G-Fafif

Sheriff Robinson. Randy Niemann.

Mays was still Mays, just less so, and unlike Favre he wasn't the focal point of his franchise. He was thrilling at any age. And he didn't fall down every time he took the field as Gwen Knapp would have you believe. Also, he didn't sext anybody.

Frayed Knot wrote: Compared to the Sheffield 500th, the Franco 400th, the Piazza catcher HR record, and the Lenny PH record, the Glavine 300th was probably more in proportion than to actual accomplishment than the Mets have 'hosted' and promoted in a long while. Oh, I don't know. I thought Julio Franco reaching his 400th birthday was pretty momentous.

The Mets were going nowhere when they signed Glavine, though to his credit (which I acknowledge through clenched teeth), he helped get them somewhere before utterly imploding (both he and them). The extravaganza celebrating his 300th win (the buildup as well as the gala they held for him when they got back to Shea) could have been billed as Cognitive Dissonance Day, complete with the DiamondVision blaring extended congrats from such Mets fan favorites as John Smoltz, Leo Mazzone and Bobby Cox. Glavine taking the mic and telling the fans, in so many words, "you didn't like me and I didn't like you," was, quite honestly, the moment I liked him best. As for Gary Sheffield's 500th home run, you can still go to mets.com and wear a piece of history from that momentous occasion. I rather enjoyed watching Lenny Harris achieve his all-time pinch-hit record as a Met despite many of those safeties being collected in a slew of other uniforms.

Centerfield wrote: The Yankees should step up here and pay him $150 million over the next five. Anything less is insulting to the Captain. You can't put a price tag on clutch, but it's worth at least $27,874,332.87 per. Amen! Reading Richard Ben Cramer's bio of DiMaggio presently and history continues to repeat itself. The Great DiMag got screwed by MFY ownership back when being screwed wasn't 3 years at $15 mil per after raking in $189 mil over a decade -- and when testing the open market meant going back to Fisherman's Wharf and crabbing for a living. Joe wanted $40,000 a year after leading the world in everything his first two seasons and being almost universally adored for doing so. MFYs painted him as an ungrateful, unproven bastard and the press played along. After holding out through spring training and the first few days of the season, DiMaggio was forced to settle for $25,000 and was docked every day that he had to train on his own (and had to pay his own travel expenses until he could rejoin the team at full strength). And he was booed for the next three months. He remained bitter about it for the rest of his life, which was only another six decades at that point.

With Wayne Kirby coaching first base!

Valadius wrote: Why do our recent run of managers sound just like a Fox Sports broadcast team? I mean, come on, Jerry, Terry, Bobby and Willie, for God's sake... Now we turn to our Fox Sports insider. Art, you've spent the whole week at Dallas Green...what do things look like there?

It's a Mets Yearbook marathon on SNY this Friday, 3 PM to 10 PM, all fourteen installments thus far produced running in chronological order. The rundown is here. It will be a happy Black Friday after all.

Interesting notion. If Dyer comes home, Collins either gets a new number or changes his story to "I am inspired by Duffy." Some McCarron-generated love for Duff' here.

I attended the original relaunch (oxymoron?) press luncheon on the eve of the 1998 season. Signed the media check-in sheet behind Ralph Branca. For "affiliation," he wrote "Baseball". Now that's an affiliation.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Terry will be the first Mets manager never to manage a game for the Mets at Shea Stadium. (I had to verify, but Mike Cubbage and Salty Parker did manage home games during their short stints. Cubbage just barely made the cut; only the first of his seven games was played at Shea.) At least Terry Collins did manage against the Mets at Shea when he was with Houston. Some day we'll have a Mets manager who never set foot in Shea Stadium. Bracing. And inevitable. In the 160th and 161st games of last season, seven of the nine starters never played for the Mets at Shea Stadium. Time marches on, the bastard.

This thread title happy-fies me in that it reminds me the Yankee Offseason began with the conclusion of the sixth game of the American League Championship Series.

Edgy DC wrote: Cameron Maybin, I get the feeling, will play for 10 teams before he's done. But will he ever catch the final ball hit in the life of a stadium again? Delighted the teal reminder of 9/28/08 has left the National League.

Have Michael Kay on ONLY because Terry Collins on shortly and am enjoying his conniption fit over Cano finishing behind Cabrera.

And Sabathia outpoints King Felix.

Josh Hamilton celebrating his AL MVP selection.

Branford Marsalis moved to NYC in the early '80s and becomes a Mets fan, according to this charming if factually challenged mlb.com interview.

Our 2010 long man has signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals, the team against whom he must have made an impression during 2010's long game, the 20-inning affair in which he pitched well, hit well and baseran badly. His signature moment was taking the ball from John Maine after five pitches and giving Jerry "Remember Him?" Manuel five-plus innings. Vaya con dios, guy who came from absolutely nowhere to be absolutely not so terrible.

From Rubin, one of the fun nuggets that's dished out at the cool kids' table: Terry Collins said he intends to wear No. 10 as a tribute to Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "He gave me my shot to get to the big leagues," Collins said, referring to their days with the Pirates. "And he's a great friend. So I wanted to wear it for him. "Plus, my wife thinks I'm a 10. ... That's a joke."

I get the feeling these events have evolved to suit different media needs. The TV sportscasts need sound of their reporter, who doesn't cover the Mets beyond a piece of tape now and then, asking a question. The podium stuff is for the preening. Then there's the sitdown with the beat writers -- I noticed the sitdown went long after the official Alderson presser so maybe there was some arrangement or bow to reality to just herd everybody over to another table and get down to serious Collins business there. At one point on SNY there was a shot of photogs surrounding said table after the podium stuff. Not great for us folks trying to follow along at home or wherever, but perhaps it's more effective for somebody. As long as China News gets taken care of.

metirish wrote: ESPN reporting that Bowa is a "strong possibility" for bench coach. Thus explaining, perhaps, the "Terry'd be a great manager!" quotes from...Larry Bowa! Also, Collins can play bad or insane cop to Collins's less bad or insane cop. Alderson's brilliant.

The next installment: No. 40 Jim Fregosi: All-Star infielder, killer accordion player. Trading Nolan Ryan probably made a lot more sense to fans once this card came out and they learned that Fregosi was a man of many skills. Most of the boyhood cards in the magnificent 1972 set showed the players in their Little League uniforms. Not Fregosi. No, he�s brandishing that massive accordion, ready to burst out a lethal version of �Lady of Spain.� And the crazy thing is the back of the card details Jim youth league exploits and never once mentions his apparent musical skills. Most fans would have agreed that the accordion was a better pitcher than Ryan in 1971. Even fans today: WHIP: 1.586, increasing every year he pitched. K/BB: 1.18, becoming worse every year he pitched. ERA+: 86 0 shutouts, 0 complete games (more important back then). Averaging just over five innings a start. -0.2 WAR Everybody knows that accordion folded third time around through the order. Would start to squeeze the ball too tight...

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This whole thread has become loaded with stupid. I don't want to rile anybody up, but I'm pretty sure if I had been named manager, the Adam Rubin Chat thread would have remained sacrosanct.

I wonder if "Chat with Adam Rubin at Noon" is how Adam Rubin solicits lunch dates.

Gwreck wrote: Who the hell gave a second-place vote to Ryan Howard? Check the ballot for cheesesteak stains.