Thank you, Joshua.

[Guest Edgy DC]

A great story posted by Joshua at Faith and Fear in Flushing:

It's the All Star break of 1998. I'm fifteen, and I'm with my sleepaway camp on a trip to Cooperstown. Me and my friend are staring at Mickey Mantle's shoes or something, trying to manufacure a sense of awe in ourselves.

"Holy shit," I say. "Isn't that Cliff Floyd?"

"Who?"

"Cliff Floyd. The Marlin's outfielder. Over there, looking at Babe Ruth's bat. He's really good."

And yes, that is Cliff Floyd, gazing with misty-eyed reverence at the Sultan's Swatter. And I stare at him for three reasons: (1) he's a major leaguer, duh, (2) this dude is freaking HUGE and (3) his wife is pretty hot. I try to be subtle, but I am terrible at being subtle. We make eye contact. And then something wonderful happens.

"Hey man, would you come over here for a second?"

AMAJORLEAGUEBASEBALLPLAYERISTALKINGTOME!!! AAAAHHH!!!

"You mind taking a picture of us?"

There are no words, so I just nod. He hands me his camera, and poses with his wife in front of the bat, flashing those pearly whites. My mind is racing, flashing forward to years later, and Cliff is showing someone around his rumpus room, saying "This is me with Babe Ruth's bat... there was very nice young man who took this picture for us." I snap the shot and hand the camera back, smiling gleefully.

"Thanks, buddy," he says. "Sure, Cliff," I reply, emboldened into first-name basis by his announcement that I am his buddy. Then he notices my cap.

"Mets fan, huh?"

"Yeah," I say. "Maybe if you ever leave the Marlins you can come play for us."

He laughs. "I'll see what I can do."

There are really three morals to this story.

(1) Me and Cliff Floyd are basically best friends.

(2) He became a Met because I told him to, so you're welcome.

(3) I'm really gonna miss the guy.

Bye bye, buddy.

[metirish]

Great story...

[Theoldmole]

Wow. A tear to my eye. Thanks again to the FAFIF folks.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Today is Cliff's 34th birthday. If we can't hope for his continuing in Queens, let's hope he gets a nice deal from Pittsburgh with a fat vesting option for 2009.

[soupcan]

Funny stuff.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Today's great FaFiF posting comes from "Benny Ayala":

Benny Ayala wrote: As a kid, my only knowledge of Shea (other than his name on the stadium) was from the aforementioned annual presentation of the horseshoe wreath of flowers every Opening Day. Then, in the late 80s, friends of mine were opening a bar on the Upper West Side and were having a special opening night party for their investors. The bar that night was likely the most crowded room I'd ever been in, as you literally couldn't advance a step or two unless someone else offered to move their shoulder to create the hint of a pathway. Through this labyrinth of humanity, I spotted that face from all those Opening Day ceremonies. "Bill," I called out to him over the over excited din. Abandoning his conversation, he turned to me and shook my hand warmly before giving my wife a big bear hug. After we navigated a few more feet towards the bar, my wife whispered into my ear. "Who was that man?" "That was Bill Shea." "Who's Bill Shea?" "He's the man Shea Stadium is named after." "Oh...Do you know him?" "No, not at all. I only recognized him from TV."

Greg and Jace are getting all the good stories these days. 'Cept we got the Seaver poem out of Mets Guy in Michigan.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Today's Post of the Day at FaFiF is seemingly pedestrian enough:

On February 19, 2006, Bonds announced in an interview with USA Today that he planned on retiring at the conclusion of the 2006 season, with or without the all-time home run record. "I've never cared about records anyway", he said, "so what difference does it make? Right now, I'm telling you, I don't even want to play next year. Baseball is a fun sport. But I'm not having fun...I love the game of baseball itself, but I don't like what it's turned out to be. I'm not mad at anybody. It's just that right now I am not proud to be a baseball player."

At least, it seems unremarkable until you get to the sig line: Alcohol Rehab

Big Al, is that you?