On March 29, 2018 (Opening Day of the baseball season), Rusty Staub, one of the most popular players ever to wear the orange and blue of the New York Mets, passed away in a West Palm Beach, Florida hospital from multiple organ failure just three days shy of his 74th birthday. He had spent eight weeks in the hospital prior to his death. The Mets had obtained Daniel Joseph Staub before the 1972...
In between the regretful trades of Nolan Ryan to Anaheim in 1972 and Tom Seaver to Cincinnati in 1977 was the departure of one of the most beloved players in franchise history. Months before that infamous Ryan-for-Fregosi deal with the Angels, the Mets were on the receiving end of a great trade for Montreal’s Rusty Staub. It was a move that broke the hearts of a city that had fallen in...
Here’s an Amazin’ Moment I won’t soon forget because it involves one of my favorite Mets of bygone days, Rusty Staub. On Dec. 16, 1980, New York resigned Le Grand Orange for his second tour of duty with the team. He would spend the next five seasons with the Mets and retire in blue and orange. In 1983, Staub tied the National League record for most consecutive pinch hits in a...
Here’s an Amazin’ Moment I won’t soon forget because it involves one of my favorite Mets of bygone days, Rusty Staub. On Dec. 16, 1980, New York resigned Le Grand Orange for his second tour of duty with the team. He would spend the next five seasons with the Mets and retire in blue and orange. In 1983, Staub tied the National League record for most consecutive pinch hits in a...
On Tuesday night at Citi Field, a meaningless matchup between two teams far removed from post season play had special significance for a rookie trying to make his mark with the Mets. The struggling Travis Taijeron collected his first career walk-off hit – a single on a line drive to left field in the Mets 4-3 win over the Braves. Rafael Montero, in his first quality start in September, limited...
Yesterday another piece of my childhood faded away. While I was at work I received a email from the Mets announcing the passing of Hall Of Fame ballplayer and original Mets announcer, Ralph Kiner. At first it didn’t sink in. I don’t know if this was because I was so caught up with my work – or I was just aloof. But upon driving in my car on my way home from the office I started...
Last night as I was getting comfortable on my couch, I was scanning the twitterverse and lo and behold what breaking news did I see but the unofficial announcement that the Mets had signed veteran starting pitcher, Bartolo Colon to a 2-year/$20 million dollar contract pending a physical. Obviously this set Mets Twitter on the verge of nuclear meltdown, the likes that no one has seen since Jason...
With the loss in game one of yesterday’s doubleheader with the Miami Marlins, the Mets clinched their 5th straight losing season. This shouldn’t come as a shock since it has happened many times in the past – from the newly minted team of the ’60’s to the “Franchiseless” Mets of the late ’70’s and early ’80’s. Hell even the teams...
The GM is one of the most despised people in New York. People are calling for the manager to be fired. The entire team is neither executing nor playing fundamentally sound baseball. We’re not hitting and fans are now outnumbered by empty seats. The Mets seem destined for a 90+ loss season and avoiding 100 losses will be an accomplishment. The Yankees own the city. Opposing teams are...
In the course of the many years I have been a Mets devotee, I have witnessed countless contests between the Amazin’s and their various opponents where the end result was either a victory or loss for the Flushing crew, but nothing much beyond that unless something truly remarkable occurred to mark the game in my memory. Those games, where something truly out of the ordinary happened, have popped...
Here’s something I dug up from a couple of years ago that brings us back to the hot stove season of 1975, when the Mets also traded one of the team’s most popular players – a move they would eventually regret. Mike Lloyd does a nice job in the re-telling of what happened back then. Examining Hot Stove history from the Past. December 12th 1975 – The New York Mets trade...
