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Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

G-Fafif Aug 18 2010 01:54 AM

Fred, not Jeff, 1993, not 2010 -- Tom Verducci examined the first Wilponian downfall in-depth for Sports Illustrated 17 years ago here. Goes into why trades were made, why managers were replaced, what went wrong in the front office, all kinds of personnel misreadings. Some you'll remember, some might surprise you. Kind of sad to realize that like all Wilpon Met rebuilding and reimagining programs...the pledge to clean things up, get a fresh start, become a model organization...it was essentially left half-assed and incomplete. The details would change again and again but the Mets were always going to make things better. It never took, it never takes. Only constant is ownership. And then there was the long-term goal, spelled out toward the end. "Come here, let me show you something," Wilpon says. He rises from a chair in the Fifth Avenue office of his real estate company and walks across the room to a white rectangular box that is so large it is resting across four chairs. There is a great sense of purpose in his walk now. He is finished watching others run his baseball team. McIlvaine and Oilier will report directly to him. The Mets won't embarrass him again the way they did in 1993. "It was," he says, "one of the most painful years of my life. The business community and the private community, with all of the charity work we do, know that Nelson and I are at the top. To see what happened with this team was very, very painful. That's why I tell you this is a whole new thing we're starting." Wilpon wants former Mets such as Tom Seaver, Mookie Wilson, Lee Mazzilli and Rafael Santana to come work for the organization. He wants "the greatest community outreach program" in sports. He wants grand entranceways and redesigned fan services at what has been a tacky Shea Stadium. He wants updated, cheery uniforms for the ushers. He has ordered intensive customer-relations training for all of the organization's business managers, including himself. He has talked with the Disney people, Universal Studio executives and other resort managers to learn how to attract and treat customers. "Go to any of my buildings right now," he says. "I guarantee you, you won't find a piece of paper on the floor." Wilpon pulls away the lid from the large white box. It is an architectural model of a sprawling entertainment complex. The centerpiece is a grass-surface stadium with a retractable dome, to be built within five years near the current Shea Stadium site and financed by state and city bonds. The stadium is surrounded by several pointed pavilions that resemble huge tents. Wilpon explains they are state-of-the-art exhibit halls that he intends to be the permanent home of the World's Fair. That portion of the complex will be privately funded. Wilpon opens and closes the little retractable dome, which splits open at the center like dual sliding doors. It is a perfectly happy and orderly place. The little plastic trees are always full and green. There is never any traffic on the access roads. It is kept immaculately clean. This is the world Fred Wilpon wants for the Mets. He wants the litter of a live-year decline swept up. He wants not a single piece of paper on the floor. The following year brought Nickelodeon Extreme Baseball to Shea and a modicum of fan friendliness. No World's Fair, however.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 18 2010 10:23 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

He's partway there, after all these years-- Empty, newish stadiums do have less litter.

themetfairy Aug 18 2010 10:28 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

G-Fafif wrote: The following year brought Nickelodeon Extreme Baseball to Shea and a modicum of fan friendliness. No World's Fair, however. Man, we loved Extreme Baseball. We even had my daughter's 5th birthday party there (since the game we were planning on attending was canceled on account of strike). I'd love to see them do something similar in the Citi Field area; some place where families can hang out and have some fun before a game or on an off day.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 18 2010 10:41 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

I recently discovered a long-lost friend from HS who was an actor at that Nickelodean thingy. I recall that article in SI when it came out and loved the ending of it you quoted.

metirish Aug 18 2010 11:01 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

Great article , worth the time it took to read. That last paragraph in a way makes Fred look like a man going slightly crazy..... Did he really call the press box? New York has exposed the worst in him. He has threatened a reporter, worn earplugs at home games, called the press box with his team down 7-0 to complain about the scoreboard display of an error call against him, and whined so much that the New York Daily News ran a cartoon of Baby Bo in diapers on its back page.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 18 2010 11:29 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 18 2010 11:40 AM

Bonilla? Yeah, that's the narrative. Found this kind of funny: So miscast was McReynolds in New York that he once said of its fans, "It's almost like people are miserable, and they want to bring you down to their level." In retrospect, I'm pretty sure that McReynolds had us-- a significant portion of us, anyway-- dead-to-rights.

Vic Sage Aug 18 2010 11:31 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

fuck McReynolds. fuck him with a power saw.

Edgy DC Aug 18 2010 02:02 PM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

Case in point. But seriously folks, what I remember about that be-a-stand-up-guy campaign about Wilpon is that he addressed the team in the clubhouse, after having long taken pride in being the sort of owner who stays out of it, and made a special point in talking to John Franco and Kevin Baez, asking them to step up and be examples as fellow alums of Wilpon's high school.

G-Fafif Aug 18 2010 04:07 PM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

Obviously Lafayette High School graduated only the fine, upstanding young men. "If I went there, everybody must be made of the best moral fiber." Was recently treated to a Kiner's Korner interview of the then new owner/president from 1980. Fred was indeed very big on assuring Ralph and the hundreds of viewers between games of that Mets-Padres doubleheader that he and Nelson would leave the baseball to Frank. Their greatest equity, it seemed, was that they weren't George Steinbrenner.

Edgy DC Aug 18 2010 05:35 PM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

Two other Mets were Lafayette grads, plus one guy who broke up a Mets no-hitter. And they are...?

Vic Sage Aug 19 2010 09:14 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

I think Mazz, but he may have gone to Lincoln.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 19 2010 09:32 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

I keep wanting to say Figs, but he's Lincoln, too (I think). Bay Ridge, between the '50s and now? I'm thinking paisans. Let's go Torre and... John Cangelosi.

Edgy DC Aug 19 2010 09:54 AM Re: Wilpon Pledges Changes for Laughingstock Mets

Netiher Torre nor Cangelosi nor Mazzilli. Mazz indeed went to Linoln, as did Figuenewton.