Greg Goossen, R.I.P.

[G-Fafif]

Bad news coming in twos: 1965-68 Met Greg Goossen -- catcher, first baseman and Casey Stengel anecdote staple -- found dead at 65.

And, no, in ten years he has no chance to be 75.

[Theoldmole]

More sad news.

[MFS62]

Bad news coming in twos: 1965-68 Met Greg Goossen -- catcher, first baseman and Casey Stengel anecdote staple -- found dead at 65. And, no, in ten years he has no chance to be 75.

Are you trying to make us laugh or cry?
RIP, Greg.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

His list of screen credits include: 'Get Shorty', 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil', 'Royal Tannenbaums', 'Waterworld', 'Wyatt Earp', 'Mr. Baseball' and 'Unforgiven'

Also, as a member of the one and only Seattle Pilots team, earned a handful of mentions in 'Ball Four'

[Theoldmole]

And another Met of Dutch ancestry?

[G-Fafif]

Don't know about the Dutch, but he was the first Jewish player to begin his major league career with the Mets (selected from the Dodgers via the defunct first year player draft). Ike Davis is the second.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm pretty confident in his Dutchness, and certainly in his Jewishness.

Those mid-'60s Mets teams had like eitht catchers per season.

[Met Hunter]

Went to a signing about 5 years ago with my Met book in tow. I keep a cheat sheet in the book with the list of Mets I'd like to see and their uni number courtesy of MBTN. Been carrying the list for years. Reason being its easier to identify the player's scratch with a number attached. So I meet Goose in the lobby and get to talking. Great guy. Tough looking too. Later on at the signing, the announcer asks if anyone knows Goose's number while he was a Met. I shout out '10'. Goose without even looking up from the photo he was signing shouts back 'Thanks Lou' from some 30 feet away. No, thanks MBTN. RIP Goose.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Private eye, boxing trainer (for three title holders included), and Hollywood stand-in for Gene Hackman sounds like about the most noir-ish post baseball resume a guy could pull off.

Also had been one of ten surviving siblings, including eight brothers.

[ashie62]

Reminded me of a cross between Chuck Conners and Tex Cobb.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Met Hunter wrote: Went to a signing about 5 years ago with my Met book in tow. I keep a cheat sheet in the book with the list of Mets I'd like to see and their uni number courtesy of MBTN. Been carrying the list for years. Reason being its easier to identify the player's scratch with a number attached. So I meet Goose in the lobby and get to talking. Great guy. Tough looking too. Later on at the signing, the announcer asks if anyone knows Goose's number while he was a Met. I shout out '10'. Goose without even looking up from the photo he was signing shouts back 'Thanks Lou' from some 30 feet away. No, thanks MBTN. RIP Goose.

That's great!

You wonder how Gene Hackman feels now that his longtime stand-in is dead.

[G-Fafif]

Not much standing in left to do for the retired Gene Hackman.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Not much standing in left to do for the retired Gene Hackman.

Yeah, I guess I'm surprised Goosen went first.

Gene Hackman: What a pro
He'll show the crap actors where to go.

7pOUnjJlFcQ

[Guest metsfanbook]

I remember going to a game at Shea in the mid-60s and seeing Greg Goosen hit something like ten foul balls in a row. He was famous for that. He looked like a power hitter and he did have some power. But he couldn't hit straight.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jim Bouton wrote: I know a lot of guys on the club. Greg Goosen is one. He�s a catcher, a New York Mets castoff, and is up out of Triple-A. Two years ago I was playing against Goose in the International League. There was a bunt back toward the pitcher and Goose came running out from behind the plate yelling, �First base! First base!� at the top of his lungs. Everyone in the park heard him. The pitcher picked up the ball and threw it to second. Everyone safe. And as Goose walked back behind the plate, looking disgusted, I shouted at him from the dugout, �Goose, he had to consider the source.� I guess I got to him, because the first time he saw me � two years later � he said, �Consider the source, huh?�

[Benjamin Grimm]

The news about Goossen seems to have filtered out rather slowly. (Maybe he was overshadowed by Duke Snider.) Goossen didn't get his biggest spike of UMDB hits until yesterday, and his obit didn't appear in the Daily News until today's edition.

[G-Fafif]

NYT jumps on the Goossen train, here.

Not as Jewish as those of us who take naches in such trivia have been led to believe.

Goossen earned a niche or two in baseball history. As a Met, he caught Nolan Ryan�s first big league game in 1966 and broke up a perfect game by Larry Jaster of the Cardinals with a two-out eighth-inning single in 1968. But as a lifelong Roman Catholic he was perplexed in 2009 when Howard Megdal, in his book �The Baseball Talmud,� called Goossen the seventh-greatest Jewish first basemen ever. (When asked about the choice, Mr. Megdal said he was an expert on baseball, not Judaism.)

In 2003, Goossen was featured in the same Jewish Major Leaguers set with Shamsky, Green, Koufax, Greenberg...the whole mishpacha. The familial connection, a little thin, is laid out here.

It is, then, kind of quirky that Greg Goossen, who played at the Catholic boys' school Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, is considered a Jewish candidate for mention in this book. Goossen's dad, Al, was born Jewish (and later converted to Catholicism); his mom was Catholic. When it came to education, she was the decision maker.

Still Dutch though...right?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, that's the sort of record-straight-setting one expects of the paper of record.

Regarding Dutch, well, I think I need to get my money off the table, burned as I've been on the Jewish thing.

[Benjamin Grimm]

You can't be Dutch and Jewish?

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: You can't be Dutch and Jewish?

Wasn't that the tag line from those Levy's Rye ads Ronald Reagan did before entering politics?

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: Well, that's the sort of record-straight-setting one expects of the paper of record.

For Jewish Major Leaguers, I used to use this as the place of record.

http://jewishmajorleaguers.org/

Haven't really read it much for a while. They were very good at explaining things such as Paul Blair's conversion, Rod Carew marrying a Jewish woman, raising his kids Jewish, but never converting, and the religion a player practices when raised by one Jewish parent.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

And yet, that site counts Goosen.

[MFS62]

I edited my post while you were responding. As I added, they used to give explanations for inclusion/ exclusion from their list. Guess they don't do that any more.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: You can't be Dutch and Jewish?

[G-Fafif]

Greg Goossen's interest would probably be waning by now, but New Amsterdam was home to the first Jewish community in America.