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Brogna Boys 2021

G-Fafif Jan 02 2021 11:01 AM

Christian Red catches up with Carlos Delgado. In the eleven years since he retired from the majors, slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado says there have been stretches of time when he's been so busy running his Extra Bases charitable foundation in his native Puerto Rico, that his schedule has mirrored the one he kept during his 17-year baseball career. “My wife (Betzy) says, ‘I think you work more now than when you used to play.' I'm like, ‘Not quite.' I don't miss airplanes,” says Delgado. Unlike other baseball peers who hit the links in retirement, or maybe transition into a television career or return to the baseball diamond as a coach or manager — like Delgado's fellow Puerto Rican countrymen Alex Cora and, briefly, Carlos Beltran, both did — when the 48-year-old Delgado hung up his spikes, he channeled his energy and passion, not to mention his own checkbook, into growing the Extra Bases non-profit that he started in 2001. At the time, he was playing for the Blue Jays. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-carlos-delgado-beltran-extra-bases-charity-20210102-pqtqlgfc2repheu3gtmynvjggi-story.html

G-Fafif Jan 03 2021 05:13 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Ray Knight wants to come home. https://twitter.com/rayknight25/status/1344632032299802627?s=21

G-Fafif Jan 15 2021 06:11 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Nolan Ryan did not stick to baseball. https://twitter.com/bryancurtis/status/1350246839174369281?s=21

G-Fafif Jan 20 2021 09:11 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Gerald Williams is running a professional basketball team in Florida.

G-Fafif Jan 20 2021 09:13 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Gerald Williams is running a professional basketball team in Florida. “I'm that guy who makes sure they understand there is no tomorrow,” said Gerald Williams, who retired from Major League Baseball in 2005. “They can't afford to say, ‘Oh, don't worry, we'll get 'em tomorrow.' Tomorrow? What are you talking about? You're going to get cut today!”

Edgy MD Jan 21 2021 07:59 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Damn, Gerald.

G-Fafif Jan 25 2021 02:25 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Jay Horwitz welcomes Lee Mazzilli into his pod den. https://art19.com/shows/amazin-mets-alumni-podcast

G-Fafif Jan 25 2021 07:49 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Rico Brogna himself! It's not unusual to find minor-league managers with big-league playing experience or a background in scouting. It is much rarer to find one with a master's degree in cybersecurity, experience as a player-information coach on a major-league staff or as a college football coach. The A's newest minor-league manager — incoming Low-A Stockton Ports skipper Rico Brogna — has all that in his background, and a lot more. Fans of baseball in the 1990s likely remember Brogna as a smooth-fielding first baseman who had a pair of 100+ RBI seasons with the late-‘90s Phillies. A first-round pick of the Tigers in 1988 out of high school, Brogna spent parts of nine seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Phillies and Mets. But his post-playing career has taken a more unusual path. Since retiring as a player in 2001, Brogna has earned two degrees — an undergraduate degree in business from Post University and a master's degree in cybersecurity from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University — while holding jobs in baseball ranging from pro scout to minor-league coach and manager to special assistant to the general manager to farm director to player-information coach, among other titles. A three-sport star in high school who turned down a football scholarship to Clemson to play baseball, Brogna has also coached high school basketball and football, and even spent two seasons as a volunteer wide receivers coach at Wesleyan University, where he worked alongside disciples of Bill Belichick. Read more about the Athletic minor league manager at the Athletic. https://theathletic.com/2341426/2021/01/25/rico-brogna-set-to-skipper-the-stockton-ports-through-uncharted-waters-in-2021/

Edgy MD Jan 25 2021 09:12 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Orioles and their broadcast partners have gutted their on-air team, letting go of longtime voice Gary Thorne, veteran of two Mets tenures, among several others. O's seem to be operating on some serious austerity. Kevin Morgan gets re-upped with the Twins as minor league field coordinator after a quarter century in the Mets system.

DocTee Jan 26 2021 06:02 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Gerald Williams is running a professional basketball team in Florida. “I'm that guy who makes sure they understand there is no tomorrow,” said Gerald Williams, who retired from Major League Baseball in 2005. “They can't afford to say, ‘Oh, don't worry, we'll get 'em tomorrow.' Tomorrow? What are you talking about? You're going to get cut today!” Damn, that Popsicle is ice-cold.

G-Fafif Jan 28 2021 08:40 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Ty Kelly on what it's like when a superstar joins your team: He gets two lockers to himself, that's a certainty. But, what about the clubhouse dynamic? Will he mess with the team chemistry? Will he be able to learn a new handshake with every player on the team? Will he be too outspoken? Too soft-spoken? Too…medium-spoken? Will he show up and ask for more than two lockers? More than three bowls of porridge? The first year of Robinson Canó's 10 year, $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners came in 2014, coinciding with my first full season in the Mariners organization, as well as my first Major League Spring Training invite. I was starstruck — for obvious reasons — but so was everyone else. As a rule, Major League Baseball players don't ogle or show excessive admiration for any other MLB players — due to deep-seated toxic masculinity and inferiority complexes — except when it comes to superstars. When you start getting into “top 25 player in the league” category or “future Hall of Famer,” the adulation begins to pour in. Everyone wants to know what he's all about: what makes him tick, what he eats, how he dresses, whether he uses a loofa, whether he was friends with a guy on his former team who I am currently friends with. Also, baseball stuff. Some guys are probably so starstruck that they discretely snap an iPhone 5 photo of King Felix in the locker room and still have it on my phone to this day. Still have it on their phone to this day. It's still on my phone. I spoke to Cano twice that Spring Training. The first instance came at second base shortly after we took ground balls one day. Grounders arrived, we fielded them, we tossed them into a pile on the ground. An empty bucket was run out by a coach so the balls could find a way back to the fungo hitter to be peppered at us again. The optimal way to fill said bucket with said baseballs is to put the bucket about 10 feet away and shoot every ball toward it, a la Shaq from the free-throw line. As a former high school basketball “standout” and perennially overzealous competitor (again: toxic masculinity), I took the opportunity to sink many more shots than Robbie and let him know I was unimpressed by his game. “Do they not play basketball in the Dominican?” I asked, feeling far too confident in myself. “No, they do.” And that was pretty much it. The second time we talked was in the batting cage before the day's scheduled workouts began. He mimicked my swing. “This is you,” he told me. I knew; it was a passable impression but I was extremely flattered. He was watching me, and I assume he took a picture of me in the clubhouse also. Every interaction with a superstar on your team is meaningful. Canó was open at the time about not wanting to act as a coach to the younger players on the team and in the organization: he just wanted to be a player and worry about living up to his huge deal. But when you're larger than life, you're influential whether you like it or not. Guys watch the way you go about your business: for the rest of my career, I never placed a ball in a bucket. But, when you have as sweet a jumper as I do, you don't have to. Also some quiet awe for The Captain within. https://themetropolitan.substack.com/p/welcome-ty-kelly

Edgy MD Jan 28 2021 08:52 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

If Ty Kelly wanted to stay at my house, I'd give him the bed and I'd take the floor.

Johnny Lunchbucket Jan 28 2021 09:07 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Ty is an American Treasure. Is his Sweet Potato Ty's campaign ongoing?

G-Fafif Jan 28 2021 03:30 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Speak of the Monarch... https://twitter.com/kscitymonarchs/status/1354908891088375810?s=21

MFS62 Jan 29 2021 10:59 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Daniel Murphy announces his retirement. https://sports.yahoo.com/daniel-murphy-mets-postseason-icon-175122154.html Later

Edgy MD Feb 01 2021 09:50 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Scott Erickson, whose abortive 2004 season as a Met was about as quintessentially representative as anything of that season that cost both a manager and a GM their jobs, has been arrested following a drag race that led to the death of two children. Erickson escapes larger charges (so far) as it was his opponent that struck the two boys.

ashie62 Feb 01 2021 11:14 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

WTF

Edgy MD Feb 01 2021 12:04 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Yeah, it's just awful. It happened months ago, but Erickson's part in the mess is just coming to light. Opponent was a socialite, and both were well known in the boozing scene in their swanky community. I'm not sure but I'm getting the inference that they were racing home from a bar, assuming there was a bar open. But the opponent was drunk, and she tore through a crosswalk as a crossing family was only able to pull two of their four children to safety.

G-Fafif Feb 04 2021 12:58 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Bobby Jones (not the other Bobby Jones) always tried to conduct himself professionally, setting a good example for all you kids out there. He was also someone who kept his emotions in check on the mound. “That's something my dad instilled within me,” Jones said. “You never show your opponent that you're beat or you're beating them. You can have that fire inside. Just don't show that. People used to say they couldn't tell if I was up 10-0 or down 10-0. Against Atlanta, I gave up eight runs in the first inning, kicked a container of bubble gum in the air and it hit me in the face with the TV camera right there,” Jones said. It embarrassed me. I said that's not who I am and I've gotta be better than that. Kids are watching. I don't want them to see that.” New SABR Bio by Mark Simon: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bobby-jones-2/

RealityChuck Feb 07 2021 04:59 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Someone on a Bulletin Board I hang out on wanted to know about a new trainer where he worked out at who claimed to be a member of the Mets for ten years. He didn't recognize the name and was skeptical. Turned out it was Dave Magadan.

G-Fafif Feb 14 2021 09:00 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Jerry Manuel in today's News, to Bradford William Davis: His most outside-the-box idea — at least of the ideas he's told me — was forming an all-Black American baseball team separate from Team USA to compete in the World Baseball Classic, MLB's Olympic-style international tournament, which was postponed due to the pandemic. His motivation as an MLB adviser: ”Baseball is one of the pillars of our culture, going way back. When I was very young you went to church on Sunday, and after Sunday, you went and played baseball,” Manuel, who managed the Mets from 2008-10, recalls. “I played basketball. I played football. But one of the pillars of our community was baseball. That baseball pillar has crumbled somewhat, but I still think that there's gonna be a surfing back, if you will, to where baseball comes back to what it was.” https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ny-20210214-pvtgdjdo2nadpnihf5usmntbim-story.html

MFS62 Feb 17 2021 03:58 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Cody Allen, Cleveland saves leader, retires at 32 years old. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/indians-saves-leader-cody-allen-182813449.html Later

Edgy MD Feb 17 2021 04:01 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

This thread generally is used to document retired ex-Mets and what they are up to in their post-baseball careers and lives.

MFS62 Feb 17 2021 04:40 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Edgy MD wrote: This thread generally is used to document retired ex-Mets and what they are up to in their post-baseball careers and lives. I'll start a new thread. Thanks. Later

G-Fafif Feb 18 2021 11:19 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Gastonia Honey Hunters hire Goose Gozzo as their manager. https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/gastonia-honey-hunters-announces-team-manager/n-5667908

Edgy MD Feb 18 2021 11:58 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Wow. I may have new favorite indy team.

G-Fafif Feb 18 2021 06:25 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Hizzoner Bobby V? Maybe in Stamford. “It is an election year for some of the situations in our city, in our state — and I have given it consideration, and I'm still considering it. Let me put it that way,” Valentine said Thursday as he spoke during a virtual Senior Men's Association of Stamford meeting. “Yeah, I'm kind of considering it. It's a crazy thought, and anytime I say it to someone, they say, ‘Why the hell would you do that?' And I'm working on the answer.” https://www.wiltonbulletin.com/local/article/Why-not-Bobby-Valentine-mulling-run-for-15961120.php

G-Fafif Feb 18 2021 07:55 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Almost as good as when he did it the first time. https://twitter.com/snytv/status/1362589737656139779?s=21

Edgy MD Feb 18 2021 07:58 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

¡Loco! I think the Endy Chavez Challenge is about to become a thing.

Johnny Lunchbucket Feb 19 2021 05:10 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

I've watched that clip about 30 times already

G-Fafif Apr 07 2021 02:29 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Speak of the Monarch... https://twitter.com/kscitymonarchs/status/1354908891088375810?s=21 QUACK! Monarchs trade Ty to Central Islip where he will be a Long Island Duck.

G-Fafif Apr 29 2021 02:39 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Skipper Soup! [tweet]https://twitter.com/goseaunicorns/status/1387817544531202059[/tweet]

G-Fafif May 01 2021 03:18 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Jorge Velandia, aiding and abetting the enemy these days. Baseball is the national sport of Venezuela. The country has sent 428 players to the major leagues — a number topped only by the United States (over 17,000) and the Dominican Republic (794), according to the website Baseball-Reference. Some of the sport's biggest stars over the past few decades are from the South American country: Miguel Cabrera, Félix Hernández, Johan Santana, Bobby Abreu, José Altuve. Venezuela's newest star, Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, trails perhaps only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts as the best player in baseball. Given this rich tradition, many in the sport were astonished that a Venezuelan had not reached the upper ranks of a major league club's front office until December, when the Phillies promoted Jorge Velandia, a former player who had been working his way up through the organization, to assistant general manager. “When we were first getting ready to make an announcement and we were talking about it and somehow it came up, that this was going to be the first assistant general manager from Venezuela, I was like: ‘Really? I had no idea,'” said Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies' president of baseball operations, who has run teams for more than two decades. Dombrowski's teams featured Venezuelan stars like Magglio Ordóñez, Carlos Guillén, Víctor Martínez and Cabrera but never one of their countryman as highly placed as the 46-year-old Velandia. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/sports/baseball/jorge-velandia-venezuela-phillies.html

G-Fafif May 12 2021 07:43 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Sad news concerning 1988-1989 Met David West. [tweet]https://twitter.com/theddfoundation/status/1392443714753245186[/tweet]

G-Fafif May 18 2021 08:20 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

[tweet]https://twitter.com/byrobertmurray/status/1394833687368413184[/tweet]

G-Fafif Jul 24 2021 06:47 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

31 + the progeny of 41. [tweet]https://twitter.com/mikepiazza31/status/1418908989471985664[/tweet]

G-Fafif Jul 30 2021 06:41 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

[tweet]https://twitter.com/howierose/status/1421266960155910145[/tweet]

Benjamin Grimm Aug 07 2021 07:22 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Jim McAndrew, the Pride of Lost Nation, Iowa, dropped by the Ultimate Mets Database this week! Ultimate Mets Database: Game of July 21, 1968 - Game Memories https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/71/71-428Fr.jpg> https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/71/71-428Bk.jpg> https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/72/72-781Fr.jpg> https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/72/72-781Bk.jpg> https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/4hQAAOSwKDJf0XWK/s-l225.webp>

Johnny Lunchbucket Aug 07 2021 07:45 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Wow. Our bike trip last week stopped in Lost Nation. Very small town even by Iowa small-town standards (population 446). Just a post office, the Stagger Inn (Iowa has hilarious bar names) and beat up brick buildings. Met a woman there named Pat who told me she was a proud resident and knew 2 of McAndrew's sisters (Jim was older than her considerably). She thought he had lived in Texas for many years. http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210730_092519-scaled-e1628344416103.jpg> http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210730_091239-scaled-e1628344478167.jpg> http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210730_093937-scaled-e1628344528140.jpg> (you can see the post office)

Benjamin Grimm Aug 07 2021 08:35 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

I recently noticed that when I take selfies the photos saves as a mirror image. I see that's what happened with you too. It's weird. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to disable that, when I get sufficiently motivated, that is.

G-Fafif Aug 07 2021 09:10 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

A reliable source told me a while back that Jim paid his own way to Kansas City to root the Mets on in the 2015 World Series.

Johnny Lunchbucket Aug 07 2021 09:51 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I recently noticed that when I take selfies the photos saves as a mirror image. I see that's what happened with you too. It's weird. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to disable that, when I get sufficiently motivated, that is. Yeah this is a new phone. My old one didn't do that so it must be some kind of adjustment

Johnny Lunchbucket Aug 07 2021 09:53 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

By the way there is fascinating twitter account out there that is posting photos of every post office in the United States. I spent like 20 minutes going through it

Frayed Knot Aug 19 2021 07:20 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSQFOGGF_1Y/?utm_medium=copy_link Yes, Bob Murphy, it really does exist.

stevejrogers Aug 24 2021 09:35 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Two former Met infielders of very different quality of a Metly career were officially inducted in the Cardinals Hall of Fame recently [YOUTUBE]hQvvnSzTYDs[/YOUTUBE]

stevejrogers Aug 24 2021 09:42 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Speaking of team HOFs, similarly to Herr and Hernandez being honored for their pre-Met days, David Wright, Jay Payton and Preston Wilson will be inducted into Binghamton's Hall https://www.themediagoon.com/2021/08/david-wright-jay-payton-preston-wilson.html?m=1

G-Fafif Aug 31 2021 07:43 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Al Leiter must be missing all those PSAs during Mets games and not know about the COVID-19 vaccines. Hall of Famer John Smoltz and former Met and Yankee Al Leiter will no longer appear in-studio for MLB Network after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, The Post has learned. MLBN has made it mandatory for all employees to be vaccinated, with the mandate going into effect Sept. 1. MLBN executives, Smoltz and Leiter made a compromise to keep them on-the-air, but not in the Secaucus studios. They will both appear remotely for the shows. Smoltz will also still call a Division Series game on site in October. The two are regular in-studio analysts for the network. https://nypost.com/2021/08/31/al-leiter-john-smoltz-wont-appear-in-studio-at-mlb-network-after-refusing-vaccine/

G-Fafif Sep 02 2021 01:12 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sestes55/status/1433244676622929921[/tweet]

G-Fafif Sep 10 2021 09:20 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Stanley Jefferson, still trying to cope. The chemical changes in his brain and in his body weren't abundantly clear at first, even to himself. He didn't go out as much, but he was working constantly and didn't have time to. It was in 2002, after he was transferred to NYPD internal affairs, when he started to notice something was off. Jefferson was walking down a street in lower Manhattan, lined with brownstones, and felt like the buildings were closing in on him, squeezing him. He had to stop and stand in a doorway until the feeling passed. That feeling of suffocation around buildings, the anxiety he felt around crowds, kept happening. At first, he tried to ignore it. He felt he could fight through it. He was big and strong, a former ballplayer, a police officer, the man who was supposed to have all the answers. But then it got worse. So, Jefferson shut people out. He would deal with it himself, rather than show any weakness. Steve Brandstetter, his close friend of more than 25 years, said Jefferson is like a politician in that way. He's good at hiding what's really going on. As a ballplayer he had to sign autographs and talk to media with a smile. He learned to fake it. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/stanley-jefferson-former-met-nyc-cop-9-11-experience-20-years-later

G-Fafif Sep 10 2021 04:14 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Lee Mazzilli sitting in on the radio tonight.

G-Fafif Sep 25 2021 03:08 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

[tweet]https://twitter.com/brewers/status/1441582660577415168[/tweet]

G-Fafif Oct 02 2021 12:52 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

[tweet]https://twitter.com/tylerkepner/status/1444371565097926667[/tweet]

G-Fafif Oct 19 2021 12:25 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Devin Mesoraco didn't want to be the fourth guy. https://metsmerizedonline.com/2021/10/mmo-exclusive-former-mets-catcher-devin-mesoraco.html/

Benjamin Grimm Oct 19 2021 12:31 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

. http://potg.ultimatemets.com/images/schaefer2018.jpg> Devin Mesoraco made the Schaefer Wall of Fame in September 2018.

Edgy MD Oct 19 2021 01:37 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Man, that near-sweep of Pitcher of the Month Awards by deGrom is incredible. Syndergaard was a hair better in September, if I remember, but only because he stepped it up. deGrom was just as good at the end of the season as he had been all summer.

G-Fafif Oct 23 2021 06:04 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Mickey Lolich, reluctant Met. Or reluctant New Yorker. Management felt like the club needed hitting and decided to send Lolich to the Mets in exchange for outfielder/first baseman Rusty Staub. It wouldn't be that simple, though. Lolich didn't want to go. “I was never happy in New York when we visited that town,” Lolich said. “The people in New York were not very friendly and I spent all my time in the hotel room except when I went to the park. It was not one of my favorite towns. In fact, it was my least favorite town. So I was in a bit of a conflict when I got the call from Jim Campbell. He said the Mets wanted me and I said I wasn't playing in New York. I didn't like being there. “He said damn, I want to make this trade. I need a hitter to play every day. But I said I am not going to New York and hung up the phone. Next I get a call from the vice president of the Mets and he said we really want to make this trade and we will give you a $25,000 raise. That was a nice offer but I said money isn't that important and I'm not going to agree to the deal. So I hung up and the phone rang again and it was Campbell again. He said if I didn't agree to the trade he was going to cut my salary 20 percent per MLB rules. I said Jim, maybe it's time for me to retire and he said go ahead, it wouldn't bother me in the least and slammed down the phone.” After cooling down and discussing the situation with his wife, Lolich agreed to a two-year deal and the raise. But he remained unhappy. He was living by himself in New York and couldn't see his family. He said he only saw his kids twice during the season and that “a little depression set in”. “I enjoyed playing with the Met team,” said Lolich, who went 8-13 with a 3.22 ERA in 31 games [30 starts] for New York. “Tom Seaver amazed me. Not just the pitching. He had a great personality. I sort of figured he was going to be a guy who was a little uppity but he wasn't. He was a funny man but boy, would his disposition change when he crossed that line. He was out there to win. “Ed Kranepool, Joe Torre, all the guys there were great. I signed a two-year deal and I'd go back the next year for the same money but my wife refused to bring the kids to New York City. I lived by myself so when the season was over it was time for me to retire. My wife said, ‘You're going to turn down that kind of money' and I said, ‘Joyce I'm not happy'. She said if that's the way I felt she understood.” https://ballnine.com/2021/10/22/the-workhorse/

G-Fafif Oct 23 2021 06:11 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Lance Johnson selectively remembers 1997. “I had a real good time when I was with the Mets,” Johnson said. “I never really wanted to leave the Mets. If you go back and look at '97, the Marlins were not going to win the World Series. We were, because we owned Florida. When they made the trade, I told Bobby it was a mistake. He asked me why and I said I'm not going to educate you but in two-weeks' time, you're going to know why. They lost [12-of-18] after I left and I was in a Cubs uniform. “When I saw [Florida manager] Jim Leyland after the trade, I said, ‘Don't be afraid to share some of that World Series money with me.' He said, ‘Lance, that trade just won us the World Series.' There was a month and a half left. We were going to win that year. It was unbelievable. I really loved New York. It's some place to play.” https://ballnine.com/2021/10/08/one-dog/

Edgy MD Oct 23 2021 07:59 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Lolich came out of retirement after a year to pitch relief for Roger Craig's San Diego Padres. Craig apparently wasn't Craig yet, because Lolich might have been an early version of one of Craig's veteran reclamation projects. Retirement was a big decision, because he had potential HoF status within reach. One more big year or two or three solid ones and who knows?

G-Fafif Oct 28 2021 08:19 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Son of a Brogna: Tim McIlvaine, progeny of former Met GM, is reportedly the Angels' new director of scouting.

G-Fafif Oct 29 2021 08:37 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Another son of a gun, in the Twin Cities. While Sharrer said there was an adjustment period for the players — the Saints' in-game presentation offering something different than they've seen at other parks around the country — he credited Saints manager Toby Gardenhire and his staff for helping make that transition seamless, especially during a year in which front office and player interaction was limited because of COVID-19 concerns. https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/baseball/7237744-Saints-Twins-partnership-thrives-in-first-season

G-Fafif Oct 30 2021 10:31 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Barry Lyons remembers October 25, 1986… I was in street clothes because I was injured and had several vantage points that game. I was down on the field for some of the pregame stuff, but Major League Baseball was trying to remove me because I didn't have my credentials. Ultimately, Joe McIlvaine gave me his badge. He wanted me to experience the game from ground level because I was one of their guys that he hoped would be in that position many times going forward. For pregame, I was on the field, in the clubhouse and dugout and it was just so exciting and exhilarating even though I wasn't in uniform. When the game started though, I was up in the broadcast booth with Bob Murphy. I was sitting a row behind them and Shea Stadium had that overhang. I saw them all looking up in the sky and was wondering what they were all doing. Then I saw that paratrooper come down with his “Go Mets” sign and land near the mound. That was some kind of moment! A swell two-parter with the backup catcher. https://ballnine.com/2021/10/14/barry-lyons/ https://ballnine.com/2021/10/21/barry-lyons-ii/

G-Fafif Oct 30 2021 07:11 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021

Jim Gosger: still alive. You had a lot of great moments on the Red Sox and played on some other teams too, including the 1969 and 1973 Mets. Can you talk about that experience? Well, I was disappointed that I didn't get a World Series ring in '69. I was only there for about five weeks, but damn, I played good defensively for them. I remember going back for a reunion maybe about five years ago and Cleon Jones came up to me and said, “Goose, can you still run?” I said, “Get out of here, you're crazy.” We were laughing. He said he used to love it because after the seventh inning ended, I would be out there defensively. He said that I could really go get them. But it hurt me that I didn't get an invitation to the [50th Anniversary] reunion. I wanted to ask about that. I have read some articles saying not only that you never got a World Series ring for 1969, and not only did they not invite you to the reunion, but they put you in the video tribute for the players who passed away. I don't mean to bring up negative memories, but can you talk about that? Well at the end of the season, Gil [Hodges] came up to me and said they were going to take me off the roster because they needed an extra pitcher. I said, “Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” It was a big thrill for me to be there when we clinched, the whole thing was just a thrill for a kid to be a part of. But you know, the thing that really hurt was that when the Series was over, I got a check in the mail for $100. That's it. I thought I'd get a ring. I was there for five weeks ad I helped them out a lot defensively. I'll be truthful, when I got that $100 check, I was hot. To this day, I have people coming to me saying, “Jim, we got to get a hold of someone to get you that ring.” I don't know, I think it's a done deal. You know, I was heartbroken. I got the National League Championship ring in 1973, because I was there for six months. But that '69 ring would be unbelievable. That's really sad. You weren't a rookie callup in '69. You were a veteran by then and helped them out. It's nice to see people taking up your cause though. I think it would be great if the Mets new ownership would do something to help. You know, the Mets did a thing where they gave season ticket holders a replica ring and I have these good friends from New York. I had just come back from a trip to Lansing and my wife told me I had a package and didn't know what it was. Well my friends from New York had sent me their duplicate ring. When I opened it up, I saw the ring and started crying. I thought, “My God, I got my ring!” But then I made a call and learned it was just a glass replica. It was disappointing, but it made me feel really good that somebody would think that much of me to take the time to send that to me. The real one, that had one big diamond right in the middle and was beautiful. It fit the whole knuckle. The ring I got in '73 is nice. It has diamond chips in it and it has never left my finger. But the '69 ring is a treasure. The thing that hurt the most was that they gave rings to all the coaches and managers in the minor leagues. They gave rings to office personnel. But there were about two or three players who were on the team and never got the ring. That hurt me more than anything. https://ballnine.com/2020/12/03/the-hustler-jim-gosger/ G-Fafif Oct 30 2021 07:16 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 Ross Jones, present at the creation of the best of Mets eras. “The Mets were in an exciting place when I got traded to the team before the '84 season. Davey Johnson was just named manager and a new era was taking off. It was great to be there when the turnaround of the franchise was happening. So many great young players coming along blended with some special veterans. The team was becoming good after many years of not being relevant. It was a great time to be a Met.” https://risingapple.com/2021/10/30/ny-mets-ross-jones-exciting-time/ G-Fafif Nov 06 2021 08:47 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 The family of first Met-cultivated All-Star Ron Hunt seeks help for their dad. “I'll ask for forgiveness later. This is coming from me,” the Wentzville, Mo., resident said this week. “This is just me wanting my dad to have a quality of life for what he has left.” Hunt's dad is someone well-known to older Mets fans: fan favorite Ron Hunt, the first Met to start an All-Star Game, the 1964 Midsummer Classic, held at Shea Stadium of all places. As the Hunt family shared with The Post back in 2018, Ron is battling Parkinson's disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that has taken its toll on him. Now 80, “Ron has good days and bad days, but every three days, he takes a good, nice fall,” his daughter said. “His kneecaps are destroyed. His body is destroyed.” There is a way to help him, though, Tracy Hunt believes, which is why she finds herself asking her dad's many admirers for help. The Hunt family, with the help of family friend Frank Santarpia, has set up a GoFundMe page in the hopes of completing an experimental protocol for Parkinson's that Ron began earlier this year. Such publicity won't play well with the stoic Ron Hunt, who takes great pride in the 243 times he got hit by a pitch, fourth all-time in modern baseball, including the single-season record of 50 in 1971 with the Expos. “This is me. This is my last resort,” Tracy Hunt said. “I don't have another bag of money.” Ken Davidoff, who's been chronicling Hunt's travails, picks up the story. https://nypost.com/2021/11/05/ron-hunts-daughter-raising-money-for-ex-mets-treatment/ TransMonk Nov 08 2021 08:52 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 [TWEET]https://twitter.com/PerezEd/status/1457734130788192256[/TWEET] G-Fafif Nov 10 2021 07:14 PM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 [tweet]https://twitter.com/craigminervini/status/1458616407478910981[/tweet] G-Fafif Dec 22 2021 06:29 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 [tweet]https://twitter.com/ft_athletics/status/1471923439502073857[/tweet] Edgy MD Dec 22 2021 08:55 AM Re: Brogna Boys 2021 That's … some kind of promo shot they're using for Jeff.