G-Fafif

The longtime director of Mets telecasts has died at 65 after his long battle with cancer.

Ben Johnson made his Met debut the night Armando Benitez balked Jose Reyes around the bases and gave up the game-winning homer to Carlos Delgado, an oft-aired extra-inning Mets Classic. Amid all that, I remember being excited enough to say to my companion in RF, "Hey, Ben Johnson's in the game!" Angel Berroa, 2009 New York Met, sticks out for me thanks to the monumental work of my friend and colleague Metstradamus. http://metstradamus.blogspot.com/2009/08/justice-persistence-courage.html

3. Ben Johnson (Angel Berroa was a 2009 Met.)

3. Singular grand-slammer Taylor Teagarden

Harvey gets hit hard in the second. Thank goodness it's only the first week of March.

Harvey looks good. Cespedes looks great. Bruce looks viable. Can't wait until Seawolf's countdown reaches Terry McDaniel territory.

Eddie held the all-time franchise hit record for 36 years, yet led the team in hits in only one season, his All-Star campaign of 1965, per UMDB. Fascinating 1984 profile from the defunct New York Sports magazine, unearthed and reprinted in 2012 by Mets Merized Online. Incredible quote from Seaver, in 1970, when Ed was sent down to Tidewater. Kranepool blamed his own shoddy performance on manager Gil Hodges’ platoon system. He wanted the chance to prove he could be a productive everyday player, eight years into his career. "He’s been to bat nearly 3,000 times in the majors," Tom Seaver observed. "That’s not a chance?"

Might we thank No. 2 for being a Friend?

When I read the sad news, I was struck by the decision to auction his 1969 ring since, beyond all it symbolizes, I recalled reading how Ed in particular would flash it to get in the door, as it were, in business situations. I searched for an anecdote to that effect (I don't remember where I first came upon it), and I came across this, from the Chicago Tribune in 1989: "A lot of the older ballplayers didn't command the salaries players do today and they wind up selling rings or trophies," Costanzo said. "I bought Maury Wills' MVP trophy (1962, National League) and Ed Kranepool's World Series rings from the 1969 and 1973 Mets. Kranepool said he didn't wear them and didn't really want them. He used the money to buy a boat." The one time I spoke to Kranepool, seven years ago, he said something about having plans to be out on his boat that weekend. I don't remember if he was wearing his ring. Maybe he got it (and the 1973 version) back along the way. Maybe the guy in the Trib story didn't have what he thought he had. Memorabilia can be murky. Whatever the case, may Ed get what he needs. The Mets' avatar of longevity deserves as long a run as he desires.

1.Gary Kroll

4. Tim Redding

1998: Gonna guess Hideo Nomo.

2010: Joaquin Arias.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: G-Fafif wrote: 3. Jorge Fabregas amid quite a year for catcher acquisitions. I forgot about Fabregas. The only pre-Piazza catcher from 1998 that I could remember was Tim Spehr, but I don't think he was a mid-season acquisition. Those who forget Fabregas are doomed to repeat it.

3. Jorge Fabregas amid quite a year for catcher acquisitions.

TransMonk wrote: Look what showed up today! It's on my "to do" list for the weekend. [fimg=300]http://i.imgur.com/T1LzpkF.png[/fimg] My heart is warmed.

Ceetar wrote: Ceetar wrote: is 3. Kurt Abbott? I feel like he got more than that but maybe not. Abbott wasn't on the 1999 club. right! mixed up 2000 and 99 and was guessing maybe he stuck around for a few more the next season. oh well. you're probably right with Mahomes anyway. In some ways, it was one long season, in a mostly good way.

Ceetar wrote: is 3. Kurt Abbott? I feel like he got more than that but maybe not. Abbott wasn't on the 1999 club.

4. Going with Eli Marrero here. (And I gave an answer for No. 5 at the bottom of the previous page in case it gets lost.)

2. Aaron Ledesma, I think (he and Brook Fordyce seem to have been allowed to get away too soon from that team).

3. The guess here is Pat Mahomes.

5. Vinny Rottino it reads like.

Rosenfield on the Mets-Tides split, from 2009 when the Bisons came rumbling in. A walk down the narrow hallway that bisects the offices at Harbor Park offers evidence that the Norfolk Tides still have fond memories of their former parent club, the New York Mets. But as Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield explains, all of those mementos also serve as reminders of a long marriage that ended in a bitter divorce. "We were taken for granted," Rosenfield said. "We had been a good member of the family for all those years. When you feel that the people above you don't appreciate you and what you do and how hard you work it's tough to feel sympathy." It has been almost three years since Norfolk and New York severed ties, and in many ways, both parties have moved on. The Tides are the top affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, a team building a viable farm system. The Mets just opened a new ballpark, Citi Field, fit with all of the trimmings. But the feelings stemming from the breakup remain raw for Rosenfield, who will see something he has never seen before this week: a Mets Triple-A team - the Buffalo Bisons - occupying the visitors' clubhouse at Harbor Park. After spending two years in the Pacific Coast League with New Orleans, the Mets are affiliated with their third club in four years.

Dave Rosenfield, 87, longtime GM of the Tidewater/Norfolk Tides and thus a stealth figure in Mets history. Ate raw hamburger meat on a cracker, dated Fred Merkle's daughter, claimed to have invented Turn Back the Clock Day and, on some level, had a hand in the development of Triple-A Mets ranging from Matlack to Milledge.

2. Nelson Figueroa (BTW: Mets and Arizona didn't play in April 2008.)