Met-Lovin' Big Shots

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Somebody posted this as a memory of Bob Goldsholl. It has nothing to do with Bob, so it's rejected. But it does mention a celebrity Mets fan from years ago:

]I've been a Mets fan since the team's birth in 1962, attending their first home against the Pirates in the Polo Grounds. I have many fond memories amid the disappointing ones, but the one that stands out is when we had season tickets throughout the '70s in Box 213 behind first, and just a few rows in front of us sat (and sometimes stood) Robert Alda. I've always wanted to tell his son, Alan, that his father and I shared a love for the Mets in good times and bad. Maybe this will reach him someday. Daddy Alda, upon arrival would stand and look around. I don't know if he was counting the house, but my wife and I always assumed he wanted to be recognized, and he most defintely was

[Theoldmole]

Robert Alda, the original Sky Masterson -- so a New York icon, himself.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mike Piazza is the godfather to Hendrix Halen Michael Rhoads Wylde, son of Zakk Wylde, metal dude.

[Valadius]

Zakk Wylde, who guest-starred on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

[Theoldmole]

I don't know if we can handle that much celebrity.

[Frayed Knot]

Piazza pulled enough strings to get Wylde a gig playing the 'Star Spangled Banner' at Shea during a game I was at about 5-6 years ago.

Even by national-anthem-via-metal-guitar standards it was pretty awful.

[apmorris]

who're these jokers?

[Guest Edgy DC]

]What I loved about this book and this script is that it all takes place in one location, their house. It�s a universal thing � whether you grew up in a one-room shack, an apartment building or a mansion � it all gets down to your imagination, a child�s imagination. When I was a kid, in our little apartment in New York, I went to the Wild West and had gunfights. I went into space and saved the world from aliens. I pitched the seventh game of the World Series and the Mets won. I had intricate fantasies but they played themselves out within a very small room. � Tim Robbins on his role in the upcoming film Zathura (Entertainment News Wire feature, Nov 2005)

[metirish]

]November 25, 2005 -- This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with ABC/ESPN's Mike Tirico. Tirico, 38, calls golf, football and basketball. He grew up in Whitestone, Queens. Q: You grew up five minutes from Shea. Were you a Mets' fan? A: Mets, Jets, Rangers and Knicks. It was a good day or a bad day depending on the Jets' Sunday. That just defined me as a kid. My grandfather was one of the security force at Shea Stadium. He worked a second job with the Jets and the Mets. That's how I fell in love with sports and sportscasting. It was more exciting to me to meet Bob Murphy and Lindsey Nelson than it was to meet the players.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Clare Danes takes a so-called cut.


Julia Stiles waits for her pitch.


Bobby Cannavale connects.


Gaby Hoffman chokes up and looks to go to right.


Richard Kind watches the competition.


David Wright's bachelor status under siege.

[Guest Edgy DC]

David St. Hubbins in the house.

[seawolf17]

Mmm... Claire Danes. My wife looks like Claire Danes.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So, sheesh, stop panting after pictures of Claire, then. You've got the real thing. More power to you.

Lusting after pictures of Claire is for people without one at home.

[Willets Point]

Sure I'm jealous of a man who gets to play for the Mets, but more so of a man who gets to touch Julia Stiles and Claire Danes at the same time.

[MFS62]

Willets Point wrote: Sure I'm jealous of a man who gets to play for the Mets, but more so of a man who gets to touch Julia Stiles and Claire Danes at the same time.

Who is that touching both of those beauties?
The only CPF-er I've met in person is KC.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

It's David Wright.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: It's David Wright.

TX, he looked too natural in that uni to be a member of this crew,er, pool
Chicks dig the longball.

Later

[Elster88]

LOL, MFS, try reading the caption next time.

[MFS62]

Elster88 wrote: LOL, MFS, try reading the caption next time.

Why? And ruin my reputation?
Actually, I looked for one and didn't notice it. Those pics were in a long post.

Later

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

Julia Stiles as a Met fan. Hoo boy.

I'm guessing De Niro, as a staunch Manhattanite, was a Giants fan as a boy before converting to the Mets.

[metirish]

Zakk Wilde belts one out....

[Guest cooby]

Piazza likes that!

[Frayed Knot]

I was at that Zakk Wilde game where he got to do the anthem before the game.
It's a good thing he's buddies w/Piazza because the rendition was pretty awful. You could see MP laughing from the stands.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Paul Taglieri, genuine convert or merely taking the queen's shilling? You decide:

Q&A: Paul Taglieri, Mets Director of Florida Operations By LISA RIDDLE lisa.riddle@scripps.com January 23, 2006 Paul Taglieri is in his eighth year as the Mets Director of Florida Operations at St. Lucie County-owned Tradition Field. He oversaw a $10 million renovation of then-Thomas J. White Stadium before its 2004 name Paul Taglieri change, then organized recovery from $5.2 million in damages from hurricanes Jeanne and Frances. This past October, he oversaw reconstruction of fields and equipment after Hurricane Wilma. Taglieri is now busy preparing for Feb. 16 when the New York Mets pitchers and catchers arrive in Port St. Lucie for spring training. Q: What was the main damage from Hurricane Wilma that you had to fix? A: Most of the damage was done to the playing fields and equipment surrounding the playing fields. We had to do a lot of work to get the fields naturally in the playing condition they need to be in. Q: Should it all be fully repaired by spring training? A: Yes, we'll have it all done. Q: How many years have you been involved in baseball? A: I started my career in baseball as an intern in 1991 and have been in sports ever since. I spent three years with the (NBA's) New Jersey Nets. Then, I went to work for the Red Sox in Sarasota. I become a (general manager) of a rookie team affiliated with the Houston Astros in upstate New York (in Auburn, run through Auburn Community Baseball). Q: Which team did you follow growing up? A: I'm not sure if I should say. I did follow the Yankees. When my son (8-year-old Zachary) was born, I was working with Auburn at the time. My son's room was decorated with all Yankee stuff � Yankee wallpaper and Yankee clothes. I grew up a die-hard Yankee fan. Now, I don't follow them at all. My daughter (9-year-old Samantha) went to Cooperstown with me when she was a baby, and we bumped into George Steinbrenner. He picked her up and she started screaming and crying uncontrollably. Maybe it was a sign. Q: How do Mets fans differ from Yankees fans? A: You see a different type of excitement in a Mets fan than a Yankees fan. The Yankees have won a lot of titles. I think our fans are hungrier for a World Series title and there is a greater sense of pride.

[Guest sharpie]

This from the current Publisher's Weekly. Rosset is Barney Rosset, Samuel Beckett's publisher.


Beckett came to New York - once, in 1964, to work on a short film that he'd written called Film, starring Buster Keaton, to be distributed by Rosset. He spent a hot summer week at Rosset's Houston Street townhouse, but did catch up with Dick Seaver, who, as it turns out, was second cousin to the future Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Mets, Tom Seaver. Seaver (Dick, that is) helped Beckett beat the heat by taking him to a Mets doubleheader at Shea Stadium in Queens. "I tried to explain the rudiments of the game to him," says Seaver four decades later. "I also explained that the Mets were at the time a fledgling team and pretty terrible." Beckett, later known for his kinship to failure ("Try again. Fail again. Fail better."), found the miserable Mets to be perfectly enjoyable, so much so that he insisted they stay for the second game. Unfortunately, the Mets, rather improbably, won both games.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Excellent. He insisted they stay for the Endgame.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Incredibly, the Mets were a double-header sweeping machine in their new home in 1964.

Here and here, they took two from the Reds behind Galen Cisco (a Johnsonian 1-0 win, as Joe Christopher doubled in the only run in the ninth inning) and Frank Lary.

Here and here, they took two more from the Colts on July 31 with Lary (shutout) and Jack Fisher wiinning. Kranepool homered in the nightcap.

But wait, there's more! Here and here, they closed out a 7-4 homestand with two walkoff wins over the Cubbies, with Willard Hunter wining both ends in relief. Amazin'!

And if that's more excitement than your typical nihilist playwright can handle, here and here, they did the trick on the Colts, again, with September 7 starters Al Jackson and Jack Fisher needing no late-inning heroics.

I'm convinced Waiting for Godot was originally titled Waiting for Gonder.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Maybe its better to belong to the evil empire...no..not Starbucks....

[Guest Edgy DC]

Michael Ambort, pre-season All-American, Rockville Centre homeboy, and Gregg Jefferies fan.

[Guest Edgy DC]

New Ranger GM Jon Daniels fesses up in this tryin'-too-hard profile.