4 Replies to “Wally Backman still hopes to manage the Mets some day”

  1. Yesterday, SNY ran a Mets Yearbook Marathon. The yearbooks, mainly narrated by Bob Murphy (and accurately satirized on this website) were always hopeful…always touting that “led by new skipper Joe Frazier…with Triple A MVP Roy Staiger manning third base and the addition of veteran left-hander Mickey Lolich, there is plenty of reason for optimism in 1976.”

    Of course, of all the yearbooks only a few were correctly optimistic…1966-1968 and 1983-1985. In those yearbooks, the moves were actually working. Signing Seaver…bringing up Cleon, Harrelson…trading for Agee. The Mets were so innocent back then. The success was engineered by Bing Devine, Johnny Murphy, Whitey Herzog. Gil Hodges made it work on the field. In the 80s it was Cashen, McIlvaine and Davey Johnson. The hope now is that the current shakeup will work. The manager is very crucial…he has to get them to play to their potential. The first spring training with Collins is crucial to set the tone and relationship with the players.

    Shannon, you should make a final version of Fake Mets Yearbook 2010 and get Fake Bob Murphy to narrate…”with new GM Sandy Alderson at the helm…and well-respected field general Terry Collins…2011 looks to be a new beginning at beautiful CitiField.”

  2. BTW, to show how baseball has changed…would the Mets take a pitcher with thses stats next year:

    IP 193
    Hits 184
    BB 52
    SO 120
    ERA 3.22

    This guy would be front-end of the rotation, if not the Ace. Those stats were from Met Turkey Mickey Lolich in ios only Met year 1976…he had an 8-13 record however.

  3. BTW, to show how baseball has changed…would the Mets take a pitcher with thses stats next year:

    IP 193
    Hits 184
    BB 52
    SO 120
    ERA 3.22

    This guy would be front-end of the rotation, if not the Ace. Those stats were from Met Turkey Mickey Lolich in his only Met year 1976…he had an 8-13 record however.

Comments are closed.