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Chase Utley be damned, Ruben Tejada's up and quacking, having signed with Long Island's Own Ducks. https://liducks.com/ducks-sign-nine-year-mlb-veteran-ruben-tejada/https://liducks.com/ducks-sign-nine-year-mlb-veteran-ruben-tejada/

The Mets will run a commercial during the Super Bowl telecast (locally). [media=youtube]ObTV0F9JU9g[/media] From The Athletic: Kevin Szymanski, executive vice president of an agency that was not involved in the process, InterMedia Advertising, said Wednesday that air time during the game in the New York designated market area was going for $276,000. But the Mets purchased a package of ads beyond just the game and had production costs as well, leaving their total outlay higher. A person briefed on the team's plans who was not authorized to speak publicly said the total value of the inventory was $1.5 million. So for an owner with a payroll of about $370 million per Cot's Baseball Contracts, that doesn't sound like much. But to the team's chief marketing officer, Andy Goldberg, Sunday's spot is more than just a flash-in-the-pan opportunity to spend. “I come from brands that had hundreds of millions of dollars of ad budget. In the Mets' world, no, this is not cheap,” said Goldberg, who joined the team a little less than a year ago from American Express. “This is a calculated risk, but it's nowhere near what a national ad would ever come close to costing. And in my mind, from a brand perspective, from my history, this is an incredible value investment. … The additional social, the other content we'll get, the value outweighs the spend by a long shot.” The commercial also represents something of an opening salvo for Goldberg, who wants the team to become a global brand — a bold aspiration, considering they share a city with one of the most identifiable sports franchises in the world, the Yankees. “It had to do with Steve's philosophy of ‘Yes, and,'” Goldberg said. “‘Bring me ideas that you think are going to grow the brand, that are going to set the Mets apart, that are not just going to be running a team as a normal team.' He wants to grow this into the Mets brand, not just the Mets baseball team. … This is the first flag planted in a fundamentally core direction that we want to go in. “You go around the world, and you see people and they're wearing Yankee hats. They're not wearing Yankee hats because they're Yankee fans, just to be clear. They're wearing Yankee hats because it's an ‘NY,' and New York is cool, right? I want that to be a Met hat, 100 percent.” The 30-second spot effectively delivers dry humor as Mets players fill in as ticket sellers. Brandon Nimmo bolts through an office to a ringing phone yelling “I got it, I got it, I got it” — you know, as outfielders do — before picking it up with a gigantic grin. Kodai Senga, speaking Japanese in a video call with Tomás Nido, tells the catcher that, indeed, “My ghost fork is just a pitch. It's not a real ghost.” Nido, seated at a cubicle and holding a landline to his ear, relays this discovery to a fan, who we infer has just asked that burning existential question. Francisco Lindor and Mr. Met also appear in the commercial, which was filmed last week in Florida. Senga participated remotely from Japan. Goldberg has done Super Bowl ads before, typically with eight or nine months of lead time. This one came together in about one month, the shortest timeline he's ever worked on. “Over this holiday, I was actually talking with our agency partners, and they threw out a crazy idea: ‘What about a Super Bowl ad?'” Goldberg said. “I said, ‘That's insane, but let me see.' And we started hatching a plan, and I brought it to Steve, and Steve was like, ‘That's a great idea. Do you think it could work?'” A baseball team's motivation for a Super Bowl commercial is obvious: beyond the eyeballs, the final day of football naturally gives way to spring training's start. “Every baseball team looks at the end of the Super Bowl as the beginning of baseball season. I just don't know a lot of teams that have the advertising budget to make that flash,” said Wayne Partello, formerly the chief marketing officer of the Padres and now the CEO of CUENTO Marketing. “It's a great opportunity. They're obviously making a statement.” https://theathletic.com/4170586/2023/02/09/mets-super-bowl-commercial/https://theathletic.com/4170586/2023/02/09/mets-super-bowl-commercial/

'BACH is sneaky good, transcending the usual strained-pun frivolity with a photographic perspective you don't see every day, but like last year with the artistic rendering of Almora's catch, it strikes me as a back page in a vacuum. The particular Mets victory documented carries little resonance within the season's narrative…which isn't the game's fault, but it simply doesn't live on in the collective fan consciousness mere months later. The back page that goes on permanent display at Tabloid World HQ ideally communicates the year just completed in a flash. MISERY — hed and pic — captures the defining emotion of a postseason having had its hopes dashed and its expectations turned upside down. I'd have preferred a final postseason vibe of ECSTASY and a back/front page to memorably reflect it, but Mick Jagger just texted that we can't always get what we want.

Leave it to Tyler Kepner to find a compelling Philadelphia baseball angle to Super Bowl week: with a win over the Chiefs, the Eagles would match the Athletics for most championships by a Philly team. Kepner tracked down the last of the Mackmen, 97-year-old Bobby Shantz, to reflect. Shantz, who later played for three Yankees' pennant winners in a 16-year career, is the last surviving player to have played for Mack ‌ — officially, that is. Mack, who also owned the team, was 87 years old when he managed his final season in 1950. “Connie had a son Earle, and he ended up doing most of the managing, because Connie was very quiet; he never said a heck of a lot,” Shantz said. “I still get letters in the mail from people, and they ask me what the difference was between Connie Mack and Casey Stengel. I say, ‘One never said anything and the other never shut up!'” https://nyti.ms/3RGSVUuhttps://nyti.ms/3RGSVUu

Still pitching professionally: 2005 Met (and offensive threat): Dae-Sung Koo. This winter, Geelong Korea reached out to Koo and he immediately took them up on their offer. He appeared in three games, giving up zero earned runs and striking out two batters over 2 1/3 innings. He told me he's lost about 10 mph on his fastball -- it's sitting at around 75 mph -- but maybe, as he told the Korea JoongAng Daily, that helped. "The ball was so slow that the batters didn't seem to know what to do with it.” Koo broke his own record as the oldest man to appear in an ABL game. He's now played professionally in four different decades, he's fired fastballs for four different leagues in four different countries and three separate continents. He's been toeing up rubbers for an incredible 30 years. It's reminiscent of Satchel Paige's extended swan song -- a pitcher Koo mimicked in high school. He said he has no plans to pitch (or hit) in this year's WBC, although he'll be following Korea's progress through Pool B. Still, he seems dead-set on never fully retiring, saying, "I want to show that age is not the limit of your performance." "My goal is pitch for as long as I can, wherever it is," Koo told me. "Whether it's here, Korea -- as long as I'm able to use my arm to do what I love." https://www.mlb.com/news/the-oldest-active-pitcher-in-pro-baseballhttps://www.mlb.com/news/the-oldest-active-pitcher-in-pro-baseball

Martino with a detailed dive into how and why Beltran has returned. https://www.sny.tv/articles/francisco-lindor-steve-alex-cohen-yankees-carlos-beltran-metshttps://www.sny.tv/articles/francisco-lindor-steve-alex-cohen-yankees-carlos-beltran-mets

Mets make official the additions of Keith Raad and Pat McCarthy to their radio broadcast crew, Raad as Howie Rose's primary partner and McCarthy as pregame, postgame and fill-in guy. https://www.audacy.com/wcbs880/sports/new-york-mets/keith-raad-pat-mccarthy-to-join-wcbs-880s-mets-radio-boothhttps://www.audacy.com/wcbs880/sports/new-york-mets/keith-raad-pat-mccarthy-to-join-wcbs-880s-mets-radio-booth

Nick Plummer has signed a minor league deal with the Reds. He gave us The Nick Plummer Game.

Ron Hodges and his brushes with Hall of Famers. “We won the game. That's the big thing,” Hodges said. “... I singled in front of the left fielder, who happened to be Willie Stargell. A better left fielder might have caught the ball. Stargell was a first baseman, not a left fielder, but he was out there.” Hodges didn't see much action in the postseason. In fact, he received his only postseason at-bat in Game 1 of the '73 World Series against the Athletics in the ninth inning, when he entered as a pinch-hitter for Bud Harrelson. Hodges ended up walking against closer Rollie Fingers. “I saw Fingers later on at an autograph signing and I said, ‘You don't remember me. I faced you in the first game in the World Series in '73 and I walked.' He kind of grinned and said ‘Hmm. I didn't walk too many.'” Bill Ladson on the Where Are They Now? case: https://www.mlb.com/news/ron-hodges-important-role-on-1973-metshttps://www.mlb.com/news/ron-hodges-important-role-on-1973-mets

Where Rico Brogna is now and what he is up to! https://www.primepublishers.com/towntimesnews/sports/local_sports/former-whs-star-mlb-veteran-takes-over-warriors-baseball-rico-brogna-back-to-where-he/article_a3a6ea6c-a24a-11ed-b30b-5fc9bacbc0a4.htmlhttps://www.primepublishers.com/towntimesnews/sports/local_sports/former-whs-star-mlb-veteran-takes-over-warriors-baseball-rico-brogna-back-to-where-he/article_a3a6ea6c-a24a-11ed-b30b-5fc9bacbc0a4.html

Assault within battery: former Met pitcher Marcus Stroman attacks retired Met catcher Anthony Recker.

Howie at the BBWAA dinner, coming as close to emotional as he does: https://www.mlb.com/video/howie-rose-accepts-award?q=ContentTags%20%3D%20%5B%22teamid-121%22%5D%20Order%20by%20Timestamp%20DESC&cp=CMS_FIRST&p=0https://www.mlb.com/video/howie-rose-accepts-award?q=ContentTags%20%3D%20%5B%22teamid-121%22%5D%20Order%20by%20Timestamp%20DESC&cp=CMS_FIRST&p=0

The good word from the Strawberry ministry… Former Mets and Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry has been a traveling minister for more than a decade, and he's found a new venue to preach the gospel -- the penitentiary. Strawberry, 60, made it known recently that he wants to pay it forward when visiting troubled individuals in the prison system. As recently as November, he visited two New Jersey penitentiaries, and he came to the conclusion that all the inmates needed was love. “That was something that was lacking in their lives growing up -- being loved,” Strawberry said via telephone. “Love conquers everything -- to be able to know that you are loved regardless of what has happened in your circumstances.” https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/darryl-strawberry-taking-ministry-to-penitentiarieshttps://www.mlb.com/mets/news/darryl-strawberry-taking-ministry-to-penitentiaries

Two relievers recently hung 'em up for good: David Phelps, who launched countless Mission: Impossible puns, and Adam Warren, whose friend's father was briefly a physical rehab center roommate of my father's as my father recovered from brain surgery in 2015. I learned this through small talk with said roommate and wife while waiting for my father to return from a PT session. My father wasn't too happy with this roommate because the guy needed some machine that made steady noise that disturbed my father no end. Fortunately, a change of accommodations was arranged. For the rest of Warren's career, I had to remind myself I didn't actually know him but kind of felt I did.

John Adams, who banged the drum persistently from the bleachers in Cleveland long and loud enough to qualify as a local institution, 71. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35558251/cleveland-drummer-baseball-fan-john-adams-dies-71https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35558251/cleveland-drummer-baseball-fan-john-adams-dies-71

Nelson Figueroa will coach for Wally Backman in Central Islip.

Dexter Fowler, who struck out to send the Mets to the 2015 World Series, bids adieu.

O'Day's departure, combined with nobody (as yet) taking a flier on Joe Smith and the presumed withdrawal from North of the Border competition by Oliver Perez (he did pitch in the Mexican winter league), indicates no Met from the 2000s (2000-2009) remains active — and that your Longest Ago Met Still Active to start 2023 will be Justin Turner. Behind Pie Man stand, at least in terms of those with confirmed Spring Training dates, Collin McHugh and Jeurys Familia, with Matt Harvey in the free agency gray area after not having pitched in the majors in 2022. Matt threw 70 minor league innings last year when not suspended.

Keith, Ron and Gary accept the Willie, Mickey and the Duke Award. https://www.mlb.com/video/mets-booth-accepts-bbwaa-awardhttps://www.mlb.com/video/mets-booth-accepts-bbwaa-award Howie Rose accepts the You Gotta Have Heart Award. https://www.mlb.com/video/howie-rose-accepts-award?q=ContentTags%20%3D%20%5B%22teamid-121%22%5D%20Order%20by%20Timestamp%20DESC&cp=CMS_FIRST&p=0https://www.mlb.com/video/howie-rose-accepts-award?q=ContentTags%20%3D%20%5B%22teamid-121%22%5D%20Order%20by%20Timestamp%20DESC&cp=CMS_FIRST&p=0

My first thought was Drew Gagnon had a good first start. Then I looked it up. He had a good first inning before going on to give up six earned runs and not get out of the fifth. But a 1-2-3 first inning in the majors is an accomplishment of its own.

Marvelous card-themed tribute via SABR to Frank by Michael Kane, including Thomas's trip to his last Old Timers Day. If there was a Hall of Fame for major league ball players that signed Through The Mail (TTM), Frank would be in it. In his autobiography Frank recalled his youth and stated: “I'd wait outside of the clubhouse after games and try to meet the players and get their autographs. Many guys would walk right by us kids with no acknowledgement whatsoever. It was very disappointing to see. That's one of the reasons that I made a point to ALWAYS sign autographs as I left the clubhouse. I didn't want some young fan's recollection of me to be that I walked right past home as he held out his autograph book for me to sign.” Since 2019 Frank and I had been communicating on regular basis, primarily by mail. Frank was old school. He did not text and he did not have a computer. I would bang out a letter on my computer, and Frank would respond back with a handwritten letter. He would answer my baseball questions in his letters and give me updates on his health and his children. The nominal fee that he asked for signing baseball cards went to two charities: – Camp Happy Days-Kids Kicking Cancer and Courageous Kidz. I gladly contributed to his charities and sent him cards that spanned his career to sign. I always received the cards back promptly – beautifully signed – along with a thank you note. Letters from Frank were signed… Frank Thomas The Original One 1951- 1966 I always got a kick out of that. https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2023/01/22/frank-thomas-the-original-one-wears-number-25-again-for-the-mets-old-timers-game-at-citi-field/https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2023/01/22/frank-thomas-the-original-one-wears-number-25-again-for-the-mets-old-timers-game-at-citi-field/

Travis, who returned to the organization only to stall at Syracuse, will join Jacob deGrom in immersing himself in the Texas Rangers' winning culture (Spring Training invite).

Confidential to UMDB: Tomás Nido and Mark Canha have each played 1 game at third base as Mets.

Gary Peters, outstanding hitting AL pitcher, 85. https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/1/26/23572995/gary-peters-two-time-white-sox-all-star-dies-at-85https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/1/26/23572995/gary-peters-two-time-white-sox-all-star-dies-at-85

Michael Perez has returned to the New York groove. The lefty-swinging backstop played in six games last year. This move provides Quadruple-A depth and keeps in reserve all those sterling “I don't remember him” recollections for a later Memories thread.