On Wednesday, the Mets finished off their seven-game homestand with a bang.

After a Brett Baty two-run homer off of Zack Wheeler, offense was hard to come by as it was knotted at 2-2 going into the eighth. The Mets’ defense continued to keep them in the game, as Juan Soto gunned out Nick Castellanos at the plate in the eighth inning, eventually sending the game into extras. The culmination of the Mets’ perfect homestand would come with a Starling Marte bloop single into center field, scoring Pete Alonso and securing a 4-3 win for New York. For a full game recap, click here!

This win made the Mets 12-1 to start the season at Citi Field, marking their best home record to start a season in team history.

New York has an off day on Thursday as they travel down to D.C. to kick off a four-game set against the Washington Nationals. Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning are the expected starters for that series. 

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Latest Mets News

Ryne Stanek raved about the Mets pitching development under this new regime, per David Lennon of Newsday. Stanek said New York’s pitching development is is “as good as anywhere I’ve been.”

Carlos Mendoza told reporters that he expects to reinstate Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez from the 10-day IL on Friday. Click here for more on the two Mets’ expected returns.

Mets traded minor leaguer Rowdey Jordan to the Astros, per Mike Mayer of Metsmerized Online. Jordan was an 11th RD pick in 2021. and has a .683 OPS in the minors.

Mets trainers noticed that one of Edwin Díaz’s legs was longer than the other on Tuesday. They fixed the issue, says Díaz: “I was feeling better after”, per SNY. Edwin left Wednesday’s win with what he labeled as a “hip cramp.” Click here for more on Edwin’s injury.

Latest MLB News

The Atlanta Braves selected RHP Jesse Chavez to the major league roster and transferred INF Nacho Alvarez Jr. to the 60-day injured list. 

The Philadelphia Phillies reinstated INF/OF Weston Wilson from the 10-day IL and in return designated INF/OF Kody Clemens for assignment.

The Chicago Cubs signed Nicky Lopez to a one-year major league contract and transferred LHP Justin Steele to the 60-day IL.

Athletics reliever José Leclerc is going to get a second opinion when the A’s are in Texas next week after going down with a lat strain, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’s shut down for the time being with no timetable for a return.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell “didn’t feel great” after playing catch on Tuesday per Dave Roberts. Snell will be shut down from throwing and might go for more imaging, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

Latest on MMO

Edwin Díaz left Wednesday’s win with a hip cramp.

Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez are expected to return this weekend!

The Mets finish off a perfect homestand!

On This Date in Mets History

2013: Jordany Valdespin hits a walk-off grand slam to give the Mets a 7-3 win over the Dodgers. 

2007: Pinch-hitter Damion Easley ties the Mets at one a piece with the Colorado Rockies in the 10th inning with the club down to their last strike. Endy Chávez would then win the game in the 12t inning with a walk-off drag bunt.

1986: Howard Johnson launches a two-run homer to tie the Mets and Reds in the ninth inning. George Foster then puts the Mets ahead in the 10th with an RBI single. 

1962: Casey Stengel is fined $500 by commissioner Ford Frick for appearing in a Rheingold Beer advertisement while in uniform.

Born on This Date: Tyler Naquin (1991), Carlos Beltrán (1977), Pat Zachry (1952).

The post Morning Briefing: Mets Continued Historic Start at Citi Field appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The White Sox locked down the record with a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night. Chicago was able to sweep the Los Angeles Angels earlier this week — their first of the season—to delay the inevitable, but ultimately fell to a hot Tigers team that clinched a postseason spot with their victory.

They now have two games left in the season to further cement the record.

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

If you have followed the New York Mets for any period of time, you know some of the names from the original 1962 team. The manager was Casey Stengel. “Marvelous” Mark Throneberry was the first baseman. Frank Thomas was the team’s best power hitter with 34 home runs. Richie Ashburn led the team in batting average with a .306 mark. Choo-Choo Coleman (such a great name) was one of the catchers. On the mound, Roger Craig (future manager of the San Francisco Giants) led the team with 10 wins. Al Jackson netted 20 losses, and Yale graduate Ken MacKenzie once heard from Stengel, “treat them like they was the Harvards.”

The 2024 White Sox have some interesting players, such as Andrew Benintendi (19 home runs), Luis Robert Jr. (14 home runs) and All-Star pitcher Garrett Crochet. Former Cleveland legend Grady Sizemore (8-31) took over the managerial duties in August from Pedro Grifol (28-89).

The White Sox started the year off 0-4 before winning their first game against the Atlanta Braves on April 2. The 1962 Mets began their campaign 0-9 before beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 on April 23. They never had a winning streak of longer than three games. The White Sox’s longest winning streak this season has been four games. They have drawn just over 1.3 million fans to Guaranteed Rate Field, second-to-last in the American League. The 1962 Mets attracted 922,530 fans to the Polo Grounds, ranking No. 8 out of 10 National League teams.

The stories from 1962 are many and varied. One involves Throneberry hitting a triple and being called out for missing first base. Stengel came out to argue, and supposedly the umpire told Casey to calm down, because Throneberry had missed second base as well. Stengel allegedly said that he knew Throneberry did not miss third base, because he was standing on it.

Other notable tidbits from 1962 include Ed Kranepool making his debut at 17-years-old. Future manager Don Zimmer was on the team also, as was catcher Joe Pignatano, future Mets’ pitching coach and gardening guru (he grew tomatoes in the bullpen).

To the White Sox, many Mets’ fans say “thank you” for getting the Orange and Blue out of the record books for the worst season in history. It took 62 years for the record to be broken, let’s see how long the Pale Hose can keep it now.

The post The 1962 Mets No Longer Hold Season Loss Record appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

On top of an exciting Subway Series victory, the Mets received more good news regarding their recovering ace.

Prior to Tuesday’s game, Kodai Senga said, through his interpreter, “I feel 100% ready, and I’m excited to get back out there.”

Senga threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and is scheduled to make his season debut against the Atlanta Braves on Friday at City Field.

After finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year race last year, Senga was diagnosed with a right shoulder strain in spring training that has kept him sidelined.

Mets News

Sean Manaea and Gerrit Cole will face off in another Subway Series matchup. First pitch is at 7:00 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium.

The Mets escaped with a 3-2 victory last night.

Rookie pitcher Christian Scott was placed on the injured list with a UCL sprain.

The Mets added outfield depth, signing veteran Jackie Bradley Jr. to a minor league contract.

Corey Collins, the Mets sixth-round selection, signed for $275,00, nearly $90,000 below slot value.

Sean Reid-Foley will start a rehab assignment with High-A Brooklyn on Friday.

MLB News

San Diego Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka received the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of his grandfather.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout was removed from his Triple-A rehab after two innings due to soreness in his surgically repaired right knee.

Latest On MMO

Chris Bello wrote about Francisco Lindor‘s two-home run game Monday.

Tylor Megill threw five scoreless in his most recent Syracuse start and much more in this week’s Mets Minors Weekly Report by Tyler Antonelle.

This Day in Mets History

1965: Casey Stengel managed his final game as Mets manager, a 5-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies. The following day, it was revealed that Stengel, who was well into his 7os, was in the hospital with a fractured hip, leading to his retirement.

1998: The Mets retire No. 41 for Tom Seaver.

2015: The Mets trade right-handers John Gant and Robert Whalen to the Braves for veteran bats Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. The Mets also called up outfield prospect Michael Conforto.

2016: Mike Piazza is finally inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Birthdays: Jeff Kaiser (64)

The post Morning Briefing: Senga is ‘100% Ready’ appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

While Wednesday did not present a lot of news from the baseball world, we did get some updates on interest the remaining free agents are garnering. One of the bigger pieces of news came from Jon Heyman, who said on a Bleacher Report live stream that the Los Angeles Angels are one of the team showing increased interest in Joey Votto. The long-time Reds first baseman is now a free agent for the first time in his 17-year career and the 40-year-old seems to be trending towards a change of scenery for the first time in his illustrious career. 

Votto’s numbers have declined drastically over the past couple of seasons, which saw him put up a .747 OPS in just 65 games in 2023. However, the former MVP can provide a veteran presence to a very young Angels club and whatever numbers he accrues at the dish will be a welcomed extra. 

Latest Mets News

Brandon Nimmo was named the second best left fielder in Major League Baseball by MLB Network. Read up on Nimmo’s ranking here!

Two of the Mets’ international free agent signees found themselves in Baseball America‘s top 30 list of this year’s international free agents. For more on the Mets signings, click here!

Mets pitchers and catchers will report to spring training on February 12. Learn about more important Mets spring training dates here!

The Baseball Hall of Fame released a list of players who will be eligible for election next season. That list includes former Mets Curtis Granderson and Carlos Gómez. They also noted that Daniel Murphy and Neil Walker will be eligible come 2026. 

Latest MLB News

Nathanael Pérez Nero of Diario Libre released a report that many prospects, who were supposed to sign with clubs during the internal free agency period, were altering documents. Millions of dollars worth of pre-agreements were annulled due to these prospects altering their identity, some changing their age by up to six years. 

Trey Mancini signed a minor league deal with the Miami Marlins which includes an invite to major league spring training, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

The New York Yankees announced that they have outrighted infielder Jeter Downs and outfielder Oscar González to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Along with that, the Minnesota Twins have claimed outfielder Bubba Thompson off waivers from the Yankees. 

The Detroit Tigers signed RHP Drew Anderson to a minor league deal, per Evan Woodbery of MLive. Anderson spent the past two seasons in Japan, but has previously pitched in the big leagues for the Phillies, White Sox, and Rangers. 

MLB Network will be airing a countdown of the top 100 prospects in MLB on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. 

Latest on MMO

The Mets have shown interest in relief pitcher Ryne Stanek. Read more about the potential Met here!

Could David Stearns use his Milwaukee ties to swing another trade? Learn more about potential trade target Brandon Woodruff!

Read up on some of the Mets top international free-agent signings from this years cycle. 

On This Date in Mets History

2016: The Mets announce that they will be retiring Mike Piazza‘s 31 jersey number, less than twenty days after he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Piazza became the fourth Met to have his number retired, joining Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, and Tom Seaver.

2007: Mets manager Willie Randolph agrees to a three-year extension with the club after leading the Mets to a National League East title in 2006.

The post Morning Briefing: Angels Showing Interest in Joey Votto appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo via New York Mets

On Wednesday, the Mets and new manager Carlos Mendoza made headway into filling out multiple openings in their coaching staff. The first hiring that was reported, was that the Mets would be adding former Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons as Carlos Mendoza’s bench coach for the upcoming season, per Will Sammon of The Athletic. For a greater look into the former ’86 Met and now Mets bench coach’s hiring, click here!

Along with that report, Andy Martino of SNY reported that Mike Sarbaugh will become the Mets’ third base coach after serving as the Guardians third base and infield coach for the past decade. Finally, Andy Martino of MLB.com announced that Antoan Richardson will be the Mets new first base coach after filling the same position last season with the San Francisco Giants.

The three new additions made on Wednesday nearly round out the coaching staff as Carlos Mendoza has gotten to work since he started in Queens just over a week ago. The tweet below from Mike Mayer of Metsmerized Online will show the current state of the Mets coaching staff with the three newest additions:

Mets coaching staff so far:

Manager – Carlos Mendoza
Bench coach – John Gibbons
Pitching coach – Jeremy Hefner
Hitting coach – Eric Chavez
Co-hitting coach – Jeremy Barnes
Third base coach – Mike Sarbaugh
Catching coach – Glenn Sherlock
First base coach – Antoan Richardson

— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) November 23, 2023

Latest Mets News

The Mets signed right-handed pitcher Joseph Yabbour to a minor league deal, per Mike Mayer of Metsmerized Online. The 20-year-old pitcher posted a 3.60 ERA and 12.6 K/9 in 20 innings in the Dominican Summer League with the Mariners. Yabbour is also the cousin of new Mets prospect Luisangel Acuña. 

The New York Mets signed Kevin Mahala as their minor league hitting coordinator, per his Twitter page. Mahala previously worked in the Phillies system and is one of many new hires as David Stearns tries to bring his guys into the Mets system. 

Latest MLB News

A trade between the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks went down on Wednesday, Arizona received veteran third-baseman Eugenio Suárez and sent right-handed reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala to Seattle in return, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. For a deeper dive into the details of the trade click here. 

Shōta Imanaga, who started the championship game of the World Baseball Classic for Japan this past March, is expected to be posted by this coming Monday, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Check out MMO’s article on the Imanaga posting and his free agency outlook. 

An article release by Yahoo Japan, revealed a lot about Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s upcoming free agency. Among those reports was that he would prefer to play with other Japanese players as well as revealing that geography is not a big factor into his decision. To learn more about Yamamoto’s deciding factors click here. 

Former Chicago White Sox shortstop and current free agent Tim Anderson held a Thanksgiving turkey drive in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Latest on MMO

FOCO provided Mets fans with some great holiday gift ideas!

Learn more about the Mets’ hiring of John Gibbons.

Allison Waxman updated us on Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s impending free agency. 

On This Date in Mets History

2010: The Mets introduce new manager of the club Terry Collins at Citi Field. Collins would go on to manage a franchise record 1,134 games, including 551 wins and a World Series appearance in 2015.

1961: Mets manager Casey Stengel appears on a float during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Billy Leos, Monte Irvin, and Gil Hodges to try and let people know about the new club in town.

Birthdays: Justin Turner (39), Ryan McGuire (52), Rich Sauveur (60), Tom Hall (76)

The post Morning Briefing: Mets Continue to Build Coaching Staff appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

In fact, stickball brought refuge to a young Kranepool. As his stickball reputation grew, local gangs treated Kranepool well and insisted he not hang around with them after dark as they didn’t want him to get into trouble and not be able to play on their teams.

Growing up in a single-parent household, Kranepool was drawn to athletics, mainly basketball and baseball. With the guidance and support of his next-door neighbor, Jimmy Schiafo, who acted as a father figure, the left-handed hitter was developing and drawing interest from Major League teams.

The team that showed the most interest in Kranepool’s services was that of the recently-formed New York Mets.

Sixty-one years after a then-17-year-old Kranepool signed a contract with the Mets, the Bronx-native has recently penned an autobiography on his life and playing career called “The Last Miracle: My 18-Year Journey with Amazin’ New York Mets.”

The memoir, published by Triumph Books, focuses on Kranepool’s development as a player, memories of the club’s first World Series championship in 1969, organizational miscues and his life-saving kidney transplant.

Triumph Books

Kranepool, 78, offers frank and transparent views on a myriad of topics, including his displeasure of Yogi Berra’s managerial decisions, resentment toward Gene Mauch for not playing him in his only All-Star Game appearance in 1965 and frustration with many of the Mets’ front office moves in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Over his eighteen-year career, Kranepool played for just one organization, a rarity in today’s game. Kranepool is the franchise leader in games played (1,853), and owns the third-most hits (1,418) and fifth-most RBIs (614). ‘The Krane’ also owns the eighth-most home runs by a player under the age of 20 in Major League Baseball history with 12.

In the latter part of Kranepool’s career, he developed into a dependable bat off the bench. In 1974, Kranepool went 17-for-35 (.486) in pinch-hitting opportunities, setting a single-season record for highest batting average by a pinch hitter.

I had the privilege of speaking with Kranepool over the phone, where he discussed his early development in the Bronx, spending nearly two decades with the Mets and his kidney transplant.

MMO: What prompted you to write the memoir?

Kranepool: I just figured I had a lot of stories to tell. Ralph Kiner is not around, so why not let the fans enjoy them? I participated in all of them since 1962, and there’s nobody here to talk about that stuff.

MMO: A prominent figure throughout your youth was your neighbor, Jimmy Schiafo. You write in the book that he acted as a father figure. How important was his presence in your life and early development as an athlete?

Kranepool: I was brought up without a dad; I lost my father in the war. I needed a replacement and he was my next-door neighbor and took a liking to me.

He had two boys and they were involved in baseball, and one was on my team. He worked us all out, kept us in shape and taught us the fundamentals of baseball. That’s really where I got my start.

MMO: You write that your reputation for baseball started by playing stickball in the Bronx. What memories do you have from playing stickball?

Kranepool: Stickball was the game to play in the Bronx because you had a lot of playgrounds with concrete fields; you didn’t have a lot of playing fields that were being taken care of. We played every day.

Being a guy from the Bronx, we didn’t have a lot of money in our pockets, so we were going out to camps and stuff like that in the summer. We all got together at the playgrounds and worked out every day. We ran there after breakfast and stayed there until lunch. We then ran home to grab a sandwich and came back and played basketball or baseball or whatever you could do on the playground.

It was cheap, inexpensive and a lot of fun for all of us.

MMO: Your first significant injury was when you fractured your elbow on your throwing arm in your second year of Little League. You write that your elbow never healed and you never had surgery to repair it. Did that injury ever bother you later in your career? And do you think you would’ve kept pitching?

Kranepool: I think I could have pitched. I was an outstanding pitcher in Little League and set all kinds of records. I was never the same afterwards, and nobody really knew about it. That’s something you don’t brag about with any type of deficiency you might have. So I played with it.

Did it affect me? It probably did; it probably affected my swing. I was a better player, I think, before that [injury]. But you still play and overcome and enjoy the game of baseball. I played every day and was able to perform, and we enjoyed ourselves.

To this day, it’s not right and never will be.

MMO: Is it true that you taught yourself to throw right handed after that injury?

Kranepool: I did! I caught for a year and a half and I can throw right handed. I’m not as good right handed as I am left handed because I never continued it. But I could throw because I wanted to hit. Certain things you can’t do so you just overcome them and keep trying.

MMO: That reminds me of Billy Wagner learning to throw left handed after breaking his right arm when he was a kid.

Kranepool: Well, that’s what it is. You use the other one and compensate for that. If you keep throwing with the opposite arm you’re going to overcome everything.

I did it for a year and a half, and I had fun doing it. I liked catching because you’re in the action.

MMO: Can you talk about the interest that the New York Mets showed in you throughout your high school career, and the relationship you developed with scout Bubber Jonnard?

Kranepool: Bubber was the scout in the tri-state area, and he followed all the players as they were growing up. When I was in sandlot baseball, I attracted a lot of attention because I was a pretty good hitter, and pitched a little bit but could never throw the same [after injury].

I really attracted the Mets because of my hitting. They followed me during high school and went to all my games.

When I signed, I graduated high school, and two days later the Mets came to my door, sat on my doorsteps, and wanted to talk a contract because you can’t sign until your graduating class is out. They were the first ones in my house, and they sat there all night, and we finally signed a contract.

MMO: I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that you graduated high school, signed a major league contract and then took a plane to the West Coast to meet the Mets just a few days later. Do you remember what was going through your mind at the time as a 17-year-old?

Kranepool: It was excitement for myself signing a contract. It was my goal as a Little Leaguer to start and play in the major leagues and perform. I didn’t expect to go out to the National League and to Los Angeles straight away, but I did.

They packed me up and put me on a plane; the first time I ever flew. Little did I know that opening night out there was Sandy Koufax. He pitched a no-hitter and struck out 13. I told Casey [Stengel], ‘I’m ready for college.’ [Laughs.]

MMO: You sat next to Casey Stengel during games to observe what was happening and get a feel for the major leagues when you arrived. What were some of your early takeaways from sitting next to Stengel?

Kranepool: He was having a good time with himself. He was 71, enjoying baseball, loving life and always discussing the game. He was the first one at the ballpark and the last one to leave.

He put a lot of time in on the team, but we just didn’t have the talent. We had a lot of older guys who were past their prime. Back in those days, 35 was more than your prime, and he knew that he really didn’t have the talent to really perform against the other teams.

Stengel took a lot of pressure off of guys because he kept the press busy writing stories about the Mets, talking about the old Yankees, all kinds of things. It made it easier for the players to perform because losing 100 games was not easy for any team. It’s tough to lose 100 games, and we did it for several years.

MMO: Obviously, the first seven years of the club’s existence were disappointing and underwhelming. And then came 1969. When did you start to notice that things were changing for the better in the organization?

Kranepool: We made a lot of changes in the front office, and of course, we acquired Gil Hodges in 1968. He was a young manager coming over from Washington, and he taught us how to play the game and how to win.

We were better in ’68. I think it was the second time we hadn’t lost 100 games and we thought it was a big improvement. In spring training, he discussed it with us and told us to set some goals for ourselves and taught us how to win, how to play the game and how you should play. A win here or there makes a big difference at the end of a season. So we did perform better.

By the summer of ’69, we started to get to .500. When we got to .500, it was at the stage of the season where we had never been that high in the season.

We started to play really good baseball, and in the second half of the season, we won 60-to-70 percent of our games. We beat every club that we had to and went on to win the pennant. We beat the Cubs by eight or nine games, and they were up eight or nine games most of the year.

MMO: Something you write about in the book is that you wish the club gave you more time to develop, especially when it came to the mental preparation of the game. Looking back, how would you have handled a young Ed Kranepool?

Kranepool: You can’t handle that any differently; they’re in control of your outcome. I would have been better off playing in the minor leagues for a year or two, developing with guys my own age; this way you can perform up to what your ability is.

Every time I went to the minors, I hit over .300 and was one of the outstanding players in the league. I just never developed.

You don’t improve facing Koufax, [Bob] Gibson, [Don] Drysdale, [Juan] Marichal and all of these Hall of Famers. There were so many of them in the National League in the sixties, and if you look at the records, most of those guys made the Hall of Fame. Guys don’t really perform and improve against those types of pitchers.

MMO: Did you feel pressure to succeed right away given all the hype and publicity surrounding your signing?

Kranepool: I did because everyone expected a whole lot more from you. They wanted you to do more because they wanted you to lead them to the pennant. And that’s why they were frustrated: they wanted to win. I don’t blame them, I wanted to win!

Until they surrounded me in the lineup, they could always pitch against you. I was an aggressive hitter, and I wanted to swing. I wasn’t going to walk my way to the major leagues. I would swing at pitches that were out of my strike zone, out of my hitting zone, and I didn’t perform with it.

As I matured and got older and caught up with the league, I started to produce some numbers that the Mets were expecting. But I’d been around so long that the organization said, “Maybe he’s over the hill.”

I was in the league for 17 years and performing. I could have done a lot better late in my career; I hit .300, .320, .290, .280. Those are competitive numbers for the better players in the league. But people still remember that you struggled when you were 17-18 [years old] in the league.

MMO: You were a terrific pinch hitter, as you posted a career .277 batting average in those situations. Can you talk about some of the challenges of pinch-hitting, and the preparation it takes in order to come up late in a game?

Kranepool: Mentally, I wanted to prove the manager wrong. When I wasn’t playing, I should have been playing. They should have had me in the lineup so I would get four at-bats instead of one.

Once I had that job, I prepared myself, and in the middle innings took some extra swings down below in the dugout and got myself ready and had my bat prepared. I knew when I was going to pinch hit; I didn’t pinch hit when the game was not on the line. It was always in a crucial situation where the game was on the line and I knew who was going to pitch, so I was physically ready to pinch hit.

As I got older, I did it so well that I was efficient in it. A team like the Mets, when they’re not playing well, you don’t have that many opportunities for game situations. You’re not going to pinch hit when you’re down 6-0 and you have a couple other options to choose. They’re going to use them, and I never got a chance to play in a lot of games.

It was a situation where I was doing it to show up the manager and work my way back into the lineup. But I did it pretty well.

MMO: From reading your book, you can tell how much respect and appreciation you had for Gil Hodges. From everything I’ve read about Hodges, he really seemed like a manager who was ahead of his time with his methods and how he managed a ball club. In your view, what did Hodges do well as a manager?

Kranepool: Gil learned how to use everybody and had one set of rules. He was a very tough disciplinarian. I had trouble with Gil in the early years, I had some disagreements with him, and we didn’t get along for two or three years. But I fought through it, and he did also.

He worked with me and sent me out to show me that he was in charge, and I went down to the minor leagues and hit over .300 and worked my way back to the majors. M. Donald Grant gave his word that he would get me back to the majors and wouldn’t just strand me in the minors. When I performed, he lived up to his promise and I got along very well with Mr. Grant.

MMO: I loved the anecdote you shared about winning a Kobe bull while barnstorming with the Mets in Japan in 1974. Can you talk about that event, and how you ended up with a bull as a prize?

Kranepool: I won a bull in Japan because I was the best hitter on the ball club. I led the team in home runs and average and played well over there and got an award.

It was quite funny how I ended it in the last game of the year. It was either myself or the first baseman the Giants had, Sadaharu Oh. We had a couple of home runs apiece, and then I hit a home run in the first inning. They moved the bull to one side of the field, and it looked like I was going to get it. Then Oh hit a home run, and they moved the bull back to the third base-side. Towards the seventh or eighth inning, I hit another home run, so I won the bull. I hit about eight home runs in 18 games.

They gave me the award, and it was fun. I didn’t bring it home because it was too expensive; you had to leave it in quarantine for a while. I traded him for a couple of first-class tickets to New York and left the ballclub with a week to go. We had a full week left, but I didn’t choose to stay in Japan.

MMO: You’re very honest and transparent throughout the book, especially with certain individuals like Gene Mauch, Yogi Berra, Joe McDonald and Joe Torre. Can you talk about your openness with some of the displeasure you had for certain individuals?

Kranepool: Whoever’s in charge, if they don’t treat you right, you’re going to treat them the same way they treated you. They didn’t make considerations and didn’t keep their promises, so there’s no way you’re going to like them.

Gene Mauch was a tough manager to play against. He always wanted to win and do anything to win for his ball club, had nothing to do with me, but he was tough on us. You wanted to beat him, and every time we played, you performed a little bit better.

Some of our people were incompetent in our organization. They made deals and trades and got rid of players who should’ve been playing, and other guys they kept. I wanted to win as a young player coming up; I was tired of losing. When they kept making bad moves, I critiqued them and let them know that I didn’t like it.

The only thing I wanted to do was win and win a World Series, and win a couple of them. We should’ve won two, we only won one. We lost the second one, and that was incompetence on the manager’s part. We should’ve been a better ball club then we were. If Gil was alive, we win more pennants, and become better for it.

MMO: One of the many things I learned while reading your book was that you were offered the opportunity to work with Robert Redford for “The Natural.” Can you talk about that?

Kranepool: We did. A lot of guys got opportunities when they were performing there. You had to play and do it in Buffalo. I didn’t choose to go up there because I didn’t know how long I was going to be at minimal pay.

Robert Redford was the star, and we had to teach him how to play baseball, and we worked a little bit with him in New York. But we weren’t going up to Buffalo. I wasn’t going to spend time up there without my family.

MMO: You write about your desire to work in the front office for the Mets after your playing career was through. Was that something you had given a lot of thought to?

Kranepool: I always did. I never wanted to manage, I didn’t want to confront the players on a daily basis; let them perform and do it on the field. I can work from above and around them, and that’s what I wanted to do.

I probably would have done it if Mrs. Payson stayed alive and didn’t give the club to her daughter and pick Joe McDonald to be the general manager. He killed off some minor league teams, traded those players, and then he traded from the major league club, and the Mets went from first to last.

MMO: You write about the process it took for you to find a kidney donor, and the help that Jay Horwitz provided to spread the word. Several years removed from surgery, how are you feeling?

Kranepool: I’m doing great! It’s four years since the surgery and it’s acting well. It did take me a couple of years to do it, and then we finally got one (kidney donor).

We were very lucky to be able to put together a structure, a deal that helped two guys; myself and another gentleman who was a firefighter. He actually got my donor and I got his wife as a donor; she was a perfect match. It worked out well for both.

MMO: When you look back on your career, Ed, what are you most proud of? 

Kranepool: I’m proud of staying long enough in the organization to finally see us win a World Series. That’s the one goal when you start, and I finished with a World Series. Like I said, the biggest disappointment of my career was losing the ’73 World Series in seven games.

The post MMO Exclusive: 1969 World Champion Ed Kranepool appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

When Cleon Jones squeezed his glove around the ball that Baltimore Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson hit to left field in the top of the ninth in Game Five of the 1969 World Series to give the Mets their first championship in their eight-year history, it was something he never dreamed of doing.

For Jones, making it as a major league ballplayer from his hometown of Africatown, a historic community located just several miles north of downtown Mobile, Alabama, was a dream in and of itself.

After all, the Mobile area was a hotbed for athletic talent, as players such as Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Ozzie Smith, Billy Williams, Tommie Agee, and Jones all grew up playing ball in the area. The talent was fierce, and there was a bevy of competition that even Jones surmises that part of the reason he was able to make a career as a big leaguer was being in the right place at the right time.

Jones, 80, reflects on his hometown and the special connection it had and still has to this day in his new memoir, “Coming Home: My Amazin’ Life with the New York Mets,” released August 2 from Triumph Books.

Triumph Books

In the book, Jones details his childhood in Africatown, being raised by his grandparents after his parents left him and his brother to find work, pursuing both baseball and football, and eventually signing with the Mets and becoming a world champion in 1969.

Jones’ memoir is filled with personal anecdotes and arduous moments, including a car accident that ended his pursuit in a career in football to some of the unjust and despicable racist moments he endured.

His major league career lasted thirteen seasons, twelve with the Mets, and he posted a career .281 batting average with 93 home runs and 524 RBIs in 1,213 regular season games. Among all-time Mets, Jones ranks sixth in games played (1,201), fifth in at-bats (4,223), fourth in hits (1,188), tied for eighth in RBI (521), and tenth in extra-base hits (308).

Jones’ 1969 season was his standout year, as he posted career highs in average (.340), OBP (.422), slugging (.482), hits (164), RBI (75), and fWAR (6.3). Jones’ 6.3 fWAR was the seventh-highest for an outfielder in that season.

Post-retirement, Jones and his family moved back to Africatown and have done their part to help restore a dying community. When Jones was growing up, he estimated that around 10,000 to 12,000 people inhabited that area; now, that number has plunged to around 2,000 people.

With his non-profit, The Cleon Jones Last Out Community Foundation, Jones and his family are looking to raise funds to help build and refurbish homes, combat blight, and provide programs and opportunities to those who wish to make this place their home.

I had the privilege of speaking to Jones prior to the book’s release, to discuss his memoir and detail some memorable moments from his life and career.

MMO: What prompted you to write the book now?

Jones: It was a family matter. Sitting around the kitchen table talking with my wife and two kids, Anja and Cleon Jr., we often talked about the neighborhood and baseball. Each time we sat and talked, I would add something different and new, and they said, “We never heard that before. You need to put together a book.” And I said, “I don’t think so.”

Finally, they talked me into putting a book together. After reading it myself, I think there’s some good information, and people know who I am. I think it was a great idea.

MMO: A main theme in the book is your home and community. Can you talk about how your hometown helped shape you into the man and ballplayer you became?

Jones: I come from a historic neighborhood in Africatown. We always reference Plateau Africatown as our neighborhood. Coming up here, there were some great ballplayers that came up with and before me.

I was lucky that I grew up in Africatown because the family unit was intact at that time, and all the families around me had eight, nine, ten, eleven, or twelve kids! One family had nineteen and another had twenty-two. Most of them were boys, and when I came out of my front door, if I was lucky enough to have a ball, and I threw it up before it came back down, I had enough for two teams.

We were able to play baseball in the schoolyard and on the field, and we played tops. A lot of folks might not realize what tops is: you get a broomstick and take soda tops, and you hit the soda tops, which is a difficult thing to do. I think we mastered that.

When I came up, Africatown was a neighborhood of about 12,000 people and consisted of Happy Hills, Kelly Hills, Plateau, Magazine, Magazine Point, and Lewis Quarters.

I keep emphasizing this because it’s important; the family unit was intact, and that was because of the availability of jobs. We had two paper mills around us, International and Scott Paper Company; we had Alcoa Aluminum, and we had other mills that people could leave home in the morning and it wouldn’t take them more than five to ten minutes to get to. As a result, the family unit was intact, and that was important at that time.

I grew up with my grandmother and great-grandmother; my mother and father had moved on for the very reason that I just talked about: seeking work. I was raised by my grandparents with an older brother who’s two years older. He was also a good athlete.

Having people like Satchel Paige and Hank Aaron and a guy named Ralph Donahue, who was a pitcher who went against Satchel Paige here in the Mobile area. They pitched until dark. They were striking out everybody, that’s how good both were at the time.

We know who Satchel Paige went on to be: one of the greatest pitchers ever to live. This other guy was a neighborhood guy that lived and talked about all the great things and reminisced about being as good as Satchel Paige. Guys like James “Fat” Robertson, who managed our local team and funded us bats and balls and a place to practice and play, enhanced my skills as it relates to baseball and getting to the big leagues.

Africatown still exists. We found the Clotilda, that’s the ship that brought the last cargo of the would-be slaves to America, and it ended up here in my hometown. A couple of years ago we ended up finding the ship, a local writer, Ben Raines, actually found the ship. That history, along with all of the baseball, makes it a dynamic place.

As I stated earlier, there were about 12-14,000 people in my neighborhood, now it’s only about 2,000. We are a dying community with the average age probably being about 60 years old in the community.

My family has been fighting for years to try and do some things to entice people to move back in to try and grow the community, and let the world know about Africatown and its historical significance as it relates to this country.

MMO: From reading your book, it seemed like that area was filled with a ton of athletic talent.

Jones: No doubt about it. Everybody asks, “Were you the best player in your community?” The answer is always no. There were guys whom I wanted to be like; guys that were my age who were much better. I was fortunate that I got a chance to play, and some of these guys just didn’t get the opportunity to.

I’ve always had a mindset that I would keep in touch with all of these players because these guys I’m talking about who were so talented inspired me and made me, so-to-speak. I just got up every morning and worked every day to try and be as good as those guys.

I can think about all the other hundreds of guys who I came up with who were better, in my opinion. You have to be in the right place at the right time, I guess. I give all the credit to my community and the people in the community, and that’s why we’re here now fighting back.

We never had an illusion as to where we’d live after baseball, so we came back home, and we’ve been fighting for over thirty years to make this community what it really should be. And I’m not just talking about athletics; I’m talking the historical significance, building homes, refurbishing homes, and making sure people are educated about who they are and the history.

Those things are beginning to happen, but it has taken all these years to try to put things on the right track.

MMO: And that’s what your non-profit, The Cleon Jones Last Out Community Foundation, is all about, right?

Jones: That’s exactly what we do each and every day. I’d like to give a shoutout to my family again, as they enticed me to put this together so we can raise funds to put roofs on people’s houses, refurbish their homes, whether it be paint, windows, doors, new floors, and things of that nature.

We are right now trying to put together some cohesive unit where we can start building houses. If you build houses, you can entice young folks back to the community, and that’s certainly what we need.

As I stated earlier, we are a dying community, and there’s a lot of interest in it; we get knocks on the door asking if there’s any land available and if they can build a house.

We are working towards all of those things and we have to look out for the homeless and senior citizens. This community is engrossed with senior citizens and people over 70, and we have two people over 100; one is 101 and the other is 102. We have many that are up in their nineties.

Longevity lives in this community, and we just want to make sure we can entice some young folks to come back and build. That will help our churches, our schools, and things of that nature. We have a plan and we just have to implement it. Everything costs money and certainly, it takes some time, but that’s why we are here.

MMO: You write that you were a natural left-handed hitter but that changed early on as a kid. What prompted you to start hitting right-handed?

Jones: Sometimes things happen for the best. Where we played, I was a left-handed hitter and we only had one ball. I used to hit the ball into the marsh down the right field line. And so, they told me if I was going to play, I couldn’t hit left-handed, I would have to hit from the other side because I was losing their ball, and they didn’t have any.

I got on the other side and started to play with that, and just never went back to the right side. [Laughs.] I was a left-hander from six years old up until around thirteen or so, and then I never left. That’s when I started to play with the big boys.

MMO: Along with baseball, you played football at A&M and were getting letters from the Cleveland Browns. You got into a terrible accident, and you write that the accident changed everything for you and that’s when you decided you were done with football. Can you talk about that experience and how that eventually led you into a career in baseball?

Jones: People have an opinion about who you are, what you can do, and what you’re good at. Certainly, at the time, I was considered a better football player than a baseball player.

I came home from a break from school and got into an automobile accident. A car hit us head on, and I went through the windshield. As I think about it, people looked at me and were hollering and crying, and I didn’t feel anything at the time. The lacerations were so gross, I guess, that people looked at me and were crying.

I was pronounced dead two or three times. I lacerated my eyelashes; Lord knows why it didn’t put out my eyes. God is always at work. They took me to the hospital in an ambulance, and the doctors were staring over me and sewed me up and whatnot. A friend of mine worked at the hospital, and I could hear his voice asking the doctor if I was going to make it. The doctor said, “If we can stop the bleeding, we believe he’ll make it.”

Everybody thought my career in both football and baseball was a thing of the past. I didn’t go back to school, but I ended up a month or two later starting to work out with baseball.

Two months later, I signed a baseball contract. I was going back to school, and the Mets called me, wanting me to go to instructional league in 1962. I went down to instructional league and had a great year, and that was the same year Ed Kranepool signed. He was a bonus baby that year. I got a little money but that’s because they told me they didn’t have any more money because Kranepool got it all. [Laughs.] We talk about that all the time.

That’s probably the best thing that happened to me after the accident that I was able to go to winter ball because the two of us ended up being the best two players on the roster. I was touted to go to Triple-A that year, and that was a big jump from just signing to going to Triple-A. I had another setback where I had a hemorrhoid problem and I needed to get surgery on that, and that set me back another month. That all happened when I was in Auburn, New York, in A-ball.

I ended up coming home and having surgery and went to Raleigh, North Carolina, in I believe July, and I ended up going to the big leagues after that season. The accident didn’t stop me because God was in the mix, and here I am again doing God’s work.

MMO: What are your memories from being scouted and eventually signing with the Mets?

Jones: The Mets had scouts out. A scout named Julius Morgan came to Mobile to see me. A guy named Clyde Gray (friend and sort of agent, as Jones writes) and his wife wrote the Mets that they had a player who was going to be a big-leaguer and that someone needed to come to see him.

The Mets sent Morgan, and when he came to see me, we were playing a Sunday game after church. The first time up I hit a home run, and then it rained. [Laughs.] He didn’t get a chance to see me but that one time at bat.

Clyde Gray and I went to Salisbury, South Carolina, to work out. We went to Carolina a week or two later and worked out, and he liked what he saw and so did the other managers. They offered me a contract up there for $15,000. I told them, ‘No way am I signing for $15,000. [Tommie] Agee just got $65,000, and Kranepool got $100,000. I’m better than both of them.’ I said no, and we came back home.

When I got back home, the scout was sitting on the porch talking to my grandmother. My grandmother always had the last word. She said, “This man is trying to give you this money, and you’re acting a fool. Boy, if you don’t sign that contract, you’re going to have to deal with me!” That was the end of that. I signed the contract because Grandma said sign it, and it was the best move that I ever made, that grandma made me make. [Laughs.]

MMO: You write how you would regularly seek advice from several veteran players on the Mets, including Warren Spahn, Al Jackson, and Ken Boyer. What were some of the things you wanted to take away from them, and how did they aid you in becoming a better ballplayer?

Jones: It’s always good to know where you’re headed and how the other guys got there. Spahnie was one of the best left-handers ever; he was full of knowledge. Al Jackson was like a big brother to me; he just showed me the ropes and kept my mind focused on how to get to the big leagues and stay in the big leagues. Ken Boyer was a gentleman’s gentleman, and so was Jackson.

I was fortunate enough that Al Jackson was my roommate. Al showed me the ropes on pitching, how to concentrate on what it is you want to do, and gave me all of the particulars on and off the field. I’ll be forever grateful to Al Jackson.

The good news is that the Mets were the kind of organization that tried to get friendly people to be teammates and to rally around one another. It wasn’t quite there at that time, but I keep mentioning this name all the time in Johnny Murphy. He was assistant general manager at the time and became the general manager, and he was the glue to the organization as I saw it. He had the foresight to put me with Al Jackson so I could learn from Al and certainly that worked out.

I learned how to concentrate on what it was that I wanted to do and take charge. That’s what we talk about all the time: being in charge of who you are and not being in limbo as to what you wanted to do and know what you want to do at all times. That’s a big factor because all great hitters, and I’m not saying I was a great hitter, like Ted Williams, [Stan] Musial, [Willie] Mays, [Mickey] Mantle, Aaron, all these guys took charge when they went to the plate. That’s what a young player has to know, that he has to take charge.

There’s a way that you can do that, but it just doesn’t happen. If you are a good fastball hitter, don’t get beat by the fastball by taking it. That’s what I concentrated on was taking something away from the pitcher; if I take the fastball, I give you the curveball up until two strikes. It’s not just going to the plate with an empty head and a bat in your hand. It’s going to the plate with a bat in your hand and a mindset.

That’s what you learn from older guys, and I don’t know if baseball is that way now or not, but we shared the game when I played.

MMO: One of the things I found interesting was when you wrote about how you were one of the few players who would regularly watch film before and after games. When and why did you start doing that, and how did that help you with your play on the field?

Jones: I was always interested in mechanics. Often your mechanics cause you to go into slumps. And the other thing is that the baseball is the key. If you focus and you react to the baseball, whether it’s offensively or defensively, then you’re going to be in control.

A lot of guys don’t know when to react and don’t have a trigger for reaction. What I mean by that is the release point, or where the pitcher releases the ball, is where you take over. It’s the same thing for the outfield, you can’t go for the ball until you see it come off the bat. You can’t hit the ball until the pitcher releases it, so it’s release point, and the ball tells you what to do.

You have to be able to react to the ball when it’s in flight, whether offensively or defensively. Those are the triggers that you deal with. A lot of players never learn that, and as a result, they don’t get better and struggle throughout their careers.

MMO: When I say the name Gil Hodges, what comes to mind?

Jones: In my opinion, he’s the best manager I played for. Casey Stengel was a great manager because he had all those great teams with the Yankees, but Gil was the best manager because, we’ve been talking about preparation and being prepared, he was always prepared. What I mean by that is he coached every area of the game. He was good with pitchers, good with position players, and good with bench players. You might ask, how can he be good with bench players? If you talk to your players and you’re telling them that you don’t know when they’re going to be called on, but you have to stay ready and ready to react when you’re called on.

I think everyone knows that we only had four starters on that ’69 team: Agee, [Jerry] Grote, [Bud] Harrelson, and myself. Everybody else platooned. You win a championship with a platoon team [and] that speaks volume when you don’t have the kind of power that the Yankees had and other teams had that were great teams.

We had great pitching, and what we don’t get credit for is that we had great defense. We didn’t beat ourselves; you had to beat us. And that was because of Gil Hodges. He allowed us to make mistakes, and if you made a mistake, he wanted to make sure that you knew what you did so it wouldn’t happen again. He would drill you on those types of things.

If not for Gil Hodges, we wouldn’t be talking about the 1969 Mets. He made that team and brought this team together and told us in spring training that we were better than we thought we were. We all looked around at each other and said, “What is he talking about?” [Laughs.]

He was a real force on the team, and everybody respected him. I wouldn’t say everybody loved him because he had his ways that he dealt with players in a sergeant manner. But he was always cordial, and he always talked to you with a smile. Even when he walked out onto the field and got me that day (when Hodges removed Jones from left field on July 30, 1969), he had a smile on his face. Even that moment he had a plan, and he came to the ballpark with a plan each and every day and that’s why we won.

MMO: It seems that Hodges was a manager ahead of his time in many respects.

Jones: He could’ve managed at any time, but these players today wouldn’t fit with Gil. They would have to come down a notch or two to be on his team. Certainly, he would get them there, but they’re a little bit different today. He wouldn’t allow guys that struck out a whole lot to be hitting 3-0 and all those things. He had rules, and these guys don’t seem to have rules anymore; they just go up there swinging.

There was a time where I was hitting about .360, and if you were 3-0 you had to take a pitch. I said to him one day, ‘I’m hitting about .360, don’t you think it’s about time to let me hit 3-0?’ He laughed about it and said, “Yeah, you’re right. You can do it, go ahead.”

He was in control, and when I say in control, it was Gil Hodges’ team, and he managed it in a way that I hadn’t been a part of with any other manager. Like I said, he was good with pitchers, he was good with position players, he was good with all the players.

I see a lot of managers today that go out to the mound to pull a pitcher out, and it’s already too late. We used to say why close a barn door when the horse is already out and gone? Gil was always a hitter or two ahead of the situation.

MMO: You mentioned that Hodges told the team in spring training in ’69 that you all were better than what you thought. At what point during that season did you realize something special was occurring?

Jones: In July, we were having fun because we were winning. We knew we were getting a little bit better even though we knew the Cubs were up eight or nine games. We knew that we were getting better, and our pitching staff was growing and gaining confidence. We were gaining confidence as a team.

It was fun to go to the ballpark because we were winning, and he (Hodges) taught us how to win. We were confident that we could win every ballgame because there were very few games, except when we played Houston, that we were out of. And what I mean by that is if they were up four-five-six runs, we would fight back.

I don’t know how many one-run games we won that year, but I talk about it in the book how that made a difference. Even though we ran away with the lead at the end, it was because of Gil pushing everybody to be the best that they could be.

MMO: Your ’69 season was incredible, as you posted a .340 average and .422 on-base percentage. Was there anything specific you worked on or altered to raise your average and on-base as much as you did from your ’68 season?

Jones: After ’68, I knew that I could hit .300 in the big leagues. I got off to a slow start that year, and I went down to the last day being able to hit .300, and I ended up hitting .297.

I made a pact with myself in ’69, that I was going to get off to a good start. I worked hard to get a good start, come out of the box ready, and to have my average up to respectable. It worked for me because for the first three or four months I led the league, and when I cracked my ribs, no doubt in my mind I would’ve won the batting title that year.

Before I cracked my ribs, I was going up and I was just feeling better at the plate. Nothing was fooling me and getting by me. I was having three or four good at-bats each and every game. I was just on my game because I was in control.

MMO: That goes back to having a mindset at the plate like you talked about before.

Jones: I knew what happened my at-bat before this particular at-bat and what he threw me, and I knew if I made out and if I got a hit what I hit. I would deduct from that what I would probably get. It worked most of the time because pitchers have a book on players of what they think they can get you out on, what part of the plate and if they can pitch you inside or outside, up, or down. All of those things.

You can’t go up there thinking about that, but you have to. You have to understand that to be in control, you’ve got to minimize all of those things and take one that you can deal with and move forward.

MMO: What is it like to catch the final out of a deciding World Series game?

Jones: I never even thought about it before it happened. You go out to the outfield hoping and feeling that this is the last inning and we’re going to win. You never dream that the last out is going to fall into your glove and the last ball would put a staple on your career. Having been the last out of the 1969 World Series and you’re the guy that caught the ball.

I never had that kind of dream, but it’s now something that I’m noted for, along with the shoe polish deal. It was the greatest catch of the game. [Ron] Swoboda made great catches; Agee made great catches, but that was the greatest catch of the game. It just sealed a great year for a great organization.

MMO: Another subject you tackle in the book is some of the racism you dealt with in your life, and how you navigated through some awful moments. How were you able to stay so mentally tough and navigate through such cruel and awful racist times throughout the course of your life?

Jones: In the minor leagues, things happened. We knew what kind of world we came up in. You can’t prepare for all the things that happen, but Jackie Robinson was a stabilizing force to me because all you had to do was look at what he did. If he could do it, then you can do it. Jackie was all alone and had nobody but Rachel to come home to and vent his frustrations.

There were many times when I came home and I said to my wife, ‘I don’t know how many times I was called a n***** today, but it was a lot. And it’s probably going to be a lot tomorrow.’

Some things you just need to black out. I was threatened and everything else. But it’s a sport. It’s a game, and it’s a livelihood. People came to the game because they enjoyed it. You’re going to have haters, but sometimes you can win those haters over just by being Cleon and being a good ballplayer, and doing your job well.

That’s my mindset, that when someone hollers out of the stands, “N*****, if you hit that ball, I’m going to come down there and see about you,” well, I was going to hit that ball so hard that it would’ve gone out of Yellowstone Park. I was going to make sure I hit it hard. That always gave me the power to concentrate on why I was there: to be a ballplayer and to do good. I’d hit the ball off the wall and run the bases, and the guy would come down from the stands and say, “By God, n*****, you’re going to be a good one.”

That was who he was, but he was telling me who I was at the same time. Negativity has its place, but you have to understand that you can’t stop people from being people, whether they’re black, white, pink, purple, or anything different. You just have to do your thing, and you don’t have to win them over, but you can quiet them. You can quiet them down by being the best that you can be.

MMO: Finally, what do you hope readers take away from the book?

Jones: I just hope they take away that family is important, whether it’s your immediate family or your sports family or your neighborhood family. It’s all important and it’s important as you move forward.

My neighborhood made me, I didn’t make my neighborhood. What I got from my neighborhood, and all the people that I talk about in the book, made for a decent career for me because I didn’t want to let them down. They empowered me to be a major leaguer.

Think positive and be of good cheer, and know that when you work together you can make things happen.

MMO: Thank you very much for some time today, Cleon. Best of luck with the book.

Jones: Thank you.

To purchase a copy of Cleon Jones’ book, click here.

The post MMO Exclusive: Mets ’69 Hero Cleon Jones appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mrs. Payson spearheaded the return of National League baseball to New York.

A Fan Shot by Gregg Hopps

A Happy Mother’s Day to the original Mets Mom…

Of course I’m talking about our New York Mets founder and the first female owner in Major League Baseball, Joan Whitney Payson.

One SNY feature, the only one I consider to be worth watching, is Mets Yearbook. In one particular episode, the year was 1963, they showed the final game at the old Polo Grounds, with Mrs. Payson and Casey Stengel on the field.

As I watched, I thought of how remarkable a woman Mrs. Payson was a woman clearly ahead of her time, and how the Mets will never have another owner as good and as wonderful as she was.

Just watching all the video clips of her it was so apparent that Mrs. Payson truly loved her Mets, and it was just as apparent that Met fans loved her back.

The First Lady of Shea has roses for a tearful Willie Mays during his farewell.

When was the last time we saw a Mets owner sitting in the stands with the fans, rooting for our team? Whether eating a hotdog or enjoying a box of Cracker Jacks, there she was sitting with the rest of us and rooting for the team. She wasnt isolated in an owners box, but instead enjoyed being with her people, Mets fans, and enjoying the game with them.

Before taking ownership of the Mets, Mrs. Payson was a shareholder of the New York Giants. In fact, Mrs. Payson tried all she could to talk Horace Stoneham out of moving the Giants to San Francisco. Mrs. Payson, and M. Donald Grant both voted against the Giants’ move. When the National League finally agreed to expansion and awarded a baseball team to New York, Mrs.Payson becoming the first woman ever to own a baseball team, and they couldn’t have made a better choice.

Mrs. Payson then went about the business of hiring the best baseball people available at the time. She also didn’t meddle and always allowed all of them to do their job.

With 50 years of hindsight, the early Mets were a stroke of genius. New York was starving for National League baseball and Mrs. Payson and some other key people brought it back to us.

The Mets also brought back as many former Giants and Dodgers as they could to bring a hometown feel and familiarity to the team. They scooped up the most successful manager in the game in Casey Stengel. They then let the stars of the past play, while beginning the work of assembling a strong farm system.

A night on the town with Tom Seaver and Art Shamsky.

Then came Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tommie Agee and the rest of the 1969 Miracle Mets, led by manager Gil Hodges. What an amazing time for all of us. In just seven years since inception, and all as cellar-dwellers, the Mets became World Champions in a pre-free agency era. Incredible.

I became a Met fan in 1973. Sadly Mrs. Payson died in October of 1975, so I have very few memories of her. But to me, the thing that was so striking about her was her genuine, heartfelt love for all the Mets players, coaches and fans. I doubt we’ll ever see anything like it, or anyone like her, ever again. That my friends, is too bad.

* * * * *

This MMO Fan Shot was originally written by Gregg Hopps on April 10, 2015.

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On February 25, 2012, the Mets Twitter account tweeted a picture of the patch (an image of home plate with the “Kid 8” in the middle) the Mets would wear on the uniform sleeves in 2012, honoring Gary Carter who had passed away nine days earlier.

The Mets have yet to officially retire Carter’s number eight, that he wore from 1985-1989. Since Carter left the Mets, number eight has been worn by four players, Dave Gallagher (1992-1993), Steve Swisher (1994-1996), Carlos Baerga (1997-1998), and Desi Relaford (2001).

The Mets have retired five numbers, Jackie Robinson (42), Gil Hodges (14), Casey Stengel (37), Tom Seaver (41), and Mike Piazza (31). New owner, Steve Cohen, has pledged to do more to acknowledge Mets’ history at Citi Field, and one would hope that among these moves would be the completion of the Seaver statue that has been planned, as well as retiring a couple of more numbers.

A case could be made for retiring Carter’s number eight. His Mets’ tenure was short, lasting just five seasons. In those five years, he accumulated a .249 BA, slugged 89 home runs, and drove in 349 runs. Carter’s best year as a Met was his first in Queens, 1985, when he slashed .281/.365/.485. In that season, he hit 32 home runs, drove in 100 runs, and posted a 138 OPS+.

Carter had another solid season in 1986, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 105 runs in a year in which he was limited to 132 games because of an injury. His numbers declined in 1987 and 1988, and he missed much of the 1989 season, playing in just 50 games.

It’s impossible to think of Carter’s Mets years and not go to Game Six of the 1986 World Series. The Mets were down to their last out in the tenth inning, trailing by two runs with no one on base. Carter kept the dream alive with a single, and we know what happened from there. In addition, he belted two home runs in Game Four, when the Mets evened the series at two games apiece.

While Steve Cohen is at it, I’d like to put in my vote for retiring either number four or number ten, the numbers worn by Rusty Staub, and number 17 worn by Keith Hernandez. Many other players have worn these numbers, but Staub and Hernandez have made their marks in Mets’ history.

Staub was a Met for nine season in two stints with the team. In his first stint from 1972-1975, Staub was the best offensive player on a team with otherwise limited offense. He was the first Met in club history to drive in 100 runs in one season (105 in 1975). In his second go-round, he was a pinch-hitter extraordinaire from 1981-1985.

Staub did quite a bit of charity work after his playing career. Most notably, he founded the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund, which supports the families of New York City police officers, firefighters, Port Authority police, and EMS personnel who were killed in the line of duty.

In Hernandez’s seven years with the Mets, he slashed .297/.387/.429. He hit 80 home runs and posted an overall OPS+ of 129. He also won six gold gloves, and made three all star teams. Hernandez was the first significant external piece the Mets added in 1983 on their way from rebuilding to contention.

He is credited for his leadership on the Mets teams of the mid-1980s. Keith had the key hit in Game Seven of the 1986 World Series, driving in two runs to cut the Mets’ deficit to one run. Hernandez has become an iconic figure in the Mets’ broadcast booth, coupling his game insights with his offbeat sense of humor.

The 2021 season has a lot of promise for the Mets. The team appears to be significantly improved, fans may be allowed back in the ballpark, and there’s new ownership. Given all that has happened over the last year, this would be a great time to enrich Mets history at Citi Field.

One way to get that started would be to retire the numbers of Gary Carter, Rusty Staub, and Keith Hernandez.

The post OTD 2012: Mets Unveil Patch Commemorating Gary Carter appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Fifty-one years ago today, July 20th, 1969, man first walked on the moon. Later that year, the Mets won the World Series.

There was so much going on in the world in the summer of 1969. There was civil unrest. The Vietnam war was raging. Woodstock took place in August of that year. Richard Nixon’s presidency was in its first year. But something was seemingly normal- the Mets appeared destined for another ho-hum season.

Former Mets manager Casey Stengel had such low expectations for the still-fledgling Mets that he once said man would walk on the moon before the Mets win a championship. As Steven Marcus of Newsday aptly points out, Stengel was correct, but by only three months.

July 20th was the last day before the 1969 All Star break. The Mets were a respectable 53-39, but the Cubs appeared to be a powerhouse. The young Mets were, in the minds of many, kidding themselves thinking that they were in the race. They had just split a doubleheader with the expansion Expos.

How about this for irony? As Marcus points out in the Newsday article referenced above, the Mets were able to watch Neil Armstrong’s history-making walk because their plane was grounded in Montreal due to mechanical issues.

When the lunar module touched down on the surface of the moon that Sunday afternoon, baseball stood still (as it should). Marcus describes the scene at Comiskey Park in Chicago, where the scoreboard fireworks went off to mark the occasion. The Yankees game against the Washington Senators paused for nearly five minutes as PA announcer Bob Sheppard informed the crowd that unprecedented event had taken place.

Think about how incredible the moon landing and walk were. Just sixty-six years prior to the event, the Wright brothers were able to get an aircraft off the ground for 12 seconds. Now, man was on the moon.

The Mets still had some work to do to make their former manager a prophet. It did not look like it was going to happen, at least in 1969. By August 13th, the Mets were 10 games behind the Cubs.

By August 27th, that deficit had shrunk to 2.5 games, and now things were stirring. The Mets slipped back to five games out on September 3rd. By September 10th, however, the Mets were in first place. On October 1st, the second-to-last day of the season, the Mets’ division lead had ballooned to nine games. They ended the season eight games ahead of the Cubs.

The rest of the story is well known. The Mets would go on to sweep the Braves in the NL Championship Series, and defeat the Orioles four games to one to win the World Series, putting a cap on a very transformative year in history.

Casey Stengel has often been dubbed “The Old Professor”. His prescience about space travel and corresponding baseball championships earned him his honorary PhD and tenure among the baseball community.

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