Category: mets

Two quickies:

A tipster tells me that insiders confirm there’s no ticket lottery for Opening Day this year. The tip seems accurate based upon everything I am seeing, and thanks to the tipster who wishes to stay hidden behind the plexiglass.

If you previously had a ticket package you probably got an email yesterday from the Mets. They sent out a reminder that 15 game and 6 game packages exist.

Single game tickets including the opener go on-sale March 7th.

Good morning.  I am either (a) stuck at the airport (b) on a plane or (c) woke up at 4am and found out my flight was cancelled so I went back to bed.  Whatever has happened to me, here’s what I like to call “cool generic content!”  Thanks to @mikevoos for sending this one!

One last memory from 1977:  The Mets’ big gun Tom Seaver could not make peace with – 06.27.77 – SI Vault

Like Speaker 61 years ago, Seaver is in the prime years of a glorious career; also like Speaker, his hassling with management precipitated his removal at a startlingly low return in players. Seaver‘s dissatisfaction was more than financial, however. In light of last winter’s free-agent signings, he considered himself underpaid at $225,000 a year, but he was also disturbed that the Mets had not been diligently seeking the hitting and fielding help they so obviously need. Seaver had personally recommended Gary Matthews, but the Mets, despite attempts by their management to make New York fans believe otherwise, failed to make a competitive offer for the San Franciscooutfielder. Matthews went to the Atlanta Braves instead.

“The money was always secondary to my loyalty to the Mets,” Seaver told SPORTS ILLUSTRATED‘S Kent Hannonlast week. “The people who think I was bitter about not making more money or who think I was trying to force a trade by asking that my contract be renegotiated won’t believe me. But for the record, my loyalty to the Mets and my desire to make them competitive always came first. I don’t think I’ve shown myself to be a greedy person.”

Seaver‘s disagreement on these points with Met Chairman of the Board M. Donald Grant and General Manager Joe McDonald was so intense that it spilled like hot lava into the New York press. Seaver even charged that constant criticism directed at him by Daily News Sports Editor and Columnist Dick Young was one of the reasons he wanted to leave the team. Nevertheless, Young’s support of Grant and McDonald—the Met executives perceive Young as their man in the press—was not much different in degree from the boosting of Seaver that appeared in the other two New York papers. On the day Seaver was traded, Young—whose detractors have claimed his views are colored by the fact that his son-in-law works in the Mets‘ front office—wrote that the pitcher was “very deceptive” and “very greedy.” The next afternoon Maury Allen of the New York Post responded, “It is Young who forced the deal, who urged Grant on, who participated strongly in the unmaking of Tom Seaver as a Met.”

Whoever was responsible for Seaver‘s departure, Met fans were furious. Even before the negotiations were completed, they flooded the Shea Stadium switchboard with complaints. The night after the trade, they welcomed the team home from a road trip with signs reading BURY GRANT—BRING BACK OUR TOM and with leaflets suggesting a boycott of home games until Seaver returned on Aug. 19 with Cincinnati. “On that occasion,” the flyer read, “we urge all true Met fans to attend that game to show Tom our appreciation for the many magnificent performances he has given us.”

It’s February 5th and the biggest Met team news is about …well, there is no big news.  So let’s take another look back at one of the yearbooks of Mets season past.  Today it’s a random game in 1981 (translation I didn’t take score so have no idea of the date).

On May 28, 1981, the Mets traded Dan Norman & Jeff Reardon (yeah, another pitcher that would do great things after leaving the Mets), for former All-Star Ellis Valentine.  Valentine had a rocket arm and I remember thinking that wow, we were getting someone good for a change.

Ha – Valentine started with the Mets on the DL and hit .207 for the rest of the year.  He was with the Mets one more year before leaving as a free agent.  In other words, this cover was one of the highlights of his time with the team.

So let’s open up and see what we have on the inside

So how many of you knew that Bob Gibson was once a pitching coach for the Mets?  And yes, that is Joe Torre there too!  Kids, believe it or not the Yankees were not the first New York team that Torre managed.

Gibson may have been a great pitcher, but he wasn’t really a great evaluator of talent.  The Mets had a chance to get a young Roger Clemens, but Gibson told Torre and the Mets to pass.  Thankfully he didn’t evaluate Gooden as well.

Ah, Hubie.  I really liked Hubie.  Seriously, how could you not like a guy named Hubie – who was obviously the solution to third base.  Well, at least til they traded him for Gary Carter.

Hubie was a good solid player for the Mets, and would eventually become an All-Star with the Expos.  He would return to the Mets in 1991 in a trade for Bobby Ojeda

Lastly, we come to Mexico’s gift to the Mets – catcher Alex Trevino.  I wish I coyuld tell you some great anecdote about Trevino, but to be honest, I got nuttin here.  Trevino was John Stearns’ backup (which meant he played a lot given Stearn’s injuries).  His biggest claim to fame though was being part of the package that the Mets sent to the Reds to get George Foster.  The less said about that the better.

OK, so this yearbook flashback wasn’t that exciting – but then again, the 1981 Mets weren’t that exciting either.

Main Mets Police page
Subscribe to The Mets Police by Email
Get Mets Police via reader/RSS
Follow us on twitter @metspolice
Facebook page
Contact: shannon at metspolice.com (Guest posts welcome!)
Share Photos: pictures at metspolice.com