Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

I'm in the mood to wish a Happy Hanukkah to someone and since I've already written about the likes of Shawn Green , Elliott Maddox , and Norm Sherry , I thought I'd offer a friendly shout-out to former Mets catcher Greg Goossen, since obscurity seems to be our specialty here. Goossen appeared in 99 Mets games from 1965 to 1968, serving as a third-string catcher behind Jerry Grote his first three seasons and a backup first baseman in his last Mets campaign. That he not well remembered (other than for Casey Stengel saying "He's a 20-year-old kid. In 10 years, he has a chance to be 30.") may have something to do with the fact that in those 99 games, the Mets only won 28 times (they lost 70 and tied once). In 1967, his appearance virtually assured a Mets defeat, as he played in 37 games and the New Yorkers were victors only thrice. The next year, Goossen had a little bit more good fortune. In a season bereft of walk-off victories, Goossen had the opportunity to pa...

All I want this holiday season is a B&W. No, not the root beer. B&W are the initials for a player best known for his exploits for another New York baseball team, that oft leaves him feeling unwanted at this time of year. I'm talking about possibly soon-to-be ex-Yankee Bernie Williams, whom I feel would be a good fit for the 2007 Mets. If you work off the presumption that the Mets will carry 11 pitchers, that leaves room for 14 position players. The eight starters are pretty well defined at this point, and the bench as comprised at this moment (Msrs Chavez, Johnson Easley, Castro, and Franco) leaves room for one more batsman. Now, that spot could be filled by Lastings Milledge, but it seems a waste of a roster spot to have Milledge on the team if he's not playing every day (let's also factor in Milledge's potential as a trade chip). It could be filled by Anderson Hernandez, but his usefulness is limited by his inability to swing a consistent bat. I prefer it be f...

I don't know how many of you read the piece about Andy Fogel's Mets memorabilia collection in the New York Times a few months ago, but I can tell you that the story, as good as it was, does not do the visuals justice. I had the chance last Friday to check out Fogel's collection and it was well worth the 90-minute trip to the New York suburbs. It was the Metsian equivalent of making a pilgramage to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fogel's Metssession takes up a good chunk of his basement and an upstairs bedroom around which we had to tiptoe gently because the amount of memorabilia was overflowing. The best way to describe Fogel's method of collection is completionist. He has every Met yearbook (including every revised edition), a full set of team-signed baseballs, and a comprehensive accumulation of trinkets, like lighters, trinkets and bobbleheads. There are dozens of pennants taped to the ceilings. He just purchased a "couple hundred" ticket stubs from Tom Seav...