Still catching up on stuff I didn’t get to on vacation…a worthy idea from Greg Prince.
And as far as “sexy” milestone anniversaries are concerned 10th, 20th, 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 75th, 100th, the 50th is the last one that can be counted on to be marked more in living memory than as history, particularly when it comes to the actual participants…in this case, the actual 1962 Mets.
As of this writing, 29 of the 45 men who played for the 1962 New York Mets are still among us. That is to say Jay Hook has ample company. We’ve seen a few of his contemporaries lately. Al Jackson showed up on a Spring Training telecast, too, in team-issued windbreaker and cap, still tutoring Mets pitchers. Frank Thomas joined them on the dais at the BBWAA dinner in January. Choo Choo Coleman was in the audience that night. Joe Pignatano, better known for coaching the bullpen from 1968 through 1981, is alive and well despite hitting into a triple play in the eighth inning of the final game in 1962 his final MLB plate appearance. He’ll be at Hofstra for the 50th Anniversary conference. So will Ed Kranepool, the youngster — 17 then, 67 now — from 1962. I don’t know what catcher Joe Ginsberg, 85 and the oldest of the 1962 alumni, is up to or what he’s up for, but I do know Original third baseman Don Zimmer remains in the employ of the Tampa Bay Rays at the apparently cuddly age of 81.
via The Living Memory of the 1962 Mets « Faith and Fear in Flushing.
