can rise to the level of star performer, if only for a game or two. Jim Beauchamp (pronounced “Bee-chum”) was one of these players, and after kicking around the league with the Cardinals, the Astros (including some games as a Colt...
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Championship seasons are invariably marked by certain games and plays that are later tabbed as “turning points” for posterity. For the 1986 edition of the Mets, their turning point may well have occurred in only the 6th game of the season when, after winning their first two contests but dropping the next three, the team sat a game under .500. Although another 157 games remained to be played,...
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With Terry Collins’ contract due to expire at the end of this season, speculation is rife that along with a shift in the talent level (and hopefully the fortunes) of the team, a move may be made to replace the Mets’ skipper. GM Sandy Alderson having been typically circumspect when the question of a managerial extension has been broached, imaginations have run, if not wild, at least as far as...
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I’ve been reading many pieces in the national and local press suggesting that 2013 stands to be an especially fallow year for the New York baseball fan. The reasoning behind this assertion is based almost entirely on two assumptions: 1. The Mets will continue to tread the path of mediocrity with little or no hope of securing a post-season berth. 2. The Yankees, with their roster gutted of talent...
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In the course of the many years I have been a Mets devotee, I have witnessed countless contests between the Amazin’s and their various opponents where the end result was either a victory or loss for the Flushing crew, but nothing much beyond that unless something truly remarkable occurred to mark the game in my memory. Those games, where something truly out of the ordinary happened, have popped...
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