Benjamin Grimm

Well, he's squatting, not pooping. The two aren't synonymous. Catchers don't poop their pants every time they squat, do they? Wait... DO THEY????

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: DIDDLY SQUAT! best exemplifies the spirit of tabloid back covers, enough so to overcome the excellent photo in the other one. And, of the remaining covers, I think it best symbolizes the 2023 season, for those who may include that as a voting criteria. DIDDLY SQUAT! has my vote, and probably will for however long it may remain in the competition.

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. DIDDLY SQUAT! New York Daily News, July 15, 2023. Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32876Round 1.17 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32933Round 2.04 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33007Round 3.06 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2023/20230715_NYDN_02.jpg> THIS MUCH! Newsday, April 9, 2023. Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32845Round 1.07 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32985Round 3.03 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2023/20230409_NSD_02.jpg>

I feel like the player on the left is saying to Bud, "Tell me about the rabbits, George."

Let's see... 1 c 2 d 3 b 4 b The guess I'm most confident about is Brawny Reyes. I do see the names of Mets minor leaguers a lot because of the UMDB, so some of the names seem familiar.

I was curious about that 1970 baseball card, wondering what might have been cropped out, so I had AI tell me what was missing. It has to be accurate, because AI is smarter than we are. http://leaptoad.com/mets/jpeg/1970_Harrelson_Weird.png> We'll have to play a round of "Guess That Met" to identify the player with the defective uniform who's waiting his turn to sign autographs. And it looks like the fan in the foreground brought some kind of coffee maker to the ballpark. Or is that a robot? Either way, it was a strange day at Shea.

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. FORCE OF JULY New York Post, July 3, 2023. Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32873Round 1.16 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32916Round 2.02 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32987Round 3.04 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2023/20230703_NYP_02.jpg> WOETOWN Newsday, May 5, 2023. Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32850Round 1.08 Winner of https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33002Round 3.05 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2023/20230505_NSD_02.jpg>

I also can't help but think if Ryan Howard. (Without having looked up his numbers.)

Whenever I click on an article from si.com, it's branded with something called "FanNation" and the articles are often rather insipid. Often it's written by someone named Patrick McAvoy and it's speculation on things that he thinks might happen, based on nothing but his own imagination. If this is what Sports Illustrated has become, then its time has truly passed and it won't be missed by many.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Between 1st and 3rd, then whatever's in your price range. I agree with this.

I thought this was going to be about Staten Island.

The most Mets Hall of Famers to ever appear in a single game is eight, and it's happened ten times. In all but two cases, all eight of the players were in Mets uniforms: 1969-08-12 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1969-08-12 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1969-08-12 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1969-08-12 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1969-08-12 Tom Seaver New York Mets 1969-08-12 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1969-08-12 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1969-08-12 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1971-07-06 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1971-07-06 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1971-07-06 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1971-07-06 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1971-07-06 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1971-07-06 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1971-07-06 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1971-07-06 Rusty Staub Montreal Expos 1972-04-15 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-04-15 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-04-15 Tom Seaver New York Mets 1972-04-15 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-04-15 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-04-15 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-04-15 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-04-15 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-04-18 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-04-18 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1972-04-18 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-04-18 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-04-18 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-04-18 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-04-18 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-04-18 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-04-23 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-04-23 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-04-23 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-04-23 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-04-23 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-04-23 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1972-04-23 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-04-23 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-05-01 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-05-01 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-05-01 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-05-01 Tom Seaver New York Mets 1972-05-01 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-05-01 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-05-01 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-05-01 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-05-03 Jon Matlack New York Mets 1972-05-03 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-05-03 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-05-03 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-05-03 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-05-03 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-05-03 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-05-03 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-05-25 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-05-25 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-05-25 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-05-25 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1972-05-25 Jon Matlack New York Mets 1972-05-25 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1972-05-25 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1972-05-25 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-06-04 Jerry Koosman New York Mets 1972-06-04 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1972-06-04 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1972-06-04 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1972-06-04 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1972-06-04 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1972-06-04 Jon Matlack New York Mets 1972-06-04 Tommie Agee New York Mets 1974-08-23 Rusty Staub New York Mets 1974-08-23 Ed Kranepool New York Mets 1974-08-23 Bud Harrelson New York Mets 1974-08-23 Cleon Jones New York Mets 1974-08-23 Jerry Grote New York Mets 1974-08-23 Tug McGraw New York Mets 1974-08-23 Jon Matlack New York Mets 1974-08-23 Davey Johnson Atlanta Braves

That's right. Those are the three.

It looks like Beltran is positioning himself well for the future, but is very likely to fall short this year.

There have only been six games in Mets history that have had three Hall of Famers playing for the Mets. In each case, it's the same set of three players. I'll leave to to whoever cares to guess to name the three.

The thread I linked above now has an additional post: The 74 games which featured exactly five Hall of Famers.

I guess this means he won't have to buy the store-brand potato chips this week.

I picked Jerry Koosman as a Met with 200 career wins, and it incorrectly rejected the selection.

We have now finished the third round of this year's Tabloid Cover Derby. Eight covers remain: Four from Newsday, three from the Daily News, and one from the New York Post. We're evenly split among "good news" covers (FORCE OF JULY, REDEMPTION, RE-PETE OFFENSE and THIS MUCH!) and "bad news" covers: (DIDDLY SQUAT!, STOP THE MUSIC, THEY DON'T GOT IT, and WOETOWN). Voting for the fourth round, in which we'll establish our Final Four, will begin on Monday, January 22. Round 4.01 FORCE OF JULY vs WOETOWN Round 4.02 DIDDLY SQUAT! vs THIS MUCH! Round 4.03 RE-PETE OFFENSE vs REDEMPTION Round 4.04 THEY DON'T GOT IT vs STOP THE MUSIC ELITE EIGHT [TABLE] [th]Year[/th][th]Daily News[/th][th]New York Post[/th][th]Newsday[/th] 2015440 2016512 2017314 2018422 2019404 2020422 2021305 2022701 2023314 [th]Totals[/th]371124

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2023/2023_03_08.jpg>

Using the database that I have at my disposal, I've confirmed that the record is indeed six, and it's happened 11 times. I don't want to spoil the quiz here, so I've buried the answers in a different thread: https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33033https://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33033 Peek only if you're ready!

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2023/2023_03_07.jpg>

I really hope that Curley Martha becomes a Met some day.

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2023/2023_03_05.jpg>

No disrespect to Bud Harrelson, but no way. They might as well retire all of the numbers that have been issued so far, because everyone who wore them will one day be dead.