The Mets announced that Nelson Doubleday, Jr., the former owner of the Mets, has passed away at the age of 81.
According to Doubleday’s family, the cause of death was pneumonia.
“We were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Nelson Doubleday, Jr.,” The Mets said in a statement.
“Nelson had a love of baseball and the Mets. On behalf of everyone at the organization, we send our condolences and sympathies to his family.”
Doubleday and his minority partners, including Fred Wilpon — bought the Mets for $21.1 million in 1980, a record price at the time for a sports franchise.
Doubleday owned 95 percent of the team and he called all the shots. His first signature move was hiring Frank Cashen as Mets general manager. The rest was history.
A descendant of Abner Doubleday, Nelson was also responsible for bringing Mike Piazza to New York, a move Fred Wilpon was against.
Nelson was a giant of a man and a captain of industry, but those who knew him all said he was an every-man, the kind of guy you’d want to have a beer with.
He believed in hiring the right people for the job and then letting them do what they needed to do, supporting them all along the way.
In 2002 after a very public and nasty feud, Fred Wilpon bought Doubleday out for $135 million dollars in what was viewed by many as a hostile takeover. The two would never speak to each other again.
We lose a great man who saved us from M. Donald Grant, a man that will certainly be missed by me and countless others.
