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John Strohmayer, picked up at midseason in 1973 on waivers from the Expos, died from heart problems on November 28 (Thanksgiving) in Redding, Calif. John made nine appearances as a Met over two seasons, including a scoreless inning in the Mets' comeback from down 7-1 to beat Atlanta, 8-7 on July 17.

The Indians have non-tendered Kevin Plawecki.

Gary Cohen, who has made every Mets game and every colleague better through his talent for more than three decades.

Dig out your orange wristbands...

https://youtu.be/wgH1wzCK-T8https://youtu.be/wgH1wzCK-T8

Jeff Kent.

Todd Hundley.

For all my fears that Nike would do horrible things, the revisions so far have been upgrades -- especially the Diamondbacks! And for all the fears about the Swoosh on the jerseys, I'll take the Swoosh over the ridiculousness of the University of Michigan football team wearing the Nike "Jumpman" logo. Yes, the football team has a silhouette of Michael Jordan on its jerseys. I believe Wilson Ramos's chest protector carries the Jordan logo, which itself would beat Ramos in a race to first.

Jim Hickman

Is there some link? I'd really love to read about the Padres brown. Not that I have any skin in the Padres game, but I've been wishing for a Padres return to their brown of their first decade or so for a very long time. https://uni-watch.com/2019/11/10/order-restored-to-uni-verse-as-padres-bring-back-brown/https://uni-watch.com/2019/11/10/order-restored-to-uni-verse-as-padres-bring-back-brown/

Parade magazine notices its archives, shares its baseball covers, includes an awkward caption for Tom & Nancy. https://parade.com/559157/parade/photos-our-favorite-baseball-covers-to-celebrate-opening-day/https://parade.com/559157/parade/photos-our-favorite-baseball-covers-to-celebrate-opening-day/

“Every so often,” a la the Brewers wearing their 1982 duds on Friday nights at home, would be fine. Alterna-creep always lurks as a danger, though. I don't believe the blacks tops and hybrid hats of 1998 were envisioned as pervasive, yet soon they were. Props to Stroman and Alonso for caring one way or the other. It's as if being Mets matters to them.

Faith and Fear's prestigious Nikon Camera Player of the Year award goes to Our Kids, for the youthful core of 2019 delivering, at last, on the promise of a newspaper ad from 1977. http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wp-content/uploads/7E291BC5-ED08-44CE-BE4F-7EB8F9489DA0.jpeg> Pete—24 Amed—23 J.D. — 26 Jeff—27 Michael—26 Dom—24 Brandon—26 Together, this cluster of seven position players generated an energy and emitted an aura that made rooting for the Mets fun for fans of all ages. One great big clusterfun. Funny thing is I don't think we even realized we are were on the tipping point of a youth movement as 2019 approached. Sure, the game was getting younger and perhaps cheaper from the perspective of clever front offices everywhere; youth was definitely being served, service time manipulation notwithstanding. And sure, our talent pool included three former No. 1 picks; a former prospect who had only a couple of years earlier landed in the upper echelon of everybody's projections; a slugger who led the minor leagues in homers the year before; an infielder who batted .329 in an extended audition upon his late-July 2018 callup; and a castoff from an organization that mostly developed studs. With hindsight, the pieces were there. It just hadn't occurred to us to put them together in advance. It probably hadn't occurred to the Mets, either. By the end of the season, they were the Mets more than any Mets were. Relive the youthful exuberance http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2019/11/25/the-youthful-exuberance-of-2019/here

Ken Boyer?

The Braves have signed Travis d'Arnaud to a two-year deal. (Boo.)

=bmfc1 post_id=27027 time=1574453828 user_id=73] =G-Fafif post_id=27024 time=1574453105 user_id=55] Perhaps McCann can give Ramos some defensive Pointers.

On Facebook, it's Howie and Hubie... 30K views · 674 reactions | Two time All-Star, Hubie Brooks discusses... WWW.FACEBOOK.COM Two time All-Star, Hubie Brooks discusses his friendship with Mookie Wilson, the moment he found out he had been traded for Gary Carter and much more.

Perhaps McCann can give Ramos some defensive Pointers.

Anthony Rieber of Newsday is another Jeets and nobody else voter. The twist is he voted for a bunch of guys last year who he's not voting for this year because Jeter going in alone is apparently a thing in his mind. What a flare for the moment he had. A home run and a memorable over-the-shoulder catch on Opening Day as a rookie in 1996. The Jeffrey Maier home run in the 1996 ALCS. The leadoff homer against the Mets in Game 4 of the 2000 Subway Series. The Flip Play in the 2001 ALDS in Oakland. The game-ending Mr. November home run in the 2001 World Series. The dive into the stands against the Red Sox in 2004. The unusual (for him) home run to left-center for his 3,000th hit. The Jeterian line single to right for the walkoff hit in his final at-bat at Yankee Stadium. Jeter was a winner. A leader. An example of how to carry yourself under the brightest lights, as the shortstop and captain of the New York Yankees, from the George Steinbrenner era to the Hal Steinbrenner era. He's not just a Hall of Famer. The Hall of Fame is so watered down now, the plaques of the great are right next to the plaques of the good and the very good. There is no way to change that. Jeter should be on a Mount Rushmore of sports greatness along with Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana –i.e., athletes who were either the best players or the best winners in their sport. I wish this was clever parody. It is not. https://www.newsday.com/amp/sports/columnists/anthony-rieber/baseball-hall-of-fame-ballot-derek-jeter-1.38802412?__twitter_impression=truehttps://www.newsday.com/amp/sports/columnists/anthony-rieber/baseball-hall-of-fame-ballot-derek-jeter-1.38802412?__twitter_impression=true Steve Marcus's “small Hall” bit I can see (distaste for Jeter notwithstanding). But this, though it's Rieber's right as an accredited BBWAA member — I really hate “take his vote away” reactions — is absurd.

Howie with Skip Lockwood... https://youtu.be/B_-DAMDkKRwhttps://youtu.be/B_-DAMDkKRw

Liz Callaway, star of stage and song, talks up her Mets fandom on the Break a Bat! podcast devoted to the nexus of baseball and Broadway. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9-now-batting-liz-callaway/id1465846187?i=1000457306333https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9-now-batting-liz-callaway/id1465846187?i=1000457306333 Liz has performed the anthem and GBA many times at Shea and Citi.

My one hunch is Abreu will top 5% after a spate of analytics-driven “you don't realize how good he was” articles, the kind of stuff that wouldn't have moved the needle even five years ago (especially on the more crowded ballots of the period).

ESPN's Jeff Passan convened a panel of 68 media members to pick an All-MLB team -- first, second and third teams, actually -- for 2019. Pete Alonso and Jacob deGrom were near-unanimous picks for first team at first base and starting rotation, respectively. Seth Lugo made the second team bullpen.