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Showing posts from December 6, 2009

Doing Righty By Whitey

I'm a couple days late on this, but the Mets have a new Hall of Fame inductee- Whitey Herzog. Herzog was a farm director for the Mets and spent one season in an on-field role in 1966, as the team's third base coach. In terms of eventful events, 1966 had a few, most notably drafting catcher Steve Chilcott with the No. 1 pick instead of Reggie Jackson, then lucking into Tom Seaver when the team's name was drawn out of a hat in a special drafting procedure. On the field, the Mets avoided losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history, going 66-95. Their roster included a number of players who became major contributors on the 1969 team- Kranepool, Harrelson, Jones, Swoboda, McGraw, and Ryan. Ryan has been in the news recently, as the Texas Rangers, for whom he is team president, are being sold, and Ryan said he will leave the team if it is sold to the ownership group headed by agent Dennis Gilbert. Ryan appeared in only two games, but he must have made quite an impres...

The Best Sacrifice Flies I Know

Have a little time to spare (or sacrifice) away from the rumors of the Winter Meetings (most of which won't come true anways). If so, saddle up for our lengthy look here at the most Metmorable of the Mets 2,074 (regular and postseason combined) sacrifice flies. The First (April 11, 1962) The Mets trailed their first-ever game, 2-0 in the third inning when they staged the first rally in team history. Charlie Neal got the team on the board with an RBI single, and then with one out and runners on the corners, Frank Thomas delivered the first 'clutch' play in Mets history, putting himself into the history books with a fly ball to center that scored Felix Mantilla. The score was tied. The Mets had hope. The Mets had life. The Mets had very little. They'd lose to the Cardinals, 11-4. Their next sac fly didn't come for another week. True Metophiles know...Ed Kranepool holds the Mets career record with sacrifice flies with 58, though David Wright (38) is gaining fast. The ...