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Lee Mazzilli won a ring with the Mets

I spent the day reading more of the awesome Faith and Fear book and it bought back more of that stuff I of course know but it still zings my brain:

Lee Mazzilli won a ring with the Mets!

Lee was the All-Star on some of the scrubbiest Mets teams of all time, and then the Mets broke a young boy’s heart by playing someone named Mookie and then trading Lee away for two nobodies named Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. What did the Mets need those guys for?

Now it sounds like something I would make up…a fantasy that Lee would come back just in time for the stretch run in 1986.

That just doesn’t make sense. Why would that happen on the real world?

Fortunately it did, and I lived long enough to see Lee Mazzilli celebrate winning a Mets championship.

I don’t have strong memories of Lee’s departure in 1989. Maybe Osh41 can remind me. I was probably on the rag about it. I was on the rag about the Mets from about that day until I walked into the Mets museum this April.

Anyway, that October my dad died and August and September were spent in a hospice. Lee Mazzilli being waived? Who cares in the scheme of things.

Tomorrow: the awesome book unrepresses memories of the Juan Samuel trade.

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Book: a bitter cup of coffee

Got a note from Doug about his book.   I’m not educated on this subject but it seems interesting to me, so I thought I’d link:

Good evening. My name is Douglas J. Gladstone, and I am the author of the new book, A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees A Curve. With a foreword written by the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, Dave Marash, A Bitter Cup of Coffee tells the true story of a group of former big-league ballplayers denied pensions as a result of the failure of both the league and the union to retroactively amend the vesting requirement change that granted instant pension eligibility to ballplayers in 1980. As you may know, prior to that year, ballplayers had to have four years service credit to earn an annuity and medical benefits. Since 1980, however, all you have needed is one day of service credit for health insurance and 43 days of service credit for a pension.

Three of the ex-major leaguers profiled in the book are ex-Mets George “The Stork” Theodore and Rod “HotRod” Gaspar. Both long retired, Mr. Theodore is a school guidance counselor working for the Granite School District, in Utah, while Mr. Gaspar sells insurance in Mission Viejo, California. Another former Met, third baseman Roy Staiger, of Oklahoma, is also one of the retirees affected by this situation.

Let me know if this interests you guys, I might be able to interview George Theodore.

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Some Mets blogs to check out

A few times a year I’ll post about some other blogs to check out…and a holiday weekend always seems to be a good time.  It’s as if I write these in advance so I can go to the beach!  If I left you off I mean no offense, just drop me a note and I’ll include you for July 4th.

Here’s this weekend’s list.  I’ll assume you know about things like MetsBlog and this list is by no means a comprehensive blogroll.

Some of the blogs I traditionally mention like Checked Swing and Mets Walk Offs are taking a break, but there are new sites that I’m digging.

I really like what The Apple is doing.  Randy has a daily funny and fake Mets story.  The great thing is he has found a way to write things that are almost plausible in the wacky Metsiverse but never mean.

Paul from Paul’s Random Stuff is a cool mix of Mets, baseball cards and Atlantic League baseball.  Go Ducks.

My boy Centerfield Maz keeps a steady stream of Former Mets of the Day, Italian-American heroes, some New York Giants and the occasional concert review.  If you like yesteryear stuff (and yesteryear is often the 70’s-90’s) Maz deserves a bookmark.

On The Black is interesting to me because he does video blogging.

Hotfoot is also cool – it’s a Tumblr which means it is more photo and link based…but is like a hawk during “work hours” getting stuff up quickly.  I personally need to pay more attention to that site.

Faith & Fear earn my respect for (a) the book deal, (b) organizing pizza parties and (c) being able to write more than two paragraphs.  Imagine if I had to do that?!

Subway Squawkers is a married Mets fan and Yankee fan arguing.

Ceetar brings balance to the force with Optimistic Mets Fan

Vinny just started Metszilla about a week ago – I am eternally thankful for those who helped me get rolling, so here’s a link and good luck.

Also new on the scene is Anthony who started Long Live Shea Stadium. Anthony focuses on previews and wraps.

One more new one is Watch the Gap Sports where Brian and a friend write about all the locals.

I dig MatthewCerrone.com because I am very interested in new media – here Matt from MetsBlog writes in a different style than MetsBlog, more casual.

Shoutout to Tommy from The Knicks Blog because we shared drinks and burgers.

For the amount I write about uniforms and caps around here I’m confident you’ll love Uni Watch

I’ve been a slacker (well busy actually) with Shannon’s Other Blog where my intention is to share the non-Mets stuff.  I’ll try harder.

Keep an eye on metspolice.tumblr.com where I dump pictures as I walk around the city.  I have a box on the main Mets Police page with the most recent photos.