John sent this over as a guest post:
With the Mets screwing up a Reyes injury for a second straight season, rumors that the Mets do not have either the prospects or money to pursue the starting pitcher they so desperately need (if for no other reason to move Takahashi back to the bullpen to sure up both the rotation and bullpen), Meija starting the season in the bullpen going largely unused followed by his shoulder injury when they sought to stretch him out at AA Binghampton Pelfrey regressing to the mean and hurting his neck, and Manuel still being the manager, it’s safe to say that we’ve already seen the highlight of the 2010 season for the Mets. Unfortunately, few saw the event.
Of course, I’m talking about the least watched event of All Star Week . . . the Legends and Celebrity Softball Challenge.
No, seriously.
Normaly, when this game is played they bring out all the former stars for the teams of that city. With the game being played in Anaheim, we got to see the likes of Tim Salmon, Steve Garvey, and Mike Piazza. Mets fans have claimed Piazza as they’re own for his carrying the team while with the Mets. We asked for two curtain calls when he returned to Shea, and in his second game back, he hit 2 homeruns against our best pitcher, the beloved Pedro Martinez, while this team was leading the division for the first time since 1988.
Now, Piazza has always said how much he loved NY and Mets fans, but the game was being played in Southern California, and he has obvious Dodgers ties since he began his career there and Lasorda being his godfather. No one would have blamed him had he worn a Dodger cap . . . even if done symbolically to thank the Dodgers fans of his time there. Instead, Piazza chose to wear a Mets cap.
This gives us a true indication of what cap he wants to wear in the Hall of Fame.
Now, I know that the Hall of Fame gets to pick the cap of the players now, but Piazza isn’t a clear-cut choice. He barely had more playing time with the Mets and played in his only World Series with them.
On the flip side, he was a Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers, and that’s where his legend began.
The Hall of Fame could make any choice it wanted, and most likely would defer to Piazza. Piazza has made comments in the past that he would choose the Mets, but this was the first time he had to make a choice . . . and he chose the Mets.
As if this wasn’t good enough, they played a largely hokey game. Now for those of you who don’t want the event, which is pretty much everyone, they mix celebrities and former players to play in 5 inning softball game. The National League side was trailing in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Gary Cater stepped up to the plate, and he hit a weak single to extend the game. As various players are miked during the game, you hear Carter say, “I wasn’t going to make the last out.” (a more PG version of what he said in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series for those of you who read The Year the Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman). This set up bases loaded with Piazza striding to the plate, that’s right Mets fans Carter and Piazza batting back to back). Piazza then hit a grand slam slightly right of center (as we Mets fans remember, opposite field homeruns were Piazza’s trademark). Piazza circled the bases, perhaps one last time, a hero.
The National League lost the game and Piazza’s grand slam hadn’t made any difference, but it felt good again to see him hit one out to right again in a Mets cap. I even found myself a little excited, embarrassingly doing a fist-pump after the homerun. I think I did it mostly because I remember 1999 and 2000 and that Piazza homerun after 9/11, and it brought me back to all those great memories.
To be honest, I was never a huge proponent of Old Timer’s Day. That’s not to say I was against the idea, but I felt it would once again give Yankees fans ammunition to mock Mets fans . . . something along the lines of wow you had Mackey Sasser and Anthony Young, we only had Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield while neglecting that Kevin Maas played most of the game. But now, on the same day as the Yankees have their Old Timer’s Game, honoring the late Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner, I think it’s time the Mets have one. They should bring back all the old players. For the Mets to say it’s cost-prohibitive, they aren’t being creative enough. Put a microphone on some of the players. Fans would go to the game just to hear what Wally Bachman would say. Although, they would have to leave their children at home. Also, make it a softball game so our older players like Seaver could come out and play.
And as a specal message for the Mets, I would go just to see Piazza or Strawberry come up with a chance to win it with a homerun. I promise I won’t complain as you put one team in the black uniforms for marketing purposes. However, I will complain the second year.
I bet they make Piazza one of the managers or captains for the softball game at the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi. Maybe he’ll manage the U.S. in the Futures Game, too.
Don’t forget that Gary Carter told the Hall that he preferred to go in as a met. He went in as an expo. I guess they figured no one would ever get in as an expo
Going to be interesting to see which team Dawson goes in as