The $57 million renovations of Clover Park, the Mets Spring Training facility and home to the St. Lucie Mets, are far behind schedule. Worse yet, due to cost overruns, some of the plans have been altered.

The 360-degree concourse is gone. Worse yet, the Little League fields have been scrapped.

What did remain was a beautiful state-of-the-art clubhouse for the Mets’ Major Leaguers. With this doubling as the Mets minor league affiliate, it was a nice touch seeing Tom Seaver in his Jacksonville Suns cap, David Wright in his Capital City Bombers cap, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry in their Tidewater Tides caps and Edgardo Alfonzo in his St. Lucie Mets cap.

The irony there is not only was Alfonzo fired as a Mets minor league manager, but the Mets are also not permitting their minor leaguers to use the clubhouse. This means the clubhouse will lie dormant and unused approximately 10 months of the year and throughout the regular season.

Keep in mind, this comes at a time when Major League Baseball is threatening contraction of minor league teams partially because of the supposed inability to maintain adequate facilities. They’re also making the position they need to contract teams to begin paying living wages to their players.

Somehow, that didn’t stop the Mets from (mis)allocating municipal resources mostly towards a little-used clubhouse instead of the originally promised Little League fields or other fan amenities. Part of the reason is the Mets were not willing to contribute more than $2 million over and above the $55 million in municipal funds provided.

Of note, the Mets receive 100% of the proceeds for the naming right. This puts in question how much cash outlay the Mets or an affiliate Sterling entity made.

Even if the Mets did provide the money needed for everything promised when the approval for the $55 million was approved, you can still question the wisdom of allocating resources towards a seldom-used clubhouse while not allowing minor leaguers to use it. It seems unnecessarily duplicative to have multiple clubhouses.

As reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the Mets justification for not allowing the minor leaguers use the clubhouse was “to give minor leaguers a reminder of the status they’re working to earn.”

The position drew much ire and ridicule. Those responding was former Mets pitcher P.J. Conlon, who tweeted, “As if having 6 dudes living in a 2 bedroom apartment isn’t enough of a reminder that you’re in A ball.”

Therein lies the problem. This is just insult added to injury.

The Mets are telling their minor leaguers they don’t deserve a living wage. They then create a great clubhouse, but they won’t let the minor leaguers use it because they need to know they’re lesser people not deserving of better amenities. Better yet, somehow we’re all supposed to believe a nice clubhouse would prevent them from working hard enough to make it to the majors.

In the end, the Mets built a clubhouse which houses Major Leaguers for just two months. That decision came at the expense of giving severely underpaid minor leaguers a little extra comfort, and it came at the expense of Little League fields.

The one thing it didn’t come at the expense of was the Wilpons or the Sterling entities. That expense came from St. Lucie and Clover.

Despite the Mets not having to reach into their pockets, they’re still well behind schedule on the renovations which are not scheduled to be completed until June.

The post Mets St. Lucie Clubhouse Comes At Quite A Cost appeared first on Metsmerized.

Mets left fielder Yoenis Cespedes hadn’t hit a home run in over a month – until last night. He started the night off with a bang with a towering home run to left field, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. He would later hit a double before an exciting “Little League home run” which went in the book as a triple.

After rounding the bases and looking noticeably sluggish between third and home, Cespedes was removed from the game. Broadcasters Gary Cohen and Ron Darling speculated it was purely for double-switch purposes, making Paul Sewald able to pitch two innings, which seemed a logical assumption. It wasn’t until after the game we found out the true reason for Cespedes’ departure.

“It was more fatigue, I felt it really after I touched second base,” Cespedes said through an interpreter. “I’m not too worried I don’t think it’s going to be an impediment for playing tomorrow.”

As he was running hard around the bases, Cespedes’ right quad tightened up. He was removed from the game purely as a precaution, and there is no reason to think he won’t be out for more than one day.

After not hitting a triple the entire season, he has two in his last two games as well as a home run and a double. He hadn’t been hitting for power for a long time, so hopefully this 3-for-4 night with three extra-base hits breaks him out of the funk.

“Like I’ve said before just because things haven’t been going great for me doesn’t mean I haven’t stopped working hard so I think things really started to change before we left home,” Cespedes added.

Cespedes is hitting .284/.336/.515 with 10 home runs and 26 RBIs in 194 at-bats this season.

The post Single Short Of Cycle, Cespedes Left Game With Quad Tightness appeared first on Metsmerized.

At the time, if I remember correctly, Stephenson was hitting a feeble .149 and it didn’t get much better for him.

Yet, almost amazingly Stephenson spent parts of ten years in the major leagues and was regarded as a decent lefty bat off the bench who could also fill in at a few positions by the time the Angels picked him up in the early ’70’s.

Johnny Stephenson came to the major leagues in 1964 solely because of the rule in effect at the time which required a big league team to carry second-year pros on their 25-man roster all season or risk losing them on waivers. To say that Stephenson was not ready is an understatement. He had a terrible “sweep” swing, the kind that’s usually corrected in Little League, and although he was considered primarily a catcher, the Mets didn’t play him there at all in the 1964 season.

If Stephenson ever had a big hit for the Mets, I don’t remember it. If ever there was a player I thought would never return to the majors after his one-year “trial”, Stephenson was the one. But somehow after getting to the Cubs, his swing was reconstructed and he actually became kind of a threat as a lefthanded pinch-hitter.

When you look at his lifetime numbers, a .216 average in nearly 1,000 at-bats with little speed, and below average defense, you marvel at how he managed to have such a lengthy career. When anyone says it’s a lot easier to get to the big leagues these days with more Major League teams and fewer farm teams, I point to the improbable career of John Stephenson, a player of minimal talent who managed to hang around for parts of ten years with four different teams.

The post Old Time Mets: John Stephenson appeared first on Metsmerized.

We have a winner of the Pitcher’s Tee Giveaway!  Congratulations to Twitter entrant @bryanschwartz15

If you didn’t win – PitchersTee.com is offering 10% to MMO readers for the next week with the coupon code  GoMets

The Pitcher’s Tee is a new training aid designed to help both young and older players improve their pitching mechanics. This 6-in-1 training aid improves your stride length/direction, arm angle, balance, arm speed/velocity, consistency, and accuracy — all in one device!

Former MLB players are using it today in their training facilities around the country. Get yours by visiting www.PitchersTee.com or by emailing Bryan@PitchersTee.com.

This is great for kids who are in Little League or high school and college guys looking to improve their mechanics…

With Spring training right around the corner, now’s the time to get one…

The Pitcher’s Tee comes in two versions: The PT Standard, which retails for $49.99 and the PT LITE which retails for $19.99.

Former New York Mets farmhand Jose Rijo-Berger uses them at his baseball clinic in Seattle to train hundreds of youth athletes each year.

The post Announcing the Winner of the Pitcher’s Tee! appeared first on Metsmerized.

If an incompetent team loses in an empty stadium, but nobody is there to see it… do the anguished cries of Mets Fans everywhere make a sound?

The Mets (64-81) lost to the Nationals (77-69) by a score of 7-2 Thursday afternoon, sealing a 4-game sweep for Washington on the road.

Aaron Harang started for the Mets and was solid, going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs. Harang only gave up 4 hits, but 3 of them left the ballpark. He did have 10 strikeouts against only 1 walk despite a 50 minute rain delay in the 2nd inning, so all-in-all, it was a successful debut for Harang despite the loss.

Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo shot to center in the top of the 1st, but the Mets answered right away with an RBI double from Daniel Murphy.

After Adam LaRoche hit a (reviewed) solo homer in the 2nd, the Mets again tied it in the 4th on an RBI single from Recker.

After that, the Nationals began to pull away, getting 2 more bombs (Wilson Ramos and Anthony Rendon) and an RBI double from Zimmerman. The Mets went down with a whimper, not getting a single run after the 4th.

The Mets made a very questionable play in the bottom of the 1st. With Eric Young on first, Juan Lagares attempted a Bunt-and-Run against rookie pitcher Tanner Roark. Young reached 2nd (he would have done so without the bunt), and Lagares was easily thrown out at first. I’m not sure if that was Terry’s call, but it was definitely a foolish play… Young is fast enough to reach 2nd without wasting an out on a sacrifice bunt.

The Mets have really just been miserable lately. The talk for the last few months was that Terry Collins would keep his job if the Mets could just finish strong and approach 500. So far, neither of these things looks likely to happen.

So Terry is gone, right? No. Recent reports have said that he is almost guaranteed to return next season. Where are the standards these days? What message does it send if they are seemingly committed to retaining a manager whose team has performed so miserably?

I would like to see the Mets make Terry earn the job. Does he have much to work with? Of course not. But the Mets are losing practically every single game these days, and that is not acceptable. If the Mets can play somewhere around 500 for these final few weeks, Terry might deserve another shot. If they continue to play like a Little League team? I’m not so sure. Again, I am not calling for Terry’s head, but I do want to see him be held somewhat accountable for their performance as they wrap up their season.

Overall, a pretty bland day in Flushing. A weekday afternoon game in an empty stadium with a rain delay, coupled with a convincing defeat, does not make for entertaining baseball. Let’s hope the team can turn it around soon.

The Mets will take on the Marlins tomorrow night at Citi Field. Jon Niese (6-7, 3.86 ERA) will face Brad Hand (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

The post Mets Struggle Again, Swept By Nationals At Citi appeared first on Metsmerized.

It’s that dreaded time of the summer; the All-Star game is over, and major league baseball is taking a break from their schedule until tomorrow. As if it wasn’t already bad enough that there aren’t a full slate of games on at the beginning of the week, there is nothing now.

A lost art in the information age today is looking at the box scores from games the night before. With the internet, it’s easy to pull up a box score for any team, at any time you like. However, the days of grabbing the morning paper and flipping through the box scores with a cup of coffee and breakfast are long gone.

The below song, aptly titled, “Box Scores,” captures the thoughts and feelings we have when we take a look at how our favorite team from the night before. The song is written by Don Rosler and Jay Ward, performed and produced by Jay Ward (from Rosler’s upcoming baseball CD, Catch, a slice of life and narrative about the game we all love).

I wanted to bring this song forward for the entire MMO community to listen and share. I had the opportunity to chat with both Don and Jay about the song and their background. Don is a big Mets fan, while Jay roots for the Yanks. Who knew Mets and Yankees fans could get along? You can listen to the song below, followed by their thoughts, along with links to their personal websites. They do some great work.

You can listen to the song below, and get a free download, as well. All you need to hand out is an email address and zip code. Enjoy!

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Don Rosler:

At first, I wasn’t quite sure why the topic of the daily ritual of reading newspaper box scores might be song worthy. It’s not written about any players or game dramatics, and it’s not any kind of rally cry or sing-a-long. It wasn’t until after Jay and I finished the song, that I realized fans could find such dramatics around the subject. For example, sportswriter Earl Wilson’s great words: “My idea of courage is the guy who has $500,000 tied up in the stock market and turns to the box scores first!”

Then ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian wrote in his bittersweet article, Sad End to a Man’s Quest for Knowledge: “The box scores start every day for me because there’s always a chance you’ll see a pitching or batting line that you’ve never seen before, and might never see again….” Kurkjian also, up until 2010 wrote he would  “… clip every box score of every baseball game from the nearest newspaper and tape each one into a spiral notebook, a daily task that I’ve estimated, at roughly 15 minutes per day, has cost me 40 days of my truly pathetic life.”

To learn more about Don, his music, and his upcoming baseball-themed album, please visit his website: https://donrosler.com.

Jay Ward:

The idea of doing a song about box scores was all Don, as well as the lyrics. My contribution to the story line was the dog and coffee intro, and the occasional yet magnificent suggestion about this or that word. We had done an earlier demo of the tune, and the decision was made to do a new version incorporating Don’s suggestion that the chorus “open up” more than it had. Good call, DBoy.

I grew up in a Yankee household and have never wavered, but my real connection to baseball was Little League through Pony League. Summer meant playing baseball and I loved it. The well used bat, the grass stained ball, the sun beating down on a dusty infield. I was a Tiger, a Giant, a White Sox and a something else (maybe an Oriole?) before I was done, and it left me with a deep love of the game.

To learn more about Jay and his music, please visit his website: https://dogbrainmusic.com.

(Artwork courtesy of Judy Palmero)

The post Listen/Download: “Box Scores” by Don Rosler and Jay Ward appeared first on Metsmerized.

Please, join me as I throw a handful of dirt on the coffin of Jordany Valdespin’s career as a New York Met.

The one I used to call El Dramático for his ability to spark rallies and hit long home runs is getting playing time for one reason: he’s being shopped. Don’t expect him to be with the Mets past the trade deadline.

I’ve been a staunch defender of Valdespin since the Mets’ first intrasquad game. He had the tools to be a starter in 2013. He still has the tools. Whatever the case, it just hasn’t come together.

There are a plethora of reasons why Valdespin’s days are numbered. He’s batting .207/.264/..328 on the season with a 24/6 K/BB ratio and 4-for-7 in stolen base attempts. He’s 3-for-23 with five strikeouts and no walks since taking over the second base and leadoff duties. Additionally, he’s not playing well defensively and the positions he does play are better suited by other players on this year’s team (Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy). The list goes on longer than his pimped out dingers. Even though his latest audition isn’t going well, I expect he’ll be sent somewhere for cash or packaged in a trade with some farm arms.

Saturday’s game was a microcosm of how he’s performed since receiving more playing time: a few defensive miscues and little offense. He threw a ball over Jonathon Niese’s head, something you’d see in a Little League game…maybe. He also had two force outs at second that could have seriously injured him. When a second baseman makes a force at second, he normally shifts his momentum toward the outfield to avoid a hard slide. Valdespin just planted on the bag and got upended by Cody Ransom twice. He’s just not doing the fundamentals.

Things could have been done differently during Valdespin’s time as a Metropolitan. He was mismanaged by Terry Collins, he handled situations poorly and every negative was put under a microscope by the media, myself included.

It pains me to say, but he’s poisoning the team. Whether it’s his fault or not is moot. I believe he has a long career ahead of him, but it won’t be with the Mets. He’ll probably be one of the many who leaves the Mets and enjoys success in another venue. Some players just aren’t cut out to play under the magnifying glass in New York.

He could thrive in a platoon role in hitter-friendly parks like Coors Field or Great American Bandbox. Just don’t expect there to be many more Valdespin No. 1 jerseys produced in orange and blue.

What are your thoughts on Jordany Valdespin’s recent one-week audition at second base?

The post Are Valdespin’s Days As A Met Numbered? appeared first on Metsmerized.

The Mets destroyed Philadelphia, showing no brotherly love for their division rivals in a 13-3 romp.  Although many players performed well for the Mets that day (Hubie Brooks, Lee Mazzilli and Joel Youngblood had three hits apiece and Dave Kingman hit a grand slam), it was Mookie Wilson who captured my attention and made me thankful that we weren’t a remote control household.  Mookie reached base four times that day (two hits, two walks).  He also scored three runs and drove in two.  After leading off the game with a walk, Mookie proceeded to swipe second and scored the first of the Mets’ four runs in that inning.  It was the first time I had been exposed to Mookie’s baserunning abilities, and I was utterly amazed.  Six innings later, Mookie crushed a long drive to center off former Met Tug McGraw that went for a two-run triple.  His gazzelle-like speed mesmerized the eight-year-old me to the point where I checked the TV guide (I had to get off the couch eventually) for when the next Mets game was going to be aired on WOR.

Less than three weeks after discovering Mookie and the Mets, baseball went on strike.  For two months, I couldn’t indulge in my new passion – my New York Mets passion, that is.  Fortunately, my father recovered from his illness and we were able to have many barbecues to pass the time during baseball’s two-month hiatus.  Baseball returned to my TV screen in August, and I quickly eschewed burgers and hot dogs on the grill for Mookie and the Mets on my grill.

Run, Mookie, Run!

Although my father hails from Puerto Rico, an island paradise that loves its baseball, he has never been much of a sports fan.  He knows the object of the game, but can’t differentiate between an infield fly and an unzipped fly.  So naturally, you can imagine how difficult it was for me to get him to take me to a Mets game at Shea Stadium.  Every conversation would start the same way (“We’re not doing anything this weekend, right?  Can you get us tickets for this game?”) and unfortunately, they would also end the same way (“No.”).  It took over two years for me to finally make it out to Shea to meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets.  And when I did, it was because my Little League team went as a group.  The date was June 15, 1983 – thirty years ago today – and it became a memorable day not just for the then ten-year-old me, but for all Mets fans.

When we got to the game, I remember how disappointed I was that Mookie Wilson was not in the starting lineup (Danny Heep took Mookie’s place as the leadoff hitter and centerfielder for the game.  It was only the second time all year that Mookie wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Mets.)  My fleet-footed hero didn’t start, but Craig Swan did, taking the mound for the Mets against future Hall-of-Famer Ferguson Jenkins.  Unfortunately, Swan was not graceful that night.  By the time I got back from my second bathroom break in the second inning (my Little League teammates were not amused that I kept stepping on their feet every time I tried to squeeze by them in our upper deck seats), Swan was out of the game and the Mets were down 4-0.

The bullpen pitched very well after Swan’s early exodus and the Mets rallied to tie the game.  Mookie did pinch-hit in the fifth inning, but struck out against Jenkins, denying me the opportunity to see him fly around the bases.  Of course, his one-day replacement in center field, Danny Heep, followed Wilson’s strikeout with the game-tying hit, causing my Little League teammates to tease me by saying that Heep was going to be the centerfielder of the future.  I’m glad they were wrong.

Neither team scored after Heep knotted the game, necessitating extra innings and causing some of the parents and chaperones to wonder if they should take the kids home.  They decided to stick around for the tenth, but told us all that if the game went to the 11th, we would have to leave.  We did get to see the game to its conclusion, but it wasn’t the conclusion I wanted.  The Mets lost the game to the Chicago Cubs in ten innings by the score of 7-4.  An error by first baseman Rusty Staub and a timely bunt by Bill Buckner set the Cubs up for their big inning and my bigger disappointment.  But errors by Mets’ first basemen were about to become a thing of the past, thanks to a brilliant trade engineered by general manager Frank Cashen.

A Gold Glove, a sweet swing, a killer ‘stache.  Keith Hernandez had it all.

Earlier in the evening, the Mets announced that they had acquired first baseman Keith Hernandez from the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in a trade for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.  I remember how happy the sparse crowd of 11,631 was when the announcement was flashed on DiamondVision.  I also remember how confused I was that the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the “big TV screen in left field” rather than the events taking place on the field.  But as the years went by and my love of the Mets grew, I realized just how special Keith Hernandez truly was, both as a player and as a team leader.

As you all know, the trade for Keith Hernandez set off a chain of events that led to a World Series title three years later (a World Series that turned my man Mookie into a Mets legend for all time).  Hernandez’s arrival gave instant credibility to the languishing franchise, although it took until the following season for that off-the-field credibility to translate into on-the-field wins.

In hindsight, it didn’t matter that the Mets lost on June 15, 1983.  It was one of 94 games they lost that season anyway.  That day was important to me for more than just a game.  That day began my love affair with Shea Stadium and my subsequent appreciation of Keith Hernandez.  I should have known the Mets had acquired someone special when I listened to the sweet voice of Bob Murphy after the game during the radio post-game show when he said “the Mets lost the game tonight, but they have gained a superstar.”  Thirty years ago today, the magic that was the Mets entered my life.  It has never left.

The post Keith, The Mets & Me: A Thirty-Year Love Affair appeared first on Metsmerized.

Sure, I’ve seen the highlight videos and World Series tapes that portrayed his dominance, but it’s still not the same as seeing the best pitcher in Mets’ history actually toe the rubber.

However, albeit still very early, we younger Mets fans are seeing firsthand what it was like when Seaver took the mound in the form of Matt Harvey – just throwing it out there that I was also too young to remember Doc Gooden as well.

Harvey has been dominant this year, and his body of work is very similar to that of Seaver.

Harvey has a slightly bigger build than Seaver when he pitched, but Seaver still fit the mold of a powerful right-hander.

Both have explosive fastballs and aren’t afraid to challenge hitters up in the zone – again going back to at least what I’ve seen from Seaver on the tapes.

Both have at least one good secondary pitch: Seaver mostly a slider and Harvey a curveball, slider and change-up. Harvey already has shown great command of each of these pitches, just like Seaver demonstrated with his slider.

Certainly, the mental approach by each pitcher resembles one another. That “bulldog” mentality if always wanting to win allowed each to experience success very early in their careers – and we naturally hope Harvey’s success continues for plenty more years.

But of all the similarities between the two, the fact that each came up with an inept offensive team is just uncanny.

The Mets really have never been known as an offensive team, but to not somehow scratch together a run when your pitcher is working on a perfect game really is embarrassing. Yes, Hector Santiago threw a very good game Tuesday night for the White Sox, but that’s where you have to dig deep and dent the plate at least once.

I looked at Seaver’s rookie year in 1967 and compared it with the first few months of Harvey’s career. Seaver made 34 starts during his Rookie of the Year campaign and finished with a 16-13 record.

However, he had just a 2.76 ERA, and in those 34 starts, he only gave up four or more runs eight times. He also threw 18 complete games, but we’ll overlook that for now since today’s game is much different than back then – especially when dealing with pitch counts and innings limits.

As for Harvey in 17 career starts, he’s given up four or more runs in a start just once and has a collective 2.07 ERA. Yet his career mark is only 7-5.

Now I don’t want to only point the finger at the offense for a lack of production. There likely were times – albeit few – that the Mets actually scored a comfortable amount of runs for Seaver, and the same will be true for Harvey eventually.

It may not even out fully, but there will be times when Harvey doesn’t have his best stuff and the Mets score enough runs to get him the win.

But just imagine if Seaver and Harvey had any sort of consistent run support. Is it so much for a pitcher to ask his team to score four runs per game? If that was the case for Harvey, he could potentially be 11-1, not to even mention the no-decisions.

Ok, it’s definitely not as cut and dry as that, but what I’m saying here is that it’s just the typical Mets way to have an ace-type pitcher yet not be able to score a single run.

Let’s hope that changes as Harvey continues to progress. Based on what we saw Tuesday night, he may only need one run per game.

Luckily, he’s a decent hitter too, so he should be able to help himself at the plate. Like a typical Little League superstar game, Harvey could pitch a complete game shutout and hit a home run to win the game.

That might be his only chance to consistently pick up wins.

The post Matt Harvey’s Similarities To Tom Seaver Uncanny appeared first on Metsmerized.

June 15.  It’s a date that many Mets fans will remember as the day the Franchise was traded to the Cincinnati Reds.  Tom Seaver’s trade was the beginning of a dark time for the Mets.  They struggled to do well in the standings and because of that, they struggled to do well at the ticket office.  When Nelson Doubleday bought the team in 1980, one of his first courses of action was to hire a general manager who could construct a team that would make the Mets relevant in the National League again.  Enter Frank Cashen.

Through inspired draft picks (Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden) and shrewd trades (Lee Mazzilli for Ron Darling comes to mind), Cashen was removing the older players in lieu of younger talent in the hopes that they could harness their talents together and form the nucleus of a contending team.  Some of these players had already been promoted to the Mets by 1983.  However, for all the young talent the Mets were bringing up from Tidewater, they lacked leadership.  Cashen knew the team needed a veteran presence for the players to look up to.  They needed a gamer whose passion for perfection would spread throughout the clubhouse.  The day was June 15, 1983.  The player was Keith Hernandez.

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had made it clear that he was not pleased with Keith’s attitude.  He thought Hernandez was more interested in smoking cigarettes and doing crossword puzzles than focusing all his attention on the game.  At the time, Hernandez was also being mentioned as one of the players involved in a cocaine scandal, which also convinced Herzog that a change was needed.  Whitey had coveted Neil Allen for some time now, and when the Mets offered Rick Ownbey and Neil Allen in a packaged deal for Keith Hernandez, the deal was consummated.

Hernandez was not shy to voice his displeasure at being traded to the “Stems”, as Tom Seaver called the team.  But for all the negativity Whitey Herzog claimed Hernandez brought to the Cardinals, his arrival in New York infused the team with a desire to win and play well.  His Gold Glove defense made the rest of the infield better, preventing many potential throwing errors and instilling confidence in the young pitching staff.  No one was better at positioning himself at first base and his coverage on bunt plays was legendary.

Similar to when the Pedro Martinez signing before the 2005 season gave a struggling Mets franchise instant credibility and enticed other free agents (Carlos Beltran) to sign with the team, the trade of Keith Hernandez to the Mets on June 15, 1983 awakened the team from their six-year lull that had them in a state of hibernation since the Midnight Massacre trade of Tom Seaver.  When Frank Cashen was hired as Mets GM, the Mets trotted out a new slogan to bring the fans back to Shea Stadium.  They were told to come see the Mets play because “The Magic Is Back”.  It may have taken a few years, but 26 years ago today, the Magic arrived at Shea Stadium in the form of our beloved soon-to-be captain, Keith Hernandez.

On a related note, June 15, 1983 is special to me for another reason, for it was on that date that I attended my first Mets game at Shea Stadium.  I went to that game with the rest of my Little League team.  I remember how happy the sparse crowd was when the news was flashed on Diamondvision that the Mets had acquired Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals.  I also remember how confused I was that the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the “big TV screen in left field” rather than the events taking place on the field.

Craig Swan started that game and was hit hard by the Cubs.  By the time I got back from my second bathroom break (my Little League teammates were not amused that I kept stepping on their feet every time I tried to squeeze by them in our upper deck seats), Swan was out of the game and the Mets were down 4-0.  The bullpen pitched very well after Swan’s early exodus and the Mets rallied to tie the game, necessitating extra innings and causing some of the parents and chaperones to wonder if they should take the kids home.  The Mets lost that game to the Chicago Cubs in 10 innings by the score of 7-4. If I remember correctly, Bill Buckner drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th. Who knew that he would play such an important role in Mets history just a few years later when the little roller went behind the bag?

It didn’t matter that the Mets had lost that game. It was one of 94 games they lost that season anyway. That day was important to me for more than just a game. That day began my love affair with Shea Stadium and my subsequent appreciation of Keith Hernandez.  I should have known the Mets had acquired someone special when I listened to the sweet voice of Bob Murphy after the game during the radio post-game show when he said “the Mets lost the game tonight, but they have gained a superstar.”  Twenty-six years ago today, the magic entered my life.  It has never left.

The post June 15, 1983: The Magic Is Back appeared first on Metsmerized.