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It was a small, but passionate crowd in Brooklyn last night for the Cyclones must win Game 2 against Jamestown in the NYPL semifinals. It was one of the better games I have seen in Brooklyn in a long time. A seesaw battle that saw the fans express a range of emotion, including some frustration over Wally Backman’s bullpen management. In the end the Cyclones came back in the ninth, and would win it in the twelfth on a wild pitch. This game was not only another example of why a Wally Backman team wins, but conjured up the spirit of 1986 with the relentless pursuit of victory.

Relentless is the word I would use to describe Brooklyn the entire night.

via Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Wally Ball Keeps Brooklyn Alive.

The visit to Walter Reed was not required of any of the players, although starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey wrote on the clubhouse message board beforehand that the visit was mandatory. Pelfrey said he did so because he wanted to encourage the whole team to take part in the visit. In recent seasons, he said, not enough players had taken part in the trips to Walter Reed.

“They make a lot of sacrifices that a lot of people wouldn’t be willing to make, and I think the least that we could do is show up and show them our appreciation and tell them thanks,” Pelfrey said of the soldiers. “I thought it was important for everybody to be there.”

via Mets 3, Nationals 2 – Mets Win, but Walter Reed Visit Remains an Issue – NYTimes.com.

Do you think all the players should have attended the Walter Reed trip…or are we mad because of the particular players?  If David Wright and RA Dickey stayed behind would it have been OK?

In the spring of 2007, Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets, accompanied his team on a visit to the wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Wilpon was haunted by the experience, especially by a lieutenant who had just arrived at the hospital after being severely wounded in Iraq a week earlier. Continue reading “Sometimes you have to just Man Up”

Ed Hearn made a big contribution to the ’86 team and I was kinda dissapointed when they traded him for some kid named David Cone.

ED HEARN/NEPHCURE FOUNDATION NIGHT
SET FOR FRIDAY, SEPT. 10, AT CITI FIELD

Health-Challenged Catcher from’86 Mets World Champion Team
to be Recognized for Work with The NephCure Foundation

*****************
New York, New York (August 27, 2010)—Ed Hearn, a member of the 1986 New York Mets World Championship Team, will be honored Friday, September 10, before the Mets- Phillies game as part of Ed Hearn/NephCure Foundation Night at Citi Field.

Hearn, who filled in capably for the injured Gary Carter during that memorable season, battles the kidney disease, Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). He has had three kidney transplants as part of a continuing ordeal that started shortly after his retirement from baseball in 1991. For the past several years, he has served as an Ambassador for The NephCure Foundation, which funds research into FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome. These are diseases for which there are no approved treatments and no cure.

The Nephcure Foundation has set up the website, www.savingkidneys.org, for fans to purchase tickets to the game with a portion of the cost donated to Nephcure and matched by research institutions including the University of Michigan. As part of the night’s festivities, Hearn will sign autographs and greet fans at NephCure Foundation tables located in the concourses at Citi Field.

Also in attendance at Citi Field on September 10 will be former Mets General Manager Jim Duquette, whose daughter, Lindsey, also suffers from FSGS. A member of The NephCure Foundation Board of Directors, Duquette’s daughter, now eight years-old, was diagnosed with FSGS in 2005 after being rushed to the hospital emergency room directly from Shea Stadium, where she was attending a game with her parents.

An author and motivational speaker, Hearn lives in Kansas City, MO, with his wife, Tricia, and his 16 year- old son, Cody. His perseverance and life messages have inspired audiences all over the country as he travels to hospitals and dialysis centers to bring hope to patients who face similar challenges.

In addition to his kidney disease, Hearn has coped with skin cancer and sleep apnea among myriad other health complications. In 1996, his book, Conquering Life’s Curves, detailed his journey, including the 1986 World Series triumph and the severe health problems and post-operative depression that pushed him to the brink of suicide.

For NephCure, Hearn records public service announcements, makes speaking appearances and participates in fundraising activities in support of NephCure, which has committed over $6 million to research since 2008. In January, Hearn was one of the NephCure’s team leaders for the Chase Community Giving program, helping NephCure secure a $25,000 grant by finishing in the top 100 from among some 500,000 smaller non-profit organizations.

Late in 2009, the NephCure Foundation played a major role in securing a highly-competitive grant of $6.25 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The grant is part of a $10 million funding package – including a $2 million commitment from NephCure to study kidney diseases that can lead to kidney failure and dialysis.

The NephCure Foundation is comprised of patients, their families and friends, researchers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, NephCure aims to help science unlock the biological mechanisms that cause these serious conditions and ultimately find the way to prevention and a cure.