G-Fafif

Larry hit his only Mets home run of his first Met season in the first game coming out of the All-Star break, his three-run shot ensuring Bob Hendley’s 7-3 win over the Reds in the opener of the July 13, 1967, doubleheader at Crosley Field. That game capped a 10-for-24 tear for the outfielder who raised his average well above .300 at midseason. He’d hit three more dingers as a Met in 1968 and then be gone with the expansion draft to San Diego.. Later we’d see him get a couple of pinch-hits for the Reds against the Mets in the 1973 playoffs…and I’d see his card a lot while opening packs in the first half of the 1970s.

Howie has announced he will hang up his mic at the end of the 2026 season, postseason, and City Hall celebration following the World Series celebration, the last parts hopefully.

Each Spring, following the Academy Awards telecast, Faith and Fear presents its version of the Oscars’ In Memoriam reel, except the passings we commemorate are of Mets from the organization over the previous year, whether they were franchise icons or here & goners. Also, we use excerpts from our writeups of their exploits rather than film clips. You can relive their Met lives and times here.

Hello, Someday this might not feel weird.

The difference differencemaker from the 2022 club (he boosted them into a powerhouse, they wilted when he endured a lethal HBP) has signed with the Royals. May he face his days without fear.

Wayne Granger, 81. Ninety appearances for the Reds in 1969, making him Mike Marshall a few years ahead of Iron Mike. He earned a place in a first grade poem I wrote celebrating sports. I believe I rhymed Granger with Ranger.

Don Cardwell 1967

Mets game in your ear is only a day away.

A few thoughts on the proximate passings of Mickey Lolich and Terrance Gore here.

Terrance Gore is the fifth player to debut as a Met in the 21st century to have passed on, preceded by Pedro Feliciano, Gerald Williams, Geremi Gonzalez, and Jose Lima (listed in order of Met debut date). Feliciano had been, until now, the most recent to play as a Met, in 2013, and was the first Citi Field Met to leave us. Gore is the first Met in this unfortunate category whose career entirely postdated Shea Stadium. The “too soon” element is always striking when we’re talking about a baseball player’s death. Any player you remember as a kid dying, even at the age of 85 as was the case with Mickey Lolich, seems too soon. Any player who was playing recently enough so that you can clearly remember what you were doing as if it were yesterday, is too soon. Terrance Gore, whose lone base hit of 2022, the last of his career, that I stood and applauded ant Citi Field amid the final regular-season game of that 101-win season? Too soon barely describes it.

July 11, 1973: 1 Baseball Hall of Famer on the field (Willie Mays) and 2 Baseball Hall of Famers in opposing dugouts (Yogi Berra, who was already inducted, and Leo Durocher), along with 7 New York Mets Hall of Famers (Cleon Jones, Rusty Staub, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Grote, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, and, in an Astros uniform, Tommie Agee). Had I peered into the broadcast booth, I’d include BB/NYM HOFer Ralph Kiner (plus Frick winners Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy).

Mickey Lolich, Tigers World Series hero and reluctantly accepted Met, has died at 85.

Seaver was a broadcaster in 2000 and a club ambassador in 2015. But just being Seaver was ringworthy. The Gil Hodges Award that's part of this offering was accepted by Art Shamsky and hand-delivered to Napa during the trip documented in "After the Miracle," written by Erik Sherman (in Shamsky's voice). I had the honor of presenting it to Art in Astoria at the 2017 Queens Baseball Convention. I was surprised a teammate came to pick it up, more surprised it made the transcontinental journey; and am kind of shocked it's out in the wild. https://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2017/01/31/qbcs-nice-to-come-home-to/

Carlos Beltran's plaque will portray him with a Mets cap.

Luisangel needed one PR appearance in the season’s final two games to own it outright. Mendy apparently had other priorities.