G-Fafif

Per the revisions of '83, yes, Neil Allen should have been disappeared had the publication deadline extended beyond June 15. And why would you revise a yearbook without waiting? Oh, and the artist was indeed the famous (in Canada) Canadian illustrator Ainslin. If you have read Jonah Keri's Expos book, you'll recognize the style. He drew a lot more Expos than Mets. Gilkey, Brogna, Pulsipher and Isringhausen seem to be the faces of '96, with a piece of Carl Everett's uniform identifiable. There really was a lot to look forward to coming off the 34-18 finish the year before. So much, that they could barely squeeze it on to the cover, apparently.

I think the 1983 artist was well known in Canadian circles (did a lot of Expos sketches), indicative that the Mets in the fairly early Doubleday years were open to anything from a marketing standpoint. I first saw this cover on a newsstand and was blown away by the thought that went into each of the caricatures, if not the result. Interesting that this was the revised edition in that by the time there was something to revise, you would have featured Hernandez and Strawberry and downgraded Kingman and Stearns (who was inactive most of the year). The fun was a little ways from starting when this cover was commissioned. The '96 cover was the year after the strike was settled, so I don't know that was a factor. Despite showing us some of the faces that gave us hope off a hot finish in '95, this one drips with anonymity. The weird one beats the dull one.

Optioned on March 23: C Tomas Nido RHP Hansel Robles

Benjamin Grimm wrote: G-Fafif wrote: I always found the tendency of Met publications trying to gin up excitement on behalf of a new manager a little propagandistic. I mean more so than featuring a player or a picture of the stadium. "Hey, everybody, let's form a cult around the man we put in charge. Let us all regard his authority." I've noticed that the Mets have used the yearbook covers to highlight some, but not all, of their new managers. Bud Harrelson, like Joe Torre in 1977, was a mid-year replacement who was featured on a revised edition. Gil Hodges, George Bamberger, and Jeff Torborg also got the look-at-our-new-manager cover. So did Art Howe, but in the most restrained way imaginable. Willie Randolph appeared on the cover of his first yearbook. Davey Johnson did not. Nor did Joe Frazier or Terry Collins. We'll soon find out how it will go for Mickey Callaway. As I said in the introduction thread for this competition, I predict that the 2018 cover will feature Mickey with Syndergaard and deGrom. Mickey covers the media guide, which doesn't always sync with the yearbook but sometimes does (how's that for equivocation?). At least a couple of the "here's the manager" covers are classics, despite the concept being (I think) a little off.

I loved that I found this a tough call, and I look forward to 31 more tough first-round calls. I also loved that they were both covers I don't have. I bought my yearbooks early both years and, except for 1977 (when I didn't get to Shea until August), never made a point of procuring Revised editions. For all the reasons mentioned, both had their drawbacks. I always found the #1 thing in this context unnecessarily hubristic and sort of blame it for the bad karma that was to come -- like the "Excellence Again and Again" slogan they issued forth from their tower of self-regard. But that Harrelson picture/design, despite Buddy's immediate impact on the club's fortunes, isn't much to get excited about, and I always found the tendency of Met publications trying to gin up excitement on behalf of a new manager a little propagandistic. I mean more so than featuring a player or a picture of the stadium. "Hey, everybody, let's form a cult around the man we put in charge. Let us all regard his authority." Thus, I went with the 1. It does capture a certain attitude that defined its time.

Former Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga, reported dead at 80.

All the time Vargas isn't missing Montero is. As alluded to in his Expectations thread, Rafael has been diagnosed with a torn UCL in his pitching elbow and will likely require TJS.

The Mets survive to win their meaningless game, 8-7. Better than losing their meaningless game, 9-8.

George Vecsey offers a personal remembrance of the friend he covered here.

Going, going...gone for now (March 20). LHP P.J. Conlon RHP A.J. Griffin LHP Matt Purke RHP Drew Smith RHP Corey Taylor INF Gavin Cecchini INF Luis Guillorme INF Ty Kelly OF Matt Den Dekker C Jose Lobaton

[fimg=300:1ohgprlp]http://i63.tinypic.com/oidfmr.jpg[/fimg:1ohgprlp] If First Data Field has a Sadecki Spot, this might have been taken there. I love the shot-in-Spring feeling of this card, a la the 1969 set (when they weren't recycling '68 head shots). I love that they have Reyes listed as a third baseman, which is in so many ways wrong (if not wholly inaccurate based on his 2017 deployment), but adds a layer of intrigue. And it's just such a swell pose. I cropped this from an image that included two other cards on Twitter. One of those cards I want to stare at a lot.

Oriole announcers Joe Angel and Jim Hunter have decided, based on Noah Syndergaard's two pop culture cameos (Kevin Can Wait, Game of Thrones) that Thor is one of those athletes who want to be an actor, the way actors want to be athletes. A [squared] + B [squared] doesn't necessary = C [squared].

For all the wiseacres who blithely predicted Jordany Valdespin would someday be a Long Island Duck, Jordany Valdespin is a Long Island Duck. “Jordany adds a lot of versatility to our ballclub,” said Ducks President/GM Michael Pfaff. “His ability to play multiple positions in both the infield and outfield is an important asset.” Valdespin is a four-year MLB veteran, having spent two seasons with the New York Mets (2012-13) and two with the Miami Marlins (2014-15). He totaled 15 home runs, 52 RBI, 52 runs, 14 doubles, three triples and 15 stolen bases in 214 big league games. The Dominican Republic native burst onto the scene in 2012 when he broke the Mets’ franchise record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with five. He also collected his first Major League hit, home run and RBI in the same at-bat when he launched a ninth inning three-run homer off Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon on May 7 of that year. In doing so, Valdespin became the first player in MLB history to record his first home run off a player with 200 or more career saves. The 30-year-old spent the 2017 season with Olmecas de Tabasco and Leones de Yucatan in the Mexican League. He combined to play 72 games and posted a .332 batting average with four homers, 37 RBI, 48 runs, 13 doubles, four triples, 15 stolen bases and a .418 on-base percentage. The lefty hitter was previously named a 2011 Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star with Binghamton (AA, Mets) when he batted .297 and set career-highs in nearly every offensive category. He was also selected as a Rising Star during the 2010 Arizona Fall League when he compiled a .355 batting average with the Mesa Solar Sox. Valdespin was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Mets in 2007.

I was lucky enough to learn first-hand what a class act Ed Charles was and wrote about it here.

These are always sad. This one is really sad. Ed Charles, the heart and soul of the Miracle Mets of 1969, died on Thursday at his home in East Elmhurst, Queens. He was 84. His daughter-in-law, Tomika Charles, confirmed the death, saying he had been ill for several years. Charles was a vital member of the Mets team that suddenly jelled during the 1969 season, winning the World Series in one of the most surprising surges in baseball history and endearing themselves forever to fans who had suffered through the team’s wretched play since its beginning, just seven years earlier. The Mets’ players relied on the smile and the wisdom of Charles, who was then 36. “Ed Charles was this guy, you wanted to sit on his knee and hear how he made it,” Ron Swoboda, the right fielder on the 1969 team, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. He added: “He had a physical and emotional grace that most of us didn’t seem to feel. He would say, ‘Don’t wrestle with what looks like complexity.’ ” Edwin Douglas Charles was born in Daytona Beach, Fla., on April 29, 1933, a time of racial segregation in Florida. But he took heart as a teenager when he spotted Jackie Robinson in town as a Montreal Royal farmhand during spring training in 1946. Robinson was expected to become the 20th century’s first black player in the major leagues.

Edgy MD wrote: . Keep baseball boring![/bigpurple]. Amen.

I could see seven-inning games at the lower levels and at AA and AAA until, say, mid-June, the idea being longer games won't be as much of a burden on fans once school is out and eighth and ninth innings will help ready potential callups. The runner on second thing is reprehensible. I wouldn't be against experimenting with it in Instructional League or something nobody sees, except the DH was once an experiment and it hasn't become any better an idea. I also dislike the college football OT bit where they start each team's series on the other team's 25. Just play the game and accept that once in a while the game will go on for a while (though in college, I'm sure they're concerned about getting the players back to their dorms so they can study). At the risk of falling into Bob Costas territory re his mid-'90s argument against expanding playoffs (he liked to say we'd have wound up with "The Giants win the pennant...and the Dodgers win the Wild Card..."), I shudder to think of what would have been diluted had the top of the 10th on July 4, 1985, started with a runner on second and so on. Same for any other marathon game you hold dear.

Might need a couple of play-ins.

seawolf17 wrote: The orange and blue #1 logo, interestingly, was designed by my uncle. At the final game of the 2014 season, I encountered a gentleman carrying a giveaway bag bearing that logo from 25 summers before. Its truth was marching on.

This is a much better idea than starting each extra inning with a runner on second.

J.J. Franco just got a hit, high-fived L.J. Mazzilli (presumably).

First round of cuts (March 13): RHP Kevin McGowan RHP Marcos Molina RHP Corey Oswalt RHP Gerson Bautista RHP Jamie Callahan OF Tim Tebow Second round of cuts (March 14): RHP Chris Flexen RHP Tyler Bashlor 1B Peter Alonso OF Zach Borenstein OF Kevin Kaczmarski C Patrick Mazeika 3B David Thompson

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The 1986 Houston Astros (who also went on to have a pretty good season) were 9-18 in spring training. That settles it -- Spring Training records are worthless.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Centerfield wrote: I know it’s spring training but is anyone else concerned that we like never win? Well, the 1986 Mets were 9-18 in spring training. The 1986 Mets went 13-13 before they went 108-54. The only 9-18 Spring Mets were the 1968 Mets, who went out and achieved the franchise's best season to date. Perhaps Mickey Callaway is following Gil Hodges's lead, getting to know his personnel and sacrificing victories for knowledge...or something like that. The 1962 Mets went 12-15 before they went 40-120. They also went 12-19 to start the season. They'd have been simply not very good had they played shorter schedules. The Grapefruit League records are at once meaningless and at least a little indicative of something when it's the only indicator ya got.

I'm Phil Evans and I have big league stick Thus was written the first line to "Get Metsmerized 2018".