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Your Mets of Yore in 2023

G-Fafif Jan 20 2023 11:46 AM

This year's Rico Brogna “where they are now and what they're up to” thread regarding living former Mets no longer directly involved in professional baseball leads off by choking up on the bat and checking in with Felix Millan. Bill Ladson of mlb.com throws out the first pitch. Millan's closest friend on the Mets was first baseman John Milner, who would often tell Millan where to go eat. “He taught me a lot in New York because I didn't know too much about the place,” Millan recalled. “He would tell me what to do, just sharing things with me.” https://www.mlb.com/news/felix-millan-best-hitter-on-the-1973-mets

batmagadanleadoff Jan 20 2023 12:10 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Years ago (about 15), I went to eat somewhere in Queens and on the restaurant's wall of past famous and semi-famous diners, was a framed photograph of Felix Millan. I took a photo of the photo. I'll see if I can find it. The place was an Italian seafood joint, if I remember. OE - Now that I think of it, Milner got to the Mets only one season before Millan (excluding Milner's '71 cup of coffee). Millan got to the majors five years before Milner did. Strange "big brother" dynamics there.

Edgy MD Jan 20 2023 01:03 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Yeah, I was thinking a Puerto Rican who'd been up since 1966 would have a better feel for the city than an Atlantan who had come up at the butt end of 1971. Maybe Milner gravitated toward Millan because he'd watched him play with the Braves. At any rate, it's nice to read a counterpoint to Marty Noble's observation of Milner as a surly jerk.

whippoorwill Jan 20 2023 02:04 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Very nice

Johnny Lunchbucket Jan 20 2023 02:27 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Cleon Jones would have told Milner where to eat.

metirish Jan 23 2023 02:22 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/Gregg_Jefferies/status/1617388096559157248[/TWEET] Looks legit

Edgy MD Jan 23 2023 03:57 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

A big leaguer using an aluminum bat, even 20 years after his retirement, just feels wrong.

roger_that Jan 23 2023 10:42 PM Squirrel and the Garbageman's Kid do MSG

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/i/status/1617709297282215936[/TWEET] Didn't know they were buddies.

Frayed Knot Jan 24 2023 05:08 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Squirrel and the Garbageman, wasn't that the mock-Springsteen song the Traveling Wilburys did a bunch of years back? Squirrel and the Garbageman were hard up for cash They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash...

Edgy MD Jan 24 2023 09:04 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Buddies? Listen — buddies don't take buddies to see the Knicks, knowha'imean?

TransMonk Jan 30 2023 03:32 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/aaronladd0/status/1619920748050780160[/TWEET]

G-Fafif Jan 31 2023 07:38 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

The good word from the Strawberry ministry… Former Mets and Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry has been a traveling minister for more than a decade, and he's found a new venue to preach the gospel -- the penitentiary. Strawberry, 60, made it known recently that he wants to pay it forward when visiting troubled individuals in the prison system. As recently as November, he visited two New Jersey penitentiaries, and he came to the conclusion that all the inmates needed was love. “That was something that was lacking in their lives growing up -- being loved,” Strawberry said via telephone. “Love conquers everything -- to be able to know that you are loved regardless of what has happened in your circumstances.” https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/darryl-strawberry-taking-ministry-to-penitentiaries

G-Fafif Feb 02 2023 10:55 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Assault within battery: former Met pitcher Marcus Stroman attacks retired Met catcher Anthony Recker. [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621140772396609536[/tweet] [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621141716102426625[/tweet] [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621168947549569025[/tweet]

Edgy MD Feb 02 2023 12:17 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Not for the first time in Twitter history, but nobody really looking particularly great there.

G-Fafif Feb 02 2023 03:53 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Where Rico Brogna is now and what he is up to! https://www.primepublishers.com/towntimesnews/sports/local_sports/former-whs-star-mlb-veteran-takes-over-warriors-baseball-rico-brogna-back-to-where-he/article_a3a6ea6c-a24a-11ed-b30b-5fc9bacbc0a4.html

Johnny Lunchbucket Feb 02 2023 04:39 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Assault within battery: former Met pitcher Marcus Stroman attacks retired Met catcher Anthony Recker. [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621140772396609536[/tweet] [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621141716102426625[/tweet] [tweet]https://twitter.com/str0/status/1621168947549569025[/tweet] geez. Stro is way out of line

G-Fafif Mar 05 2023 01:33 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Why yes, I'd love to read some Doug Sisk recollections, including his brushes with Richard Nixon. Part 1: https://ballnine.com/2023/02/23/doug-sisk/ Part 2: https://ballnine.com/2023/03/02/doug-sisk-ii/

Edgy MD Mar 05 2023 01:43 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Fun Fact: I clicked the first of those links and the page loaded a little slowly, initially just reading: UG SISK

G-Fafif Mar 09 2023 03:06 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1633943289895477248[/tweet]

Johnny Lunchbucket Mar 09 2023 03:19 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1633943289895477248[/tweet] San Francisco is where guys go to renew themselves. They will torment us this year behind JDD, Flores + Confotrto

Edgy MD Mar 09 2023 03:56 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

By the way, that Doug Sisk piece was good readin'.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 09 2023 10:31 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: [tweet]https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1633943289895477248[/tweet] San Francisco is where guys go to renew themselves. They will torment us this year behind JDD, Flores + Confotrto How many times do the Mets and Giants play each other this year in the new moronic schedule? Once? Twice? I give up.

kcmets Mar 10 2023 08:06 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Seven times! Four in SF, and three at home. Both are weekend series.

Edgy MD Mar 10 2023 08:50 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

The Giants will also be sucking ex-Met mojo out of the season through the person of Thomas Szapucki. That, plus they'll be getting mind-boggling reverse-image identical twin action from Tyler and Taylor Rogers.

G-Fafif Mar 19 2023 01:32 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Dennis Cook, teaching baseball to those Northwestern Wildcats. https://nusports.com/news/2023/3/7/baseball-dennis-cook-joins-northwestern-baseball-staff.aspx

metirish Mar 23 2023 10:14 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Jed Lowrie retires

G-Fafif Apr 04 2023 01:42 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Ten marvelous minutes of Mets content, courtesy of Clint Hurdle, about 30 minutes in on this recent episode of Rob Neyer's SABRcast. Good stuff on becoming a third baseman, becoming a catcher, Davey Johnson's impact on him and how when offered his first minor league managerial post, he played hardball to stay close to home. Lots of other good talk as well. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6UlLxBAyiRpYUC37iHO74X?si=9MX6z-rjRr-ayh8FR14SyA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A2oy77XzAterZN28MQ4aKtC

Edgy MD Apr 07 2023 07:29 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Anthony Recker must've really gotten to Marcus Stroman good, because Ol' Number 0 has a zero ERA through 12 innings, with a 2-0 record, striking out 14, and holding the opposition to a .128 batting average. Either that or (my wild guess) his intensity, athleticism, and cardio fitness makes him an ideal guy for the Pitching-on-the-Clock Era. Probably neither, but he's sure pitching well.

metirish Apr 08 2023 05:34 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Stroman is manifesting

stevejrogers May 30 2023 04:50 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

As of today, Mets in various other MLB teams' HOFs 2023 classes Shawon Dunston Cubs Danny Graves Reds Orel Hershisher Dodgers (Legends of Dodger Baseball Ring of Honor) Bob Friend Pirates Jose Oquendo Cardinals Jose Bautista Blue Jays (Level of Excellence) Honorable mention, a huge target for internet forum members and sports radio hosts and callers for the Mets to acquire as a free agent or via a trade, Manny Ramirez will enter the Guardians HOF.

Edgy MD May 30 2023 04:56 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Here's to the Cards for inducting a coach.

Edgy MD May 31 2023 05:36 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

MLB.tv commercial sells the shift-banning rule in a commercial featuring baseball legends Joey Votto and ... Collin Cowgill.

MFS62 Jul 02 2023 07:21 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Brad Brach will be broadcasting games for the Orioles. NJ. com via Yahoo https://sports.yahoo.com/m/c50155c8-45cd-33d1-8298-b3362cac23da/ex-mets-pitcher-gets-job-in.html Later

Edgy MD Jul 16 2023 08:00 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Danny Graves joins the illustrious company of The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. [FIMG=550]https://www.cincinnati.com/gcdn/presto/2023/03/30/PCIN/925d30f4-25b0-4d1e-9c2c-43ab1cb2e755-MicrosoftTeams-image_1.png?width=660&height=441&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp[/FIMG]

G-Fafif Aug 15 2023 03:39 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SNY_Mets/status/1691560495126331804[/tweet]

metirish Aug 15 2023 03:45 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Gave us some great days and nights

Frayed Knot Aug 15 2023 06:17 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Was kind of hoping he'd get a last hurrah. I didn't even care where. As a NYM he was fun, exciting, infuriating, and entertaining ... often simultaneously.

G-Fafif Aug 21 2023 10:18 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Expansive visit with Darryl Strawberry at Citi Field from ex-SI man Michael Bamberger in NYT. It was a lazy, humid weekday afternoon at Citi Field, and the early birds were taking a steam bath. Ed Kranepool, an original Met, was on the field near the Mets dugout, shaking hands, making the scene. Charlie Hayes, the old Yankee third baseman, was sitting on a cushioned field-level seat near third base. In a few hours, his son, Ke'Bryan Hayes, would be playing third and batting third for the visitors, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nearby, on the field in foul territory, Jay Horwitz, Mets PR man since 1980, was doing the Jay Horwitz Pregame Shuffle, toes out, head bobbing, checking on this, checking on that. It only seemed like Old-Timers' Day. And then, three hours or so before the night's first pitch, an icon of New York baseball strolled into this summer-in-the-city scene. Darryl Strawberry, his own self. Forty years ago he was a Mets rookie with a 30-inch waist and about six feet of shoulders. For a long time, Strawberry wasn't an active Mets alumnus, but under the team's newish ownership — Steven A. Cohen, take a rare bow in this dismal season! — Strawberry has been coming around, at least now and again. The owner remembers Strawberry in his prime. He roots for him as all New Yorkers root for him. Darryl Strawberry — there was always something about him. You could see it in his face. Strawberry can't tell you much about the Mets' left-handed bats off the bench. His life in baseball has come and gone. But he knows and appreciates the doors baseball opened for him, and he was at the ballpark on that recent night to meet and greet some big-check donors to the foundation he runs with his wife, Tracy Strawberry. Among other things, the foundation helps pay for treatment programs for addicts of every kind. Strawberry knows such programs intimately. So does his wife. Tracy Strawberry is an ordained minister, has a doctorate in theology and, like her husband, is an addict in recovery. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/sports/baseball/darryl-strawberry-mets-addiction-ministry.html

batmagadanleadoff Aug 24 2023 07:48 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

2022 Mets who have yet to appear in an MLB game this season (including the entire Kelenic haul): R.J. Alvarez Travis Blankenhorn Robinson Cano Sam Clay Edwin Diaz Nate Fisher Terrance Gore Ender Inciarte Khalil Lee Yoan Lopez Devin Marrero Patrick Mazeika Adonis Medina Bryce Montes de Oca Tyler Naqiun Nick Plummer Yolmer Sanchez Thomas Szapucki ... and a coupl'a other one-time Mets who haven't played in the majors since 2022 (this list below is incomplete and needs some serious updating): Jerad Eickhoff Robert Gsellman Jed Lowrie Chris Mazza Oliver Perez Kevin Plawecki Joe Smith Jonathan Villar

batmagadanleadoff Sep 01 2023 11:04 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Sep 03 2023 02:10 AM

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=135799 time=1692884917 user_id=68] ... and a coupl'a other one-time Mets who haven't played in the majors since 2022 (this list below is incomplete and needs some serious updating): Jerad Eickhoff Robert Gsellman Jed Lowrie Chris Mazza Oliver Perez Kevin Plawecki Joe Smith Jonathan Villar

This list is now believed to be complete:



Albert Almora

Robinson Chirinos

Tyler Clippard

Jerad Eickhoff

Robert Gsellman

Jake Hager

Guillermo Heredia

Juan Lagares

Jed Lowrie

Chris Mazza

Darren O'Day

Oliver Perez

Kevin Plawecki

Hansel Robles

Joe Smith

Jonathan Villar

Justin Wilson

Edgy MD Sep 02 2023 07:19 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

The Jonathan Villars are a group that fascinates me. Journeyman utility infielders who pop up in town for one year at the end of a career and turn out to be far more useful than anybody had a right to expect. The other group that fascinates me are the Jay Bells. Journeyman utility infielders who pop up in town for one year at the end of a career and turn out to be far less useful than anybody had a right to expect.

roger_that Sep 02 2023 08:05 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Or the Jed Lowries, who never pop up at all.

Edgy MD Sep 02 2023 08:08 AM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Are there any other Jed Lowries? I suppose there's one or two, but damned if I can think of them.

Edgy MD Nov 27 2023 05:44 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Ex-Met catcher, bullpen coach, and first base coach Sandy Alomar, Jr. has been retained for the Guardians' staff under new manager Stephen Vogt, one of only two holdovers from Terry Francona's braintrust.

Edgy MD Dec 18 2023 07:41 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

Texas Rangers broadcaster C.J. Nitkowski takes his trade to Atlanta. He says he wants to be closer to family. How do I tell C.J. that his family is from Rockland County?

Frayed Knot Dec 18 2023 07:51 PM Re: Your Mets of Yore in 2023

From the Braves web site via mlb.com: Nitkowski's well-traveled 10-year MLB career included a stint in the Braves' bullpen during the 2004 season. He and his wife, Megan, have spent the past couple of decades raising their three children in suburban Atlanta. Nitkowski is a well-recognized voice on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio and has won six Long Star Emmys while serving as the Rangers' television analyst since 2017. So, Rockland County no more. Apparently Jeff Francoeur is stepping away from his full time TV role to spend more time with [I]his[/I] family (at least he and Nitkowski aren't doing this in order to spend more time which each other's families) so CJN will be the primary TV color man for Braves telecasts starting this coming season. Not sure how/if this affects Francoeur's network gig but both he and Glavine (who Francouer effectively replaced) will work only a handful of games this season for the Braves' local Bally Sports affiliate.