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No, You The Man(dt)

G-Fafif Jul 31 2010 05:03 PM

Marty Noble on the recipient of the first Mets Hall of Fame Achievement Award, Bob Mandt. Great move instituting this sort of recognition. Throughout his tenure with the club, 1961-2004, he was a man behind the scenes, a man with an office in the bowels of Shea and a knowledge of everything from the floor of the basement corridors to the flight patterns of LaGuardia's jets. Shea didn't breathe, sneeze, open or close without Mandt knowing about it. He knew all its nooks and crannies, leaks and secrets, and everyone's extensions [...] Bob knew the umps and the cops; the opposing players, coaches and managers; Mrs. Payson and the Mr. Mets; the secretaries and the grounds crew; the guys from Harry M. Stevens; Casey, Gil and Yogi; the doctors and the trainers; the plumbers and the electricians; the writers, the bullpen catchers and the mayors; Stearns, Staub, Staiger and all the rest. He had an original poster from The Beatles at Shea and bobble-head dolls from everything, even the Titans. Pins, trinkets and caps, and stories about most of them. And he had picture of himself with Mick Jagger. His office was the unofficial Mets Hall of Fame. If you had business at Shea, you had business with Bob. If you had a problem, he had a solution. If you had an anecdote, he had two dozen. If he had a cold, Shea had the sniffles. Robert A. Mandt is going to be the inaugural recipient of the Mets Hall of Fame Achievement Award. It could be appropriately named after him. Listing his achievements, duties, responsibilities, good deeds and friends would require that cyberspace build an addition. He began his time in the club's employ before Roger Craig threw the franchise's first pitch, before Casey said "Amazin'" for the first time and well before Marv missed first and second. He sold tickets in the basement of the Hotel Martinique in Manhattan and at Grand Central Terminal in 1961.

dgwphotography Jul 31 2010 05:17 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Wow - an honor long overdue, and well deserved. The Mets got this one right.

G-Fafif Jul 31 2010 05:19 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

This may be the sort of thing with which they honor Pete Flynn or even the late Jane Jarvis down the road.

metirish Jul 31 2010 05:21 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Very nice......

batmagadanleadoff Jul 31 2010 05:36 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

There's a picture of (I think it's) Mandt in his office in an old Mets scorecard. Behind Mandt, on a shelf, are a lot of collectible Mets bobbleheads from the '60's.

themetfairy Jul 31 2010 08:06 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Very nice!

TheOldMole Aug 01 2010 09:16 AM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Wholehearted approval.

Edgy DC Aug 01 2010 10:34 AM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

I'm three-quarter hearted. I'm a little disappointed that, in so honooring such figures as these, they won't give them full recognition as Mets Hall of Fame Honorees/Inductees. I understand why they would create a seperate category for personnel whose work largely lied outside the competitive sphere, but that's not quite what I was rooting for.

G-Fafif Oct 04 2010 04:44 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Bump -- in recognition of Bob Mandt's passing Sunday, at 74. Knew him mainly from his appearances in Met documentaries as the man who had seen it all since 1961. I had been thinking when we were trying to decipher what "HH" meant on old rainchecks (when we were led to believe they said "HH") that if we really want to know, we should check with Bob Mandt. He's probably the one who decided what those tickets should say. In the last seven years we've lost Bob Murphy, James Plummer, Karl Ehrhardt, Jane Jarvis, now Bob Mandt. After a half-century, this franchise is getting old. Obit in the Post here, and this from the Queens Tribune in 2008: 1964: The First Season Of Memories By Juliet Werner Bob Mandt was working at a bank when Queens got a team. “I had stopped rooting when the Dodgers left,” the Whitestone resident said. “I was really ticked off.” A pal from his alma mater, St. Johns University, told him the new team was “looking for a couple of young guys” and convinced him to interview. When Mandt was offered a position, he immediately gave his two weeks notice and took the pay cut. He started as a clerk, became a ticket manager and then went on to work as Director of Operations and finally Vice President of Operations. Now, retired, he continues to serve as a consultant for the team. “They can’t get rid of me,” he said Mandt was with the team when it played it’s first two seasons at the Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963 and then set up shop at the new Queens stadium while it was still a work in progress. “We moved in the dead of a very cold winter,” Mandt said. “It was a very cold and forbidding place. We had some pretty heavy snowstorms.” He was joined only by the concessions staff and grounds crew. “It was in the middle of nowhere,” he said, adding the financial, promotional and business departments were headquartered at a nearby airport hotel called the Traveler’s Inn. “We were over at Shea and the two women wouldn’t use the chemical toilets,” he said. “We had to take to station wagons over [to the Inn.].” When Shea opened on April 17, 1964 the Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates before 48,736 fans. “I don’t think the paint was dry opening day,” Mandt said. “I remember slapping some labels on the chairs where there weren’t numbers yet with masking tape and a magic marker. To save time there were plenty of seats that weren’t numbered.” Concessions Director John Morley, who stayed onboard until Aramark took over, was also present on opening day. “When we first opened the first week we really didn’t have water which is typical when a new facility opens,” Morley said. “By the time the team came back from the second road trip everything was pretty much in line.” Morley said the original Shea menu was influenced by neighborhood flavors. “We added some local things like knishes and other specialties that were not in ballparks prior to that,” Morley said. He said one double header in 1964 that went until 11 p.m. nearly sent him over the edge. “You try not to run out of hot dogs,” Morley said. “Although it was a Sunday…we were able to keep going all the way through.” Shea also hosted an All-Star game in 1964, which provided Morley with an opportunity to feed non-Mets fans. “When we first opened up we only had local beers like Rheingold and Schaefer,” he said. “They’re no longer in business. They really didn’t have the imported beers that you know about now. Now you have specialty stands with sandwiches and Mamas of Corona and a kosher stand,” he said. Morley said the crowd’s changing demographics have affected concessions. “It switched from a pretty masculine audience to a family audience. Especially at Shea and you have to be able to cater to a wider audience.” The fan base may have diversified, but Mets games received a strong showing as soon as the stadium opened. “We were a success financially,” Mandt said. “But on the field we only won a little over 50 games.” That first season at Shea, under the management of Casey Stengel, the team went 53-109 and finished 10th in the National League. The team has improved with time; Mandt’s fondest memories are watching fans storm the field following the 1969 World Series and Mike Piazza scoring the winning run in the first game after Sept. 11. Mandt’s wife has expressed concern that her husband will be devastated once Shea is demolished. “I love Shea Stadium,” Mandt confessed. “I liked it more than most people. For some reason the press were never enchanted with Shea Stadium. Part of the problem was that it was a multi-use stadium. It was built for both the Jets and Mets. Whenever you build something for two sports something has to suffer a little bit.” This is, of course, also the final season for Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923. “It has a longer tradition, a lot more wins and a lot more things to brag about,” Mandt said. “The Mets are not without their own history. If you’re a Mets fan you don’t really care about the Yankees’ history. You care about your own history.”

themetfairy Oct 04 2010 05:24 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Edgy DC Oct 04 2010 05:53 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Let's call it the Robert A. Mandt Memorial Hall of Fame Achievement Award. It could be as prestigious as a Swannie.

Zvon Oct 04 2010 06:43 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

“The Mets are not without their own history. If you’re a Mets fan you don’t really care about the Yankees’ history. You care about your own history.” I could not have put it better. G-Fafif wrote: In the last seven years we've lost Bob Murphy, James Plummer, Karl Ehrhardt, Jane Jarvis, now Bob Mandt. After a half-century, this franchise is getting old. You forgot to mention Shea Stadium. G-Fafif wrote: “I love Shea Stadium,” Mandt confessed. “I liked it more than most people. For some reason the press were never enchanted with Shea Stadium. Again I share his sentiment. When I first read that I thought he was saying he liked the stadium more than he liked most people, and I found that funny.

Edgy DC Oct 04 2010 06:59 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Zvon wrote: You forgot to mention Shea Stadium. And Tug McGraw. Shea Stadium was all I ever wanted. Goofy. Colorful. Historical. Mine.

MFS62 Oct 04 2010 09:48 PM Re: No, You The Man(dt)

Let's call it the Robert A. Mandt Memorial Hall of Fame Achievement Award. I remember listening to the results of the expansion draft (that cereated the original Mets) on the radio. I didn't care about the Yankee history, either. Edgy, our award could not be better named. Later