Memories of Fred Wilpon

[Edgy MD]

Brought a new look in '82.



https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hQXSRVDQ-Bg/WKBXDkOfOpI/AAAAAAAAKto/6Zupr9lMsdEjOIPAmHFd54yQUF8Ir9P_gCEw/s1600/1982%2BMets%2BGeorge%2BBamberger%2B-%2BVersion%2B2.jpeg>

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think the "new look" is Frank Cashen's traditional tie.



Anyway... Fred who?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

[YOUTUBE]NY0BAMgrucE[/YOUTUBE]

[bmfc1]

He built a new ballpark for the Mets and it was designed as a shrine to the Brooklyn Dodgers without having a Mets Hall of Fame or Mets colors.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Had the guys paint over Dwight Gooden's signature on an new bar.



Under his watch, departing ballplayers were regularly trashed.



Personally responsible for bad baseball leadership choices including Harazin, Torbog, Omar (twice), Howe and Jeff.



Never stopped believing his enthusiasm for baseball made him an expert.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49370 time=1604085259 user_id=68]
I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49371 time=1604085341 user_id=68]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49370 time=1604085259 user_id=68]
I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Guest

[whippoorwill]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49370 time=1604085259 user_id=68]
I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

[Fman99]

He was spending the money right up until the rug got pulled out from underneath him by the Madoff thing. I feel like the K-Rod signing was the last big one right before his bank accounts crumbled into dust, like Kirsten Dunst and that French lady in "Interview with the Vampire."

[batmagadanleadoff]

=whippoorwill post_id=49374 time=1604085828 user_id=79]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49370 time=1604085259 user_id=68]
I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

[MFS62]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49379 time=1604087574 user_id=68]
Not even eye contact. Acted as if I was invisible.

[whippoorwill]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49379 time=1604087574 user_id=68]
=whippoorwill post_id=49374 time=1604085828 user_id=79]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=49370 time=1604085259 user_id=68]
I thought he died when I saw the thread title. Rode an elevator with him either to or from the old Diamond Club. Just me and him.

[Frayed Knot]

He was spending the money right up until the rug got pulled out from underneath him by the Madoff thing.

He more or less was. The Mets were almost always top five in payroll back around the turn of the century era and sometimes high up towrds the top.

But they still weren't spending like the Yanquis (or earning like them) so that comparison got them criticized for not spending even when they were.

Then came the 2008-2010 recession, the one that came right as they were opening the new stadium which they assumed (as did the Yanx, Jets,

& Giants with their new cribs) was going to be a cash spigot but wasn't quite as much as expected. On the heels of that came Madoff and the huge

slashing which dropped them into the middle of the pack, an area that they are just recently starting to climb out of.

But to focus strictly on the specific payroll amount, which many NYM fans did with the zeal of an overly-caffeinated accountant, and the whole "Freddie Coupons" image largely

misses the point IMO. Fred's biggest problem was that he lacked imagination, he lacked it with the on-field part of things but also, oddly enough, on the business end.



- they lacked Yanqui revenue in part because they couldn't sell NYY history, but also because they lacked daring. Locked into an aging TV contract that was of Doubleday's doing,

Fred got caught disbelieving the reports when the Yanx sold their rights to MSG network (early '90s). He didn't think such deals were possible because he never imagined they

could be which had left him content with the good, but hardly great, revenue he was getting. The Mets then wound up late to the team network game and had to first spend

money to buy out Doubleday and later Cablevision in order to be not even later to the party.



- on the field they were late to embrace sabermetrics or target up and coming innovative managers and GMs because he and Jeff were reluctant to leave their comfort zone, preferring

to hire those they already knew or at least types they already knew. Guys they could control? Yeah partly, but I think it was just as much a fear of the unknown.

I think they also got gun-shy when big bucks deals didn't work out as well as hoped [bonilla, Pedro, Santana, Wright, Bay, Vaughn, even Beltran to a certain degree] which in turn made

them more reluctant in the future especially if it came to thinking about signing more than one at a time.



- and of course we could talk all day about their shortcomings in areas like marketing, fan relations, and team history. And, again, they weren't any good at it because I don't think they

thought much about that kind of stuff and certainly didn't think about new ways to go about things.



They wanted the glory of steering their own boat but rarely at even a slightly dangerous speed and virtually never towards uncharted waters.

The currents are much calmer and safer when you stay close to the protected harbor.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

Remembering Fred (and Jeff) through the prism of anticipating Steve...



http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/10/30/honeymoon-in-flushing/http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/10/30/honeymoon-in-flushing/