Benjamin Grimm

His name doesn't ring a bell, so I looked to see what his baseball cards looked like to see if they looked familiar. They didn't, but I see he was good enough to get a 1972 "IN ACTION" card. Maybe that 1973 card does look a little familiar.

He named his cat after Howard Johnson?

What an awful year this has been.

I don't have a problem with the Mets plan either. (At least, not at this point.) It sounds to me like Sandy is saying that they may not go to spring training with a $155 million payroll. Maybe they'll be at $140 million, with room to grow as the season progresses. I didn't read that particular article, so I don't know if Puma is to blame, or if it's just the headline writer who was being alarmist.

I like how that's called "cluttered." If I came home and my house looked like that, I'd say, "Hey! Where did everything go?" To follow up on FK's post, Suffolk County is divided into multiple towns. Within those towns are some villages, but when you're in a town you're not necessarily in a village. It's just that some communities within the town decide to incorporate. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I remember that in my hometown of Smithtown there's The Village of the Branch. I lived in Hauppauge, which wasn't a village. And my grandmother lived in Nesconset, also not a village. They were really just ZIP Codes, I guess. The reason we lived in "Hauppauge" was because that's that post office that delivered our mail, so that was our mailing address. There's something similar where I live in Pennsylvania. The counties are divided into "townships" instead of "towns", and what we called "villages" in Suffolk County are called "boroughs" here.

These are, I think, all of the non-major league games that I attended. When I was in West Palm Beach in 1986 I attended home games for both the Expos and the Braves. For the Braves game, the Mets were the visiting team. I remember the Texas Rangers' facility in Pompano Beach as being a run-down out-of-the way dump. GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE: West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach (1986) Port St. Lucie (2008) CACTUS LEAGUE: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler (1988) INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE: Norfolk Tides (1997), Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (2013) EASTERN LEAGUE: Reading Phillies (1990, 1991, 1992, 2011) SOUTHERN LEAGUE: Knoxville Blue Jays (1987), Memphis Chicks (1993), Tennessee Smokies (2005) NEW YORK PENN LEAGUE: Oneonta Yankees (1984), Brooklyn Cyclones (2009) CAROLINA LEAGUE: Carolina Mudcats (1987) INDEPENDENT LEAGUE: Camden River Sharks (2010)

I'll have to think about the minor league stadiums. I've been to a bunch, some for official minor league games, and some for spring training games, both in Florida and Arizona.

Oooh! I forgot about Olympic Stadium! I'll have to amend my list. (I made my list while looking at the current standings, and obviously, there was no listing for Montreal to trigger my memory.)

These are the 17 parks in which I've seen a regulation major league game, along with the year of my first visit. One asterisk means I've seen games that involve the Mets as well as games that don't involve the Mets. Two asterisks means I've only seen Mets games there. I have no idea what might be next. It's not likely that I'd plan a trip around the Mets schedule (although I did do that with Puerto Rico in 2010), but if I happen to be on vacation somewhere where the Mets are playing (as happened with me in Seattle in 2014) then I'd certainly try to get to a game. The most likely baseball cities where I might vacation are Denver, Phoenix, and California, but nothing is planned. (EDIT: Make that 18 parks. I had forgotten about Olympic Stadium.) 1. Shea Stadium (1971) ** 2. Memorial Stadium (1983) 3. Yankee Stadium II (1984) 4. Veterans Stadium (1986) * 5. Fenway Park (1986) 6. Comiskey Park (1988) 7. Tiger Stadium (1988) 8. Olympic Stadium (1991) 9. Camden Yards (1992) * 10. Fulton County Stadium (1992) ** 11. Riverfront Stadium (1992) 12. Wrigley Field (1993) 13. Citizens Bank Park (2004) ** 14. Citi Field (2009) ** 15. Nationals Park (2009) ** 16. Hiram Bithorn Stadium (2010) ** 17. PNC Park (2014) ** 18. Safeco Field (2014) **

Does the museum give appropriate attention to the years in Boston and Milwaukee?

I've attended one game there, on June 6, 2009. The stadium struck me as loud and crass. The stadium announcer seemed more suited for a professional wrestling match than a baseball game. The arrival experience was nice, you exit the Metro and the stadium is at the end of a pedestrian block. So you walk among fans, past vendors and giant costumed Presidents. I also remember liking the scoreboard, especially the clock. I don't recall anything about the food selection.

Most of the ballparks I've visited aren't around any more. Later That's almost true for me. I've seen major league baseball games in 17 different ballparks. Eight of them are defunct. Eight of them are still in use. And one of them was a special venue, in San Juan, that still exists but isn't the home field for any major league team. GONE: Shea Stadium Memorial Stadium Yankee Stadium II Tiger Stadium Comiskey Park Fulton County Stadium Veterans Stadium Riverfront Stadium STILL AROUND: Citi Field Camden Yards Fenway Park Safeco Field Nationals Park Citizens Bank Park Wrigley Field PNC Park STILL AROUND, BUT NOT IN USE BY A MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM: Hiram Bithorn Stadium

themetfairy wrote: While we're creating sub-fora, could we PLEASE have one next year for the individual player prediction threads? They totally gunk up the main baseball forum at the start of the year, and it would be nice to confine them to one area that we can just skip over. That's how I feel about music threads in the Non-Baseball Forum. There are so many times I visit that forum just to mark all topics read. If Music was in its own forum I'd know to skip it, like I do with the fantasy league forum.

I completely missed Turner Field. The one time I went to Atlanta to see baseball was in 1992, when the Braves were still at Fulton County Stadium.

Cast your vote!

I've been there twice, once back in 1992 when it was a new and much-talked about ballpark, and also back when I was still willing to attend a game that didn't involve the Mets. The second time was in 2010, to see the Mets play. I think Hisanori Takahashi was the starting pitcher for the Mets. What struck me about that second visit was how few food options there were in the grandstands. There were a lot of options out in center field, but if you wanted to find something close to your seat it was pretty much the standard fare of hot dogs and nachos. I don't know if that's still the case.

When we were there in 2014 we stayed at the Marriott that's just across from the stadium's parking lot. It was very convenient; we were able to get back to our room within minutes of the final out. I suspect it might be a fairly expensive option, however. When I booked it I used points, so I don't know what the price in dollars would have been. There are certainly cheaper places to stay in Pittsburgh, but none could be more convenient to the stadium than this one.

No matter what you may have heard, the Primanti Brothers sandwiches with the soggy french fries are awful! Get something else instead!

Cast your vote!

I think so, yes. Unless things have changed. But I remember instances in the past where rehabbing big leaguers have played in minor league playoff games. It doesn't seem fair, but it appears to be allowed.

Cast your vote!

I never bought in to Rey Ordonez. To me, he was a black hole in their lineup. Innings where 7-8-9 were due up were pretty much assured to be dead innings. I remember people saying, after the 2000 season, "The Mets don't need Alex Rodriguez because they have Rey Ordonez." To which I could only think, "HUH???" Anyway, I don't think it's a knock on the Mets that they don't go into full rebuild mode. They should try to win every year. I just wish they were better at it.

Wow, I had forgotten that Peter Ueberroth was once the Commissioner of Baseball. If I had been asked to list the Commissioners, I think I might have gone right from Bowie Kuhn to A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Does he actually have to report to his team before midnight to be eligible, or is that and old rule that's no longer in effect. I remember a deal where Fred Lynn got traded to the Orioles, I think, on August 31, and there was a question about whether his plane would get to Baltimore (or wherever the Orioles were) before midnight.

I'm afraid I've been a somewhat neglectful steward of the UMDB lately. Thanks for pointing out the Rene Rivera thing. As for Jim Gosger, I don't know what happened there, but it's been corrected. I also still have to add the Neil Walker trade to the Brewers (once known as the Seattle Pilots) but I'm waiting for the players to be named later.