Oh no what sad news rolling in this morning. Rusty Staub has passed away.
A lot will be said about Rusty in the upcoming days, and others will say it better than I can. Tomorrow’s off day will provide a lot of time for us all to look back and remember this great Met.
If you’re of a certain age (mine) you know of Rusty from his return. #10, the pinch hitter guy that would sometimes show up in the OF or at 1B, and he owned a restaurant and we all loved him. Damn good pinch hitter.
When there’s time we can dissect the game where Davey Johnson had to hide an aging slow Rusty in the OF and settled him back and forth between LF and RF depending on the batter.
Older fans know of Rusty from the 70s. #4 and a great player. Just slightly before my knowledge wheelhouse, but we’ll talk about those days tomorrow as well.
At a personal level, two quick anecdotes.
I took my mom to see Willie Nelson once, and sitting next to us were Rusty, his buddy and their dates who were the two hottest women I have ever seen.
The other – well back in my vendor days we’d get physically close to players sometime. I know Rusty seemed “fat” but in real life, this was just a big physically impressive man and not fat at all.
I am 100% confident there will be a very powerful moment at Citi Field today, and with Howie at the controls it will be handled well. RIP Rusty.
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As a side thought, and not being flippant, wouldn’t it be powerful if on occasions like today the Mets broke out the black uniforms? Specific to today the time window and it’s Opening Day make that impossible – but imagine if the Mets played in black (mourning) uniforms with a 10 patch or something on Saturday. I know my inner Paul Lukas is screaming at me now to not worry about patches ten minutes after someone died, but the news came in just as I was hitting my closet and this thought went through my brain and I thought I’d share it. We can discuss patches etc over the weekend.
Update – on twitter Jeremy suggested they wear Orange one day for Rusty. I like it.
