Benjamin Grimm

COL! (Chuckle Out Loud!) Anybody under 40 reading this thread probably has no idea what this is about.

Alejandro De Aza wouldn't even be able to kiss his grits!

It took five months for the death of Beth Howland to become known, and she was TV's Vera!

I've been to Hood River, Oregon! Stopped there for dinner (at a restaurant with a very sexy waitress) on the way to Mt. Hood two years ago. At the time of his death, Bobby Gene Smith was just a little too young to have been on the list of the twenty oldest Mets. He was two and a half months younger than Ken MacKenzie. Hillman, Darius Dutton (Dave) September 14, 1927 88 years, 70 days Thomas, Frank Joseph (Frank) June 11, 1929 86 years, 165 days Pignatano, Joseph Benjamin (Joe) August 4, 1929 86 years, 111 days Piersall, James Anthony (Jimmy) November 14, 1929 86 years, 9 days Craig, Roger Lee (Roger) February 17, 1930 85 years, 279 days Landrith, Hobart Neal (Hobie) March 16, 1930 85 years, 252 days Lary, Frank Strong (Frank) April 10, 1930 85 years, 227 days Friend, Robert Bartmess (Bob) November 24, 1930 84 years, 364 days Mays, Willie May 6, 1931 84 years, 201 days Marshall, Rufus James (Jim) May 25, 1931 84 years, 182 days Sherry, Norman Burt (Norm) July 16, 1931 84 years, 130 days Fernandez, Humberto (Chico) March 2, 1932 83 years, 266 days Bressoud, Edward Francis (Ed) May 2, 1932 83 years, 205 days Taylor, Samuel Douglas (Sammy) February 27, 1933 82 years, 269 days Altman, George Lee (George) March 20, 1933 82 years, 248 days Hicks, William Joseph (Joe) April 7, 1933 82 years, 230 days Charles, Edwin Douglas (Ed) April 29, 1933 82 years, 208 days Green, Elijah Jerry (Pumpsie) October 27, 1933 82 years, 27 days Hunter, Willard Mitchell (Willard) March 8, 1934 81 years, 260 days MacKenzie, Kenneth Purvis (Ken) March 10, 1934 81 years, 258 days

Last call for all games played in the first half of June.

Cast your vote!

It took me a moment to figure out who "Walter" was. My first thought was this guy:

Cast your vote!

I guess he felt that baseball didn't offer enough opportunities to get concussions.

Yes! I checked it out of my elementary school library when I was in fifth grade! I think of that book from time to time and it's one I'd love to reread. Thanks for reminding me about it! I'm going to order a copy today!

That's good to know. I'd hate to think I was having dreams about Lenny Dykstra and Meadow Soprano.

Did I dream this, or is he Meadow Soprano's father-in-law?

I think I may need to go back to Peru.

He kind of dissed his likely future pitching coach, Frank Viola.

Cast your vote!

Actually, in a similar vein, I once used to feel obligated, in a way, to buy any Mets book that was published. I guess I was enjoying the bounty that came along in the mid 80s after about a decade when the Mets got very little attention. I read If At First. A Dream Season. Bats. Rookie. And then Lenny Dykstra's book, Nails, came along. That's the one that broke the spell. I realized that no amount of team loyalty would convince me to read a book that was "written" by Lenny Dykstra. After that I had the freedom to be more selective.

So, how much of a completionist are you? Will you be getting a copy of this book?

I don't think it's that stunning. The Rockies are still on the hook for 2017, so the same rules apply regarding the Mets only being required to pay the minimum salary. Reyes could have insisted on a one-year deal, which would have allowed him to shop his cheap salary around to other teams for next year, but since the Mets are clearly his preference, I'm not surprised that the Mets were able to leverage him into a two-year agreement.

Cast your vote!

At a minimum, that feat should have earned him an AM Crunchwrap.