Shannon – Page 94 – The Mets Police

May 4, 2008

>Wilpon Ignores Giants Again

> Another in a long series of ignoring another baseball team ever played in New York City.

“The love of the game and this city is in my DNA,” Wilpon said. “I’ve lived here all my life. People have asked me why I am building a smaller stadium . I didn’t build a smaller stadium to make money. I’m doing it because that is the way to give fans the best experience of being close, like in Ebbets Field.”

The rest in today’s Newsday
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/sports/ny-spwilpon045673509may04,0,3897483.story

May 4, 2008

>The 2000 Mets Mean Nothing

> Sure a subway series was cool….but do you really have any emotional attachment to this team?

Now I know you’re saying “Mets Police, you’re crazy. You’re being extra cranky today.”

Well say the Mets have “2000 Mets day” and bring back the following players:

Please welcome back our old friend….Armando Benitez! Mike Hampton! Bobby Jones! The Other Bobby Jones! Mike Bordick! Darryl Hamilton! Rickey Henderson!

Sure there’s a few guys that will get cheers – John “7 batters to get a save” Franco and Mike “Dodgers” Piazza.

Maybe Al Leiter gets a nice hand. Do you really consider Robin Ventura a Met? Did Rey Ordonez endear himself to the franchise?

I think in the scheme of things, this team means nothing.

May 4, 2008

>Uniform Numbers – Real and Rented Part 2

>About a week and a half ago we published who are the real and the fake owners of numbers 1 – 4 for the Mets http://themetspolice.blogspot.com/2008/04/whos-1.html

As this is an angoing series, here are numbers 5 through 10 (once again thanks to Mets By The Numbers):

5
Rightful Owner(s): Davey Johnson & David Wright
Rent-A-Met: John Olerud

Comment: Wright will never be the only owner of tha number regardless of what he does. As for Olerud, most of that 1999-2000 team was rented.

6
Rightful Owner(s): Al Weiss & Wally Backman
Rent-A-Met: Daryl Boston

Comment: Sadly Wally is still persona non grata in most MLB circles. As for Boston……nop, got nothing

Rightful Owner(s): Ed Kranepool & Jose Reyes
Rent-A-Met: Juan Samuel

Comment: I still cringe when I think about all we gave up for….ugh…Juan Samuel. Hell I still remember where I was when I heard the news (on a train between Limerick and Galwayin Ireland. I think I screamed.)

Rightful Owner(s): Nobody
Rent-A-Mets: Yogi Berra & Gary Carter

Comment: Yogi was and always will be a Yankee. Gary – as much as he may have loved NY and was the final piece of the 86 puzzle – was an Expo.

Rightful Owner(s): Todd Hundley
Rent-A-Met(s): Joe Torre & Todd Zeile

Comment: Torre the player was a Brave – Torre the manager was a Yankee. The fact that he transitioned as a Met doesn’t make him a Met.

Rightful Owner(s): Rusty Staub
Rent-A-Met: Nobody

Comment: Rusty wore 4 with his first stint, but was in 10 much longer. And yeah, he was an All-Star 6 times elsewhere and never with the Mets – but he played more years here than anywhere else.

11 through 15 next week.

May 3, 2008

>Does Willie Pay Any Attention?

>The other day Willie was on WFAN with Mike & the Mad Dog and the were discussing the upcoming weekend series with Arizona. This was Willie’s comment:

“It’s funny becuase we had their number for about a year and a half, leading into the end of last year – actually I think they swept us last time we were there”

Um, Mr. Manager sir – prior to this weekend the Mets – the team you manage – was 15-1 in Phoenix going back to 2005. You would think the manager should know this.

It got worse – Mad Dog tried to point out that no, the Diamondbacks swept the Mets at Shea last year. Willie tried to recover, insisting that Arizona had at least taken 2 of 3 the last time the Mets were there.

Seriously – when your team has dominated another team so decisevely how can you not know this?

May 2, 2008

>Squeezing Every Last Drop

>So I guess it should come as no surprise that the eventual demolition of Shea and Yankee Stadiums will create a wealth of souveniers. Technically the city owns both ballparks and everything in them – but both teams want to buy the salvage rights from the city. When you factor in all the seats, signs, even phones, each park could gross upwards of $20 million. Guess the inflated ticket prices and all those new suites in Corporate Field aren’t enough for the Wilpon family.

When the Cardinals tore down Busch Stadium, they even sold some of the urinals for several hundred each.

Hmmm – how much do you think a Shea urinal would fetch on eBay?

(Newsweek article on the sale http://www.newsweek.com/id/132384 )