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Barry Lyons remembers October 25, 1986… I was in street clothes because I was injured and had several vantage points that game. I was down on the field for some of the pregame stuff, but Major League Baseball was trying to remove me because I didn't have my credentials. Ultimately, Joe McIlvaine gave me his badge. He wanted me to experience the game from ground level because I was one of their guys that he hoped would be in that position many times going forward. For pregame, I was on the field, in the clubhouse and dugout and it was just so exciting and exhilarating even though I wasn't in uniform. When the game started though, I was up in the broadcast booth with Bob Murphy. I was sitting a row behind them and Shea Stadium had that overhang. I saw them all looking up in the sky and was wondering what they were all doing. Then I saw that paratrooper come down with his “Go Mets” sign and land near the mound. That was some kind of moment! A swell two-parter with the backup catcher. https://ballnine.com/2021/10/14/barry-lyons/https://ballnine.com/2021/10/14/barry-lyons/ https://ballnine.com/2021/10/21/barry-lyons-ii/https://ballnine.com/2021/10/21/barry-lyons-ii/

Mike Pagliarulo, who needed to go to Minnesota to know postseason, on the legendary welcome he received in the Bronx. I was at the ceremony where you were inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame, congrats on that! You told a great story about your best day in the Majors. Could you repeat that for our readers? Bill Madden had asked that question in the clubhouse when I came back for Old Timers Day after I was done playing. I told him it was in 1984 and I had just gotten called up. I went to the ballpark on a Sunday morning and I couldn't find a parking space. It was 9:30 in the morning with nowhere to park. Turns out it was Old Timers Day and I didn't realize it. So, I walk down the tunnel and open the doors and I see all of these great old timers in Yankees uniforms. The greatest players to ever wear a Yankees uniform who were still alive were in this locker room. There's not enough words to describe what I saw. They were all laughing and having a great time. My locker was down in the back right corner, so I walk over there and Joe DiMaggio was sitting in my seat! I walked up behind him and was actually afraid to go to my locker. I introduced myself and he said, “Hey Pags, how are you doing?” I said to myself, “Oh my God, Joe DiMaggio knows my name?” He told me he liked the way I played and to keep up the hard work. I just couldn't believe that I was talking to Joe DiMaggio and he was in my locker. Finally I said, “Do you mind if I get my shoes out of here?” He said, “Help yourself kid, it's your locker.” I always felt bad for him though because he was never alone. He always had a crowd around him. I'm imagining just how crazy that was to have guys dating back to the 1930s there in that room. How incredible. It was something else. So then, I was getting some stuff out of my locker and all of a sudden the doors opened and it got real quiet. It was like Jesus had stepped into the locker room. Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin walked in. Mickey commands that much respect. He pointed in my direction and it was so quiet, I heard him say to Billy, “Hey, is that the kid over there?” I turn to Donnie [Mattingly] and said, “Hey, I think he's pointing at you.” Donnie said, “He ain't pointing at me, he's pointing at you!” Joe DiMaggio said, “What did you do, kid?” Now he starts walking at me. All these great players are all staring at me and the room is dead quiet. Mickey and Billy are walking towards me and I'm sweating. I must have been white as a ghost. I'm thinking, “Did I break a rule or do something wrong in the clubhouse?” Here comes Mickey Mantle and he's got this shit-eatin' grin on his face. He grabs me by the back of the neck and pulls me across the locker room and into the training room. Billy was right with him. Everyone was watching this. Then he starts punching me in the training room like I'm a punching bag. I don't dare hit him back, so I'm just trying to block the punches. Then he just gives me a slap and says, “Hey kid, I love the way you play. Here's my number; you need anything, you call. Welcome to the family.” Then Billy Martin just says, “Hi, I'm Billy Martin.” Like I don't know. I think I said my name back, who knows. They both left and I had the biggest smile on my face. The thing of it is that when I walked out of the training room, all of the old timers started talking to me. It was like I had Mickey's approval. They must have been great fighters back then, because Hank Bauer came up and started hitting me too. Then later I became Hank Bauer and Moose Skowron's driver. I would take them to the field on Old Timers Day every year. Now, I don't remember if we won or lost or how I did that day, but that was easily my best day in the Major Leagues. https://ballnine.com/2021/10/28/pags/https://ballnine.com/2021/10/28/pags/

A nice story about World Series press pins. Even though we had credentials on lanyards, printed on site and including our photos, MLB continues the tradition of World Series press pins. It's a relatively well-kept secret, and they're still just as rare as they were in the Great Depression. In all my excitement over getting to cover my first World Series, I'd forgotten all about the press pin tradition, but my father hadn't. And he built me a case so I could display my first of perhaps many. I now have pins from All Star Games, ACC Tournaments, the Final Four, Super Bowls and the Little League World Series. They're all in my case, lined up next to the pin in the first slot — the 2006 Detroit Tigers World Series Press Pin. https://nsjonline.com/article/2021/10/working-media-a-story-of-dads-and-sons-and-pins/https://nsjonline.com/article/2021/10/working-media-a-story-of-dads-and-sons-and-pins/

d'Ispatch from d'Atlanta… If hitting a home run in the World Series is the stuff kids dream of growing up, then Travis d'Arnaud's Friday was doubly good. Not only did he wallop his second home run of this Series at a key moment in the eighth inning of Game 3, but his day had started with a family trip for doughnuts. “We got 15 doughnuts,” d'Arnaud said after his 437-foot homer produced the final run to ice Atlanta's 2-0 win. “We got a bunch of chocolate bars, chocolate twists, cinnamon twists, cinnamon rolls, apple fritter, a lot of doughnut holes. “Yeah, it was good, too.” At 32 and playing in his second World Series, d'Arnaud is in the sweet spot of his career, playing with a team he loves. Now with his fourth organization in nine years, he signed a two-year, $16 million extension in August that likely will keep him in Atlanta through 2024. He's caught three shutouts this postseason — two against Milwaukee in a division series and Friday's game that looked like it could be a no-hitter until pinch-hitter Aledmys Diaz dumped a base hit onto the outfield grass to start the eighth. Offensively, he is hitting .417 (5 for 12) in this World Series. An unexpected key has been using teammate Joc Pederson's bat. After hitting .167 against the Brewers in the division series and .211 against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, he started using Pederson's bat in the World Series and things turned around. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/30/sports/baseball/travis-darnaud-atlanta-world-series.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/30/sports/baseball/travis-darnaud-atlanta-world-series.html

About 23 more minutes with Bob Murphy, interviewed here by Bill Shannon in 2001. [media=youtube]-v37d68_KAc[/media]

Five pitchers, two hits and a 2-1 Series lead for the Braves.

Td'A with his second WS HR to make it 2-0 in the 8th.

Combined ATL no-hit bid ends in 8th on a ball that should've been caught.

Another son of a gun, in the Twin Cities. While Sharrer said there was an adjustment period for the players — the Saints' in-game presentation offering something different than they've seen at other parks around the country — he credited Saints manager Toby Gardenhire and his staff for helping make that transition seamless, especially during a year in which front office and player interaction was limited because of COVID-19 concerns. https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/baseball/7237744-Saints-Twins-partnership-thrives-in-first-seasonhttps://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/baseball/7237744-Saints-Twins-partnership-thrives-in-first-season

Fun story about how the Braves scream for ice cream. ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves are making their first World Series appearance since 1999 because of star players at several positions, an underrated pitching staff and shrewd midsummer moves by the front office. Inside the clubhouse, though, players also point to a secret weapon. It doesn't field, throw or hit, but it has delivered over and over again. Atlanta's game-changer in 2021? A soft-serve ice cream machine. “When they brought that into the clubhouse, it was like magic,” infielder Johan Camargo said. Added the star reliever Tyler Matzek, “It's just something that we kind of rallied around.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/sports/baseball/atlanta-ice-cream-world-series.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/sports/baseball/atlanta-ice-cream-world-series.html

Son of a Brogna: Tim McIlvaine, progeny of former Met GM, is reportedly the Angels' new director of scouting.

Bob Melvin to the Pads.

Especially Stroman. What's up with that?

Francisco Lindor is a finalist for the NL Gold Glove at short, competing in voters' hearts and spreadsheets with the Giants' Brandon Crawford and the Pirates' Kevin Newman.

America's most beloved World Series teams are knotted at a game apiece following HOU's 7-2 victory in the second go-round.

Td'A HR in the WS!

Los Bravos 6 Los Astros 2 ATL takes the opener.

LFB* Dansby Swanson is spooked by a speeding ground ball to allow the first Astro run. 5-1 after a long four. *Least Favorite Brave — mine anyway.

Mr. Morton hurts himself and exits in the third.

Braves up, 5-0, in the third. Duvall two-run shot knocks out Valdez.

Td'A is the first of the 2015 Mets to make it back to the Series (Dodgers left Grandy off their roster in 2017.)