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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633197824 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2017 |
| Series: | Bucket List |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 23 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The New York Mets Fans' Bucket List
By Matthew Cerrone
Triumph Books LLC
Copyright © 2017 Matthew CerroneAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-782-4
CHAPTER 1
Things to Know
#LOLMets
Bucket Rank: *****
In their 55-season history, the Mets have won two world championships, won six division titles, and reached the postseason nine times. There are 10 other baseball teams that have gone longer without a World Series title than the Mets, but the Mets have a way of doing things that frequently get them mocked, ripped, and ridiculed by all of baseball.
Maybe it's the success of the New York Yankees during the late '90s to early 2000s, which has confused local sports fans and validated the idea that the Mets are the city's redheaded little brother or second-class citizen. Or maybe success and arrogance from the Bronx helped enhance a New York bias that ends up influencing opinions outside of Queens. Or maybe it's the tabloid nature of New York City's print media. Or maybe it's the fact that a dozen beat writers — where most teams have two or three reporters on their tail — compete for stories about the Mets on a daily basis, working to dig up and exploit every little thing the team does. Or maybe it's all of the above.
Or maybe it's actually the Mets.
The truth is the Mets sometimes do things that make even the most optimistic, loyal fan scratch his or her head. It happened so often during their 2009–2014 rebuild, the #LOLMets hashtag was created, shared, and frequently trended on Twitter.
The Mets have done some silly things on field, but so do most teams. I'm pretty sure every big league team has dropped a pop-up to lose a game or had a player miss third base when trying to score from second. They've all made costly errors or forgot the number of outs in an inning. However, it's the off-field moments that make the Mets unique. Here are the 10 best (or worst, depending on your point of view) off-the-field moments from the last 20 years that define what it means to be #LOLMets.
1) Citi Field is criticized for being Ebbets Field 2.0
Citi Field opened its doors in 2009, at which point fans and media were put off by how little blue, orange, and Mets history were present in the building. Instead, with its Jackie Robinson Rotunda, critics said it looked and felt more like a new Ebbets Field, which is where the Brooklyn Dodgers played before leaving for Los Angeles in 1958. Of course, it didn't help that Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon grew up a Dodgers fan, attending games and romanticizing his experiences at Ebbets. In subsequent seasons the Mets eventually made structural and design changes to make Citi Field look and feel more like a home for its team, but it didn't erase how people felt when the building debuted.
2) Hey, All-Star catcher Todd Hundley, go play left field
The Mets traded for Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza in May of 1998. He was (and still is) the greatest hitting catcher of all time. It was a great trade, which transformed the franchise and resulted in back-to-back postseason appearances. The only problem was that when they traded for Piazza, the Mets already had Todd Hundley, who was a fan favorite and twotime All-Star who also held the record for most home runs by a catcher in a single season. To make room for Piazza, the Mets put Hundley in the outfield, where he had never played. It was a total disaster. After the season the Mets traded Hundley to Los Angeles, where — in a weird twist of fate — Piazza started his career several years earlier.
3) Go fish, Rickey
In Game 6 of the 1999 National League Championship Series, while their teammates were fighting for their lives against the Atlanta Braves, Mets outfielders Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla were reportedly playing Go Fish in the clubhouse after being switched out of the game earlier in the night. "Obviously, it's not something you want players to do when you're playing any game, let alone a playoff game," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said when asked about the situation after the series.
Bonilla was eventually released, though he is still on their payroll through 2035 (see below). On the other hand, Henderson was voted 1999's National League Comeback Player of the Year and returned to the organization the following season. However, during a game six weeks into the season, Henderson did his notorious, casual, flashy, home-run trot on a ball that hit the outfield wall and resulted in a single. Henderson was put on outright waivers the next day. He was not claimed, became a free agent, and eventually signed a deal to end the season with the Seattle Mariners. "At some point, when you continue to do the wrong thing and say the wrong thing, you continue to wear out your welcome," Phillips said, when asked about Henderson's release. "We were at the point where we were having to compromise our ideals too many times. When taking everything into account, the offense, defense, and the alternatives we had, and what it does to the fabric of the team, we thought it was the right thing to do."
4) Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!
The Mets are mocked every July 1 for having agreed to pay Bobby Bonilla, who has been retired since 2001, $1.19 million every year through 2035. It's an understandable reaction, though very shortsighted. In 1999 after the infamous card game, the Mets owed Bonilla $5.9 million for the following season, after which he would be a free agent. In an effort to avoid paying him the full amount, they negotiated with his agent, Dennis Gilbert, to attach an 8 percent annual interest rate to the money and defer his payments for 35 years.
In the end with interest, the $5.9 million ends up being $29.8 million, which is why the organization is ripped annually on July 1 by nearly every fan and across more or less every sports media outlet. In addition to paying Bonilla through 2035, the Mets are also making similar deferred payments to Bret Saberhagen ($250,000 each year through 2029) and Carlos Beltran ($3.1 million each year through 2018).
5) Bret Saberhagen squirts bleach on reporters
In July of 1993, with the Mets 34–65, Brett Saberhagen put bleach into a water gun and fired it into a room full of New York reporters. It took Saberhagen two weeks to confess to being the culprit. "I am sorry for the accident and the failure to come forward, both of which have obviously hurt the club's relations with the media," Saberhagen later said at a press conference addressing the issue.
The bleach incident occurred the same night Saberhagen confessed to The New York Times that he set off firecrackers near a group of reporters in the clubhouse the previous month.
"If the reporters can't take it, forget them," Saberhagen said at the time.
Saberhagen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery later that season, after which he returned to go 14–4 with a 2.74 ERA and make the All-Star team. However, the Mets traded him to the Colorado Rockies during the middle of the next season.
6) Scott Kazmir traded for Victor Zambrano
With the Mets four games under .500 but just seven games out of first place the day before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline in 2004, interim general manager Jim Duquette traded the team's best prospect and 2002 first-round draft pick, Scott Kazmir, to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano.
A top-rated pitching prospect, the left-handed Kazmir was young, able to throw in the mid-90s. Meanwhile, Zambrano had a live fastball but also a history of injuries and led his league in walks, wild pitches, and hit batsmen the year before. The team's pitching coach, Rick Peterson, reportedly told the Mets before the deal that he could get Zambrano straightened out in "10 minutes."
The trade was panned all across baseball — not because the Mets traded Kazmir — but because experts and fans all believed Duquette could have easily received more than just Zambrano. "First of all, you and some of the critics that have criticized the trade are underestimating the ability of Victor Zambrano. We think this guy has the ability to be a tremendous top of the rotation starter," Duquette told WFAN radio on the night of the trade.
Zambrano ended up pitching in just in 39 games for the Mets. He was 10–14 with a 4.42 ERA, which hardly constitutes a "tremendous top of the rotation starter." His last start in Queens was on May 6, 2006, when he ran off the field in the middle of a start for seemingly no reason. It was announced later in the game the he had suffered a torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow, which eventually led to his second Tommy John elbow surgery. Zambrano was later non-tendered by the Mets and made a free agent in December 2006 because he was expected to miss most of the next season.
On the other hand, Kazmir made his big league debut a few weeks after being traded to the Rays. In his first five seasons with Tampa Bay, he was considered their ace, going 47–37 with a 3.61 ERA while striking out 783 batters in 723 innings spanning 124 starts. He is still pitching in the major leagues while Zambrano has since retired.
7) Willie Randolph fired in the middle of the night
Willie Randolph managed the Mets to a 9–6 win against the Los Angeles Angels on June 16, 2008, during which general manager Omar Minaya waited back at the team's hotel. It had been 16 months since Randolph was hired by the Mets with a multimillion dollar contract. In that time his team had gone from one win away from a World Series appearance to one of the greatest collapses in baseball.
There had been countless rumors in local reports that Randolph might be fired soon. The Sunday before the team made its way west at 33–35, Randolph told reporters that he had packed his suitcase for the trip but was unsure if he would even get on the plane that night. Still unsure of Randolph's status, Minaya had Randolph fly with the team to Anaheim. Two hours after the Mets won to improve to a game below .500, the Mets announced Randolph's firing, while his family waited for him to come home back in New York.
The press release announcing the move was issued by the team at 3:12 am — a time when every newspaper was already written and being shipped and nearly all of the team's beat reporters and media were fast asleep. The timing of the decision clearly angered New York's media because they repeatedly made a point in their stories that Randolph had been fired at 3:12 am, the time they received notification. Naturally, fans picked up on this notion and continued the criticism, seeing it as yet another example of the team's perceived poor judgement.
Of course, Randolph wasn't fired at 3:12 am Eastern time. He was fired at 12:12 am Pacific time, which is the time it was in California after the conclusion of the game when managers are typically given bad news. In addition to the time of day, the Mets were ripped by fans and media for making Randolph travel across the country to tell him he was fired, instead of doing it in New York, where he would be returning a day later anyway. "They could've fired Willie Randolph at any point over the last year," comedian and Mets fan Jon Stewart said about the situation during his June 17 broadcast Of The Daily Show. "Maybe they flew him out to Los Angeles because if we're going to fire him, he should at least get his frequent flier air miles."
8) The Midnight Massacre
After months of disagreements between Tom Seaver and Mets chairman M. Donald Grant about the way the team was spending its money — or not spending its money — Seaver was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds just minutes before the trade deadline in 1977. In return for "Tom Terrific," the face of their franchise, the Mets received Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, and Dan Norman. Moments later, the team also traded away Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres for Bobby Valentine and Paul Siebert. The Mets finished in last place in five of the next seven years, during which Shea Stadium became known as "Grant's Tomb," an homage to the team's chairman.
9) The Tony Bernazard's shirt scandal
In early 2009 Mets vice president of player development Tony Bernazard visited the organization's Double A affiliate, the Binghamton Mets. According to a July 2009 report by Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News, Bernazard spent his visit scolding the team of youngsters after a 1–6 homestand, during which he ripped off his shirt and challenged the minor leaguers to a fight. As a result of the report and ensuing media firestorm, Minaya was forced to fire Bernazard, who had been his close friend and confidante for several years.
10) Omar Minaya calls out reporter on live TV
In his press conference announcing that Bernazard had been fired, which aired live on SNY, Minaya insinuated that Adam Rubin had an ulterior motive when breaking the story of Bernazard's tantrum in Binghamton. "You gotta understand this: Adam, for the past couple of years, has lobbied for a player development position," Minaya explained, confusing more or less every person watching him speak.
Rubin then asked Minaya if he was alleging that he tried to end Bernazard's career so he could take his job. "No, I'm not saying that," Minaya responded, sitting seemingly scattered and confused in front of a room full of New York reporters. "Adam, you have told me — and you have told other people in the front office — that you want to work for player development in the front office."
Rubin later said Minaya's insinuation and decision to call him out by name was a "low blow" and "despicable." "I thought Omar had a thick skin — obviously not," Rubin said. "They fired Bernazard because he did the things I said he did ... For them to change the story like this, personally it devastates me. This is my livelihood ... I could assure you they just made my job impossible to do in the short-term."
The confused silence that remained in the media room after these events was palpable. I have no doubt that this was awkward and terrible for everyone involved. But as someone watching from the outside in, it was riveting, totally embarrassing, hilarious, and completely fascinating. In other words, this is without a doubt the most ridiculous, amazingly terrible #LOLMets moment of all time. What's really crazy, though, is that while I mentioned 10 moments above, there are dozens more that easily could have made the list.
Laugh with the Comedians Who Are Mets Fans
Bucket Rank: **
In order to be a Mets fan, you have to have a sense of humor. And, in the case of one group of Mets fans, they are known for making people laugh. Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bill Maher are among the countless, influential, hilariously famous comedians that are also proud, die-hard Mets fans.
In addition to throwing out first pitches and regularly having had Mr. Met on his brilliant, influential late-night show on Comedy Central, The Daily Show, Stewart frequently used his broadcast to goof on and encourage his favorite baseball team. During Stewart's final season, he did an entire segment on the surging Mets. Also, earlier in the season, he had Matt Harvey on as a guest. As the two sat down for their interview, Stewart stopped the discussion to put a pillow below Harvey's pitching elbow to make sure it was well protected. Stewart concluded the interview by begging Harvey and the Mets to win a World Series. "You know, I'm leaving the show," Stewart said. "You're all I've got left."
In a two-episode arc during Season Three of Seinfeld, Seinfeld essentially dedicated an entire episode to his favorite player, Keith Hernandez, who starred as himself and the love interest of Elaine Benes, the character played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It is also revealed later in the episode that characters Kramer and Newman were once spit on by Hernandez after a Mets game at Shea Stadium. In an effort to defend Hernandez from his accusers, Seinfeld leads Kramer and Newman through a parody of the presentation given by Kevin Costner's character in the film JFK. "That was one magic loogie," Seinfeld said, ending his defense, which ultimately put blame on Mets reliever Roger McDowell, not Hernandez. It is also in this episode where Hernandez first uses the saying, "I'm Keith Hernandez," when trying to build up the courage to kiss Benes. The saying was later used by Hernandez during TV ads he did for Just for Men hair coloring products, and it was also the title of his 2017 memoir.
Seinfeld is also known to go on Twitter rants about the team, all of which are right in step with how any other Mets fan would behave during good and bad times. Also like your average fan, he called WFAN anonymously late at night to complain about the team's actions, though was eventually outed and then regularly booked as a guest with host Steve Somers. "I learn something every time I watch it. Sometimes it's about baseball, sometimes it's about life, but it's always something," Seinfeld told ESPN.com. "There is no other game that is so shockingly correct in its original form. You look at the fact that a shortstop bobbles the ball, and the runner can run much faster. It still works out that they still have to do what they do as best as they can and it's still exactly even. That's just incomprehensible. If it's 91 feet, it's different."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The New York Mets Fans' Bucket List by Matthew Cerrone. Copyright © 2017 Matthew Cerrone. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by David Wright,1. Things to Know,
#LOLMets,
Laugh with the Comedians Who Are Mets Fans,
Get Duped by Sidd Finch,
Learn About Davey Johnson and the '86 Mets,
Understand Why Hodges Belongs in the Hall of Fame,
Learn About the Other Mr. Met,
2. Things to Do,
Believe!,
Cheer with Cowbell Man,
Eat at Citi Field,
Attend Mets Fantasy Camp,
Fist Bump Mr. Met,
Grow a Mustache Like Keith Hernandez,
Experience the 7 Line,
Learn a Lesson from Bill Buckner,
Name Your Kid Shea,
Run the Mr. Met Dash,
Tour Citi Field,
Throw Out the First Pitch,
Go to a Playoff Game at Citi Field,
Catch a T-Shirt from the Party Patrol,
Go to Opening Day,
Be Terrific Like Tom Seaver,
Enjoy Some New York-Style Piazza,
3. Places to Go,
Visit Cooperstown,
Go to a Brooklyn Cyclones Game,
Tour the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum,
Meet a Friend at the Apple,
See the Mets on the Road,
Go to Spring Training,
Visit the Bases from Shea,
4. Things to Hear,
Get Metsmerized,
Learn Stengelese,
Listen to Bob Murphy,
Meet the Mets,
Chant "Let's Go Mets!",
5. Things to Read,
Check out "The Bad Guys Won",
Learn About Alderson in "Baseball Maverick",
Click on MetsBlog.com,
Learn the Game from Keith Hernandez's "Pure Baseball",
Pick Up a Copy of "The Worst Team Money Could Buy",
Relive "The Year the Mets Lost Last Place",
6. Things to See,
Log On to #MetsTwitter,
Watch "Kiner's Korner",
Re-watch "1986 Mets — A Year to Remember" Again,
and Again,
Acknowledgments,
Sources,