Brogna Can You Spare Some Time 2022

[G-Fafif]

Ellis Valentine not nostalgic for his Shea stay.

The tension that ended the 1980 season was still there in 1981 and when Valentine got off to a slow start, the Expos traded him to the Mets on May 29, a day short of a year since he was he hit by the pitch. Montreal got a closer in Jeff Reardon and throw-in Dan Norman, who had come to New York from Cincinnati in the Tom Seaver deal four years earlier. Valentine was hitting .211 with 15 RBIs at the time of the trade.

“The team [Montreal] had gotten to a point where we could manufacture runs at any given time,” Valentine said. “We could drive in runs; steal some bases and we could score some. The problem was we couldn’t hold it and that’s why they traded me for Jeff Reardon. And he shined. The table was set, he just had to keep the ball in the ballpark. But they had to get rid of me and Jeff went to New York because they had Neil Allen at the time.

“I don’t think Montreal would have ever traded me if didn’t get hit. I put up numbers for Montreal for years and defensive numbers for years. I would drive in 70 and look at defensive play, I probably saved that many runs, too. Those numbers you never see. They would not have traded, they had no reason to. But they feared I would leave or never regain my playing ability so they had to get something from me as soon as they could. Unbeknownst to them, I never would have left Montreal. I would take pay cuts to stay there, that’s how much I loved it.”

Valentine, who was on the disabled list with a pulled hamstring at the time of the trade, did not love New York and New York came to not love Valentine. His miserable season continued after the trade, where he hit .207 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 48 games during the strike-shortened season.

“My year and a half in New York was a struggle,” Valentine said. “I had just gotten off the injury in Montreal, it was pretty severe and I was still trying to come back. I had the same symptoms and [concussion] protocols that football players exhibit. That happened in 1980 so we’re talking ’81, ’82 and ’83. I had lost all peripheral vision in those years. That’s why it was so hard to hang in there on curves from right-handed pitchers.

“What I had before getting hit I didn’t have anymore. Righty to righty was like looking down a tunnel. There was a gap there when certain curves and other pitches were thrown and I couldn’t see it so I would freeze first instead of reacting. By the time I was able to react my career had changed and I had no real control over that. It took a while for me to regain that and manage it.”

New York manager George Bamberger didn’t seem to know what he could have had in Valentine and wound up platooning him with Joel Youngblood, another right-handed hitter who was largely a journeyman backup throughout his career, in right. Valentine hit .288 with eight homers and 48 RBIs in 111 games in 1982. Youngblood was traded to Montreal that August.

“They were platooning me with Joel Youngblood against lefties,” Valentine said. “When I left Montreal, I was a starter. When I came to New York, I wasn’t starting anymore. I was trying to come back from that injury and the next thing you know I’m real frustrated with the team and they are doing things. I had a rough time there. It was finally over and I moved on but I had hoped for better things in New York but they never gave me the opportunity.”

https://ballnine.com/2022/01/07/valentines-days/

[Edgy MD]

Ellis' issues finding his stroke again were no doubt real and injury-related. Nonetheless, he's making multiple arguments at once about the hand he was dealt.

Phun Phact: In an otherwise perfectly cromulent season as a 1982 Met, he somehow walked only five times in 350 trips to the plate, or once ever 70 appearances. His isolated OBP was .006.

[G-Fafif]

Four Original Mets — Craig Anderson, Jay Hook, Joe Christopher, Frank Thomas — get together over Zoom.

And that crazy season gave the men who played it a lifetime of memories, as well as something nobody else can say: “We get to be called ‘Original Mets,’” said Anderson, who is now 83.

Added outfielder Joe Christopher, 86: “It was one of the honors of my life to be an Original Met.”

The Mets are celebrating 60 years of baseball in 2022 — they’re already using a 60th Anniversary logo on the club’s Twitter account. The Mets are reviving their Old Timers Day and, pandemic-permitting, hope to have members of the 1962 team appear at Citi Field. Hook, Anderson, Christopher and slugger Frank Thomas will be guests on an upcoming episode of The Amazin’ Alumni Podcast, hosted by Jay Horwitz, the club’s VP of Alumni Media Relations.

Oddly enough, that woeful season started with optimism. Thomas and Hook had scanned the roster, which included notable names such as Gil Hodges and Richie Ashburn, with hope. Thomas, who is now 92, thought the club could hit. He was at least right about himself — he hit 34 homers and drove in 94 runs and Ashburn, who batted .306.

“And, of course, Casey,” the 85-year-old Hook added. “That was a big deal.”

[…]

“I learned a lot from Casey about salesmanship, taking care of your customers, that I used for years after that,” said Hook, who went on to a long career in business. “After every game, he’d call those writers into his office, get them a Coke or a beer and tell them stories.

“He knew the way to get to the fans was through the sportswriters. And he did a wonderful job bringing fans along. We were the worst team in baseball, yet they really supported us.”

“They never quit on us,” Anderson added. “I’ve never forgotten that. They were so happy to be there, they weren’t as worried about our wins and losses as they would be today.”

[…]

Christopher, Thomas, Anderson and Hook all say they still get fan mail. “I get anywhere from 20-30 letters per week from New York fans,” Thomas said. “I’ve been out of baseball for 55 years. Beautiful letters. It’s a treat for me.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/base ... story.html

[G-Fafif]

Royce Ring brings his wisdom across the Pacific.

[G-Fafif]

Step right up and greet a couple of Originals Mets, via Newsday for now and Old Timers Day in August (reportedly).

As soon as this week, the Mets plan to announce the return of Old-Timers’ Day for a late August date, according to a source.

It’s the 60th anniversary of the franchise. The Mets were born as an expansion team in 1962 and that club went 40-120, still the most losses in modern baseball history.

The Mets under owner Steve Cohen plan to honor every era of their history this season. Assuming the lockout ends and the pandemic abates, Old-Timers’ Day will be back for the first time since 1994.

To honor the past, you have to start at the beginning, and that means the Original Mets from 1962. The losingest team ever assembled holds a special place in the hearts of the men who played on it and the fans who supported it.

"Even to this day, I still get autograph requests," former catcher Hobie Landrith, 91, said on Friday from his home in Sunnyvale, California.

[…]

"They sure did come out," former slugging outfielder Frank Thomas, 92, said Friday from his Pittsburgh home. "They went out there whether we won or lost because New York was back in the National League again to play baseball."

[…]

Landrith said he was "very disappointed" when he learned he had been selected from the San Francisco Giants.

"I wanted to stay with the Giants," he said. "But it turned out well. I enjoyed my time in New York."

[…]

Asked 60 years later how he felt about being traded to an expansion club, Thomas said: "Things like that happen in baseball. You accept what it is. It was a great era in baseball. It was a great experience for me being in a big city."

Thomas hit a team-best 34 home runs in 1962, good for sixth in the NL, and drove in 94 runs.

Seventeen of the 45 men who played on the 1962 club are still around and will be invited to Old-Timers’ Day. The festivities will include an Old-Timers’ game.

Asked if he plans to attend, Thomas said: "Oh, yeah. I won’t be able to play, though. I could bunt."

Article (paywalled):

https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball ... 1.50485073

[G-Fafif]

Buck, from yesterday’s Zoomer, approves of this thread.

"There's a storied past here. Sometimes, we need a reminder of some of that. I love to make sure the players understand that they're carrying a torch, not just for fans, but a lot of people who played before them.”

[Benjamin Grimm]

Frank Thomas came to visit us in 2005, when he was promoting his self-published book:

Questions for Frank Thomas

In looking for that thread, I discovered that the rock group Yo La Tengo referenced it on their own website in 2012:

http://yolatengo.com/july-29-2012/

Apparently, the band was looking to identify the specific game in which the legendary "yo la tengo" collision took place.

[Edgy MD]

Well, that's our new highest achievement.

[Fman99]

It's really great that Frank Thomas would face the serious inquiries from someone named Johnny Dickshot lol God bless the Internet.

This is awesome though. I'd give anything to get a real life Met from any era in here to answer our stupid ass questions.

[Benjamin Grimm]

We've had three celebrity visitors, although it's been quite a while. Frank Thomas, Joe Christopher, and Steve Zabriskie.

[Willets Point]

I was never able to finish that Frank Thomas book. I mean, it wasn't that bad, just kind of repetitive.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Sad news on Jeff Innis:

[Benjamin Grimm]

Jeff Innis, devoted father, son, brother and former New York Met, has been battling cancer since 2017. The cancer began rapidly spreading recently and his treatment, which he's currently receiving at Houston-MD Anderson hospital, is no longer viable. Keenan and Shannon are trying to air ambulance their dad home to Atlanta so he can spend his final days in hospice care with his family.

We appreciate any support you can offer as we bring Jeff home to rest peacefully.

Thank you.

[Edgy MD]

That's terrible. Innis is one of a kind.

[The Hot Corner]

Cancer sucks!!! Thoughts and prayers to jeff and his loved ones.

[G-Fafif]

Not the kind of stats that would typically place someone high on the list of even the most dedicated autograph-seekers. But at age 78, a half-century removed from the game, DiLauro still receives between 200 and 300 requests for his signature per year. The onslaught of balls, postcards, trading cards and other memorabilia arrive on an almost daily basis in the mail at his Lake Mohawk home.

A handwritten letter last week began with: "Hello Mr. DiLauro, my name is Brady. I'm 15 and I like to collect autographs from great players like you ..." A typed letter from a man in Campbell, California, also from last week, opened with: "Dear Mr. DiLauro, Happy belated New Year to you!"

DiLauro reads every one.

He signs and returns everything.

A nice visit with Jack DiLauro.

https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/20 ... 570864001/

[G-Fafif]

Letters, old Mets get letters.

I still get about ten letters a month sent to me with baseball cards in them asking for an autograph and a lot of them want me to put “first Mets win.” That’s 60 years ago. There’s no way that anybody would be remembering me if I hadn’t done that.

Sit (or set) a spell with Jay Hook.

https://ballnine.com/2022/01/28/jay-hook-ii/

[MFS62]

Letters, old Mets get letters.

I still get about ten letters a month sent to me with baseball cards in them asking for an autograph and a lot of them want me to put “first Mets win.” That’s 60 years ago. There’s no way that anybody would be remembering me if I hadn’t done that.

Sit (or set) a spell with Jay Hook.

https://ballnine.com/2022/01/28/jay-hook-ii/

Nice article. I guess he used his engineering degree for Chrysler when he retired from baseball.
How funny would it have been if a player from the 1962 Mets had gone to Ford and worked on the Edsel? (Yeah, I know, The Edsel was earlier. But we can't let facts stand in the way of what would have been a great punch line.)

Later

[seawolf17]

That DiLauro article made me smile. I still write those letters for my collection, although I've pretty much tapped out all the guys who are willing to sign through the mail at this point.

It is admittedly frustrating to know that there are guys out there I'll never be able to add to the collection because they refuse to sign, but hey, it is what it is.

[Edgy MD]

I imagine that, each time a member of a storied group like the 1969 team passes, it causes a small upsurge in solicitations to the surviving members, as collectors with dreams of completionism step up their games hoping to garner the rest of the roster while they are on the planet.

I know specialization then was hardly what it is now, and DiLauro didn't see a whole lot of use in competitive situations, but as the second lefty out of the pen, had he put up that 1969 performance for, say, the 1999 Mets, he would be highly celebrated.

And if you get a chance to manage the 1969 team in a computer simulation, and use him as something of a specialist, there's a good chance that he'll reward you.

[seawolf17]

True. I realize I'm fortunate to be a collector of a team like the Mets with a comparably attainable completion level. And I also know that there's a likelihood that some percentage of the signatures I have aren't real, although I do what I can to minimize that risk. But still - guys like Kelvin Chapman and Dave Liddell just refuse to participate in the hobby, which is mildly irritating. I know checking guys like Gil Hodges and Danny Frisella off my list are going to be a heavy lift, but for the guys of my generation? Bleh.

[Edgy MD]

Chappy appears to be attainable.

If only just.

[G-Fafif]

The Mets: Not always the whitest kids u’ know.

[Edgy MD]

Cool that they found a micro-second to include a shot of Willie Randolph as a player, in addition to coming back to him later as a manager.

The b/w shot of Lance Johnson is terrific. If I've seen that before, I sure didn't appreciate it. It looks like something out of LIFE.

[seawolf17]

I mean, it's kinda shitty not to be able to include Dom and Stro in there, but that was cool.