The Mets Police

A catch-all post to get back in the swing.

Had a twitter discussion about how the Mets should honor Duke Snider. A few thoughts:
– the discussion is how not “if”. It would be wrong to ignore it
– the challenge is the Dodgers thing.
– I think folding it into the traditional Opening Day moment of silence is the right move.
– Duke probably deserves better, but the last thing Fred needs now is another round of the Dodgers stuff.
– I’m not the one who forgot to buy Mets banners in 2009. Had they done the stadium the right way the first time this wouldn’t be an issue.

Counter-argument: I always stick up for team history and Duke was way before my time, so maybe I just don’t get it. Happy to hear from someone who can make the case for a bigger ceremony

…

Opinion: Bobby Valentine is not buying the Mets. Neither is Ed Kranepool or Donald Trump or whatever rumor of the day gets a headline. All silly.

…

I loved my trip. One thing is really clear, I don’t want to be a beat writer (not that I ever thought I did). Braves Fan and I had an opportunity to talk with a player and we passed. We were wondering what we’d even talk about. “Hey, I like you.”. My beat is wandering around stadiums and team shops taking pictures of alternate caps and bad font jerseys.

Blind item: I heard some things that pleased me. Details some day.

The blue BP jerseys look better in person.

The blue on the regular Mets jerseys looked darker to me. I know logically that it isn’t, maybe it was the sun or that I wasn’t three decks up.

Terry is there to work. I don’t know what other managers do but I imagine myself wandering around eating sunflower seeds and enjoying the sun. He’s very hands on.

Chris Young looked good. Lots of break on his pitches. The Perez guy they brought in, not so much.

Had a 2 second encounter with Fred I will characterize as fun/funny/cool-Fred.

Mrs. Mets Police helped herself to my Mets jacket this morning to dog walk. Hmmm.

Someone did two nice things for me over the weekend. Thanks someone!

Thanks Media Goon for holding down the fort and lending me a good camera. I took 1000 pictures which I need to go through tonight. Mathematically at least one must be ok.

If you don’t read the site on the weekend there are plenty of pictures from the games in the posts below and the subsequent pages.

Later today I will post the Buddy Harrelson edition of How I Met The Mets. It’s the best one and the production is better.

The baseball gods must know Shannon was traveling this weekend. Look what I found on my twitter timeline from Adam Rubin at 3:30 am this morning. The tweet said “Source: Bobby Valentine looks into buying part of New York Mets”. That woke me up quicker then any cup of coffee would.

Here’s an excerpt:

I’’ve talked to a number of people interested in purchasing part of the New York Mets, but I’’m not formally with any group that is actively pursuing this venture,” Valentine said Sunday night.

The speculation of who is going to buy into the Mets keeps running rampant. This is going to be one of those “seasons” for the Mets again. Hopefully good play on the field will make the financial stuff not sting as much for us fans.

To read more about this click on here.

Shannon I hand back the conn back to you today since you have returned from Spring Training.

This was on the NYTIMES.COM website today.

I am sure Shannon will comment on this stuff but I just want to get it out there for now.

Maybe the best suggestion for keeping the Mets solvent and relevant came from my friend and colleague Stan Isaacs, the longtime Newsday columnist, still thinking impishly in retirement. Isaacs has suggested the Mets open stock to the public, creating an I.P.O. of the heart.

Are there enough Mets fans who would want to lay out more money so they could own a small percentage of the team?

Now this one falls in line with a question posed on Twitter the other day. He wanted to know when the hatred for the Wilpons started. I said  that I thought it was when Citi Field opened and there was more Dodgers memorabilia then Mets stuff in the stadium.

Isaacs also suggests that the Mets have leaned too far to honor the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team of Wilpon’s childhood, and that one way to remove a cloud of gloom over Queens is to honor the old New York Giants, the team of Isaacs’s childhood.

Definitely an interesting read. You can read the whole post here.

From the LAtimes.com

Greg Goossen, a former six-figure bonus baby of the Dodgers who played for Casey Stengel and the New York Mets, dabbled as a boxing trainer with his brother and was a stand-in for actor Gene Hackman in more than a dozen films, was found dead Saturday at his home in Sherman Oaks. He was 65.

Goossen was scheduled to be inducted into the Notre Dame High School Hall of Fame on Saturday night. When he did not arrive for a photo session, a family member went to his nearby home and found him. A cause of death has yet to be determined.

Born on Dec. 14, 1945, in Los Angeles, Goossen was the fourth member of a family of eight brothers and two sisters. He was a standout football and basketball player at Notre Dame, where he graduated in 1964. He was a catcher in baseball, and the Dodgers drafted him and signed him for a six-figure bonus.

The Mets picked him up the following year on a waiver from the Dodgers. Stengel, the legendary manager of the Mets, said, “This is Greg Goossen. He’s 19 years old, and in 10 years he’s got a chance to be 29.”

He played for the Mets, Seattle Pilots, Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Senators before his baseball career ended in 1970.

You can read more here.

From Cnn.com

Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame center fielder Donald “Duke” Snider died Sunday at a convalescent hospital in Escondido, California. He was 84, according to team officials.

Snider’s career with the Dodgers spanned 16 seasons and included a half-dozen World Series appearances. Among them was the 1955 series, which the Brooklyn Dodgers won, as well as the 1959 series title, which Snider’s team captured after moving to California.

You can read more here.