batmagadanleadoff

dinosaur jesus wrote: When I hear that some player is really clutch, that he's at his best in the big games, I always wonder what the hell he's doing the rest of the time. Is he dogging it, saving himself for the TV cameras? Screw him. I don't want that glory hound on my team. Exactly. If a player had the ability to elevate his performance in "clutch" situations, why would he wait for the end of the game when his team is down by a run or two to turn it on? Wouldn't he wanna get a hit all the time? Isn't he supposed to realize that it's just as important to be the runner in scoring position waiting to be driven in? And so wouldn't he wanna turn on the clutchy clutchiness when nobody's on base, so some teammate could, in turn, drive him in with the clutchy clutchy hit?

"Congrats. Now what should I wear to the ASG"?

Although it's not supposed to be announced officially until 1:30pm, Andy Martino reports that Harvelous Harv will start this year's ASG for the National League. Report: Matt Harvey To Start For NL In All-Star Game NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) � No surprise here: Mets ace Matt Harvey will be named the National League�s starting pitcher for Tuesday�s All-Star Game at Citi Field, according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. NL manager Bruce Bochy will make it official on Monday, Martino reported via Twitter. Harvey told WFAN radio last month that he was eyeing the start at the Mets� home ballpark. �That would be a huge adrenaline rush,� Harvey told Mike Francesa. �And it would be the start of hopefully something great, to have my first All-Star Game at home and hopefully get a chance to start it.� Harvey is 7-2 with a 2.35 ERA and a league-leading 147 strikeouts. �This guy is the most dominant pitcher, and I�ve played behind some great ones,� Mets captain David Wright said Monday on WFAN�s �Boomer & Carton� show. �He generates the buzz of Pedro Martinez or Johan Santana and has the stuff to go out there and absolutely dominate lineups. And he�s done that.� http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/07/15/report-matt-harvey-to-start-for-nl-in-all-star-game/

In memory of those 1973 Mets who are no longer with us, and will not be able to attend the long awaited 40th anniversary reunion of this remarkable team. Bob (righty) Miller on your left. Coaches Roy McMillan and Eddie Yost. Piggy lives and is eager to attend the festivities.

Blackout +1: The Subway platform at Rockefeller Center during rush-hour, 5PM.

Mother Bucka's Ice Cream Parlor, West 8th Street, Coney Island, Blackout of '77 Where was I when the lights went out? Home, listening to the Mets game on the radio.

Jordany Valdespin caused stir in Mets clubhouse after being notified of demotion Collins is considering asking the 51's next opponent to plunk Valdespin, to teach the troubled outfielder a lesson. "Jesus Christ. He knocked over the whole buffet, including the french fry sandwiches. We don't return to Pittsburgh until next year, and who knows if even I'll be around". http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/2013/07/jordany-valdespin-flips-out-after-ny-mets-demote-him-wright-is-mets-mvp-yank

Mex17 wrote: Anyone who is grinning from ear to ear in their mug shot HAS to be nucking futs!!!

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Astonished this required a Snooze investigation to uncover... Me too, what with Anna being a public figure, and the victim's father, understandably, having a hard-on (the other kind) for Anna all these years. Knowing how the 'Pons operate, I'd bet that the Mets never woulda signed Kris in the first place had they known about this incident.

Collins Credits His Outfielders for the Mets� Revival Left fielder Eric Young Jr., left, and right fielder Marlon Byrd have given the Mets a boost offensively and defensively. By ANDREW KEH Published: July 13, 2013 PITTSBURGH � The Mets have recovered some since their disastrous start to the season, going 16-10 since June 16, baseball�s third-best record during that time. They began Saturday 40-49 over all, but they were considerably worse off a month ago. From Manager Terry Collins�s perspective, improved play from his outfielders has been a major reason for the resurgence. Asked about the outfield over the winter, General Manager Sandy Alderson aptly characterized the team�s situation when he said jokingly, �What outfield?� But the group seems to be constructing a positive identity now. Catching the ball has been a start. �I truly believe one of the reasons we have played better is our defense has been very good out there,� Collins said. Earlier this year, the Mets did not have much stability and were employing a carousel through the various outfield positions. They used players like Rick Ankiel, Collin Cowgill and Jordany Valdespin as center fielders. Only Valdespin has remained on the team, and his role has been minimized. Lucas Duda, a natural first baseman who has been a project as the team�s starting left fielder, has been on the disabled list since mid-June. Now, Marlon Byrd has settled into right field. Collins lauded his defense, pointing out his team-leading six outfield assists through Friday. Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis have split time as center fielders. Collins acknowledged the two were not producing big numbers at the plate, but he said their combined defense had made the team better. And Eric Young Jr., who arrived via trade June 18, has added speed and aggressiveness to left field. Collins singled out a catch he made at AT&T Park during their series against the San Francisco Giants, when he hurtled into foul territory and scampered over the bullpen mounds to catch a pop fly. �There�s not a lot of guys getting to that ball, let alone catch it in those conditions,� Collins said. All that has given Collins some peace of mind. �When they�ve hit the ball in the air to the outfield, we�ve caught it,� Collins said, �and all of a sudden, that�s one less out we�ve got to worry about. Earlier in the year, there were balls we weren�t getting to, balls that were dropping in, and now they�re not.� Even more surprising has been the group�s contributions at the plate. Young had 180 plate appearances for the Colorado Rockies before he was traded, and he produced a .242 average and .290 on-base percentage, scoring 22 runs and stealing 8 bases. For the Mets, he had had 111 plate appearances over 22 games through Friday, compiling a .296 batting average and .369 on-base percentage. He had scored 15 runs and stolen 7 bases. His speed has added a new dimension to the Mets� lineup, which had lacked a traditional leadoff man. Byrd has had a career revival, batting .263 with 15 home runs and 49 runs batted in through Friday. Collins said he did not know what to expect when the Mets signed him to a minor league deal this winter, but as he said Saturday, �Marlon�s been special.� http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/sports/baseball/collins-credits-his-outfielders-for-the-mets-revival.html

Big week for Mets first starting All-Star, Ron Hunt, who curently seems to be on everybody's interview wish list: excerpt: Ron Hunt was the Mets first All-Star starter back in 1964, as the franchise hosted the game for the first and only time in history. [Hunt]�ll be at Citi Field on Tuesday night for the All-Star Game, his first trip to the team�s new ballpark � though he still has no idea why the Mets built it to resemble Ebbets Field. He remembers Shea Stadium in 1964, when it was new and glistening. He wishes the club had built a park that was a retro-chic version of Shea, the park where he � and later his grandfather � came to know. http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2013/07/mlb_all-star_game_ron_hunt_first_mets_starter_recalls_memorable_night_prior_to_1964_game.html

AMW Anna Warren episode: [youtube:2dmd9sel]RAkFevVcHNg[/youtube:2dmd9sel]

Ka-blammo. Looks like she's had blood on her hands the whole time. The Daily News has the in-depth (Deep Inside Anna Benson, ha-ha) scoop. Anna Benson, the hot 'Baseball Wives' star, once implicated in a murder Former Mets pitcher Kris Benson's ex-wife, then Anna Warren, was the subject of a manhunt in 1996 after an 18-year-old man was killed in the Tennessee apartment she shared with her boyfriend. By Rich Schapiro / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Sunday, July 14, 2013, 2:30 AM Updated: Sunday, July 14, 2013, 2:30 AM Former Mets pitcher Kris Benson�s sexy wife has a dirty secret � she was once implicated in a grisly murder. Anna Benson was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1996 after an 18-year-old man was executed in the Tennessee apartment she shared with her boyfriend, the Daily News has learned. �Get rid of him,� she allegedly told her beau before he carried out the slaying, the lead investigator told The News, quoting witnesses. Benson, then a 19-year-old named Anna Warren, hightailed it out of town with her man after the bloody slaying in Knoxville. Tennessee cops obtained warrants charging Warren and her boyfriend, Paul Dejongh, 19, with the murder of Michael Evans, court records show. She was captured five months later, but all charges against her were eventually dropped � infuriating the victim�s family. �She got away with murder,� Evans� father, Michael Evans Sr., fumed to The News. �I don�t know how she can live with herself knowing that she conspired to kill my son.� Anna Benson�s dark side returned last week when she allegedly burst inside her estranged hubby�s suburban Atlanta home � armed to the teeth and threatening him with a gun. Evans Sr., a nuclear engineer based in Knoxville, said it was only after he was contacted by a News reporter that he learned Warren went on to wed a star pitcher. �I�m really surprised that she was able to marry a professional baseball player,� Evans Sr. added. �From my vantage point, she�s a pure unadulterated bum.� Warren�s life back then was indeed nothing like the world of luxury she would inhabit years later after marrying Benson. In the mid-1990s, Warren was living inside a filthy Knoxville apartment, its walls covered with disturbing anti-cop graffiti and satanic messages. �The only good pig is a dead pig,� read one message reported in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Someone scrawled �666� on one wall. Written on another, in felt-tip pen, was �187� � the California penal code for murder of a police officer. By 8 a.m. on Jan. 22, 1996, those walls were spattered with blood. Detectives called to the apartment found a gruesome scene: Evans� lifeless body splayed facedown near the front door � two bullet holes in his head. Evans was an unlikely murder victim. He was a community college student from a well-to-do family who was preparing to enlist in the Navy. Warren was arrested five months after she was charged, but all charges were eventually dropped. �The only thing he�s guilty of is having an association with people who have absolutely no value in life,� Knox County Sheriff Department Sector Capt. Ben Harkins told a local paper at the time. Warren was at the center of the dispute that ended Evans� life, the lead investigator on the case told The News. �When the argument happened in the apartment, it was because the victim said something Anna didn�t like,� Assistant Chief Clyde Cowan said. Witnesses told investigators that Warren urged Dejongh to �get rid of� Evans. �That could have meant, �Throw him out of the house,� but (Dejongh) took it to mean murder. �She was very controlling of (her boyfriend),� Cowan said. �He pretty much did whatever she wanted him to do.� A forensic expert would later determine that Evans had been shot once in the back of the head at close range, and then a second time as he stumbled toward a door. There was drug paraphernalia inside the apartment, and strangely, multi-colored plastic balls like the ones found in a children�s play pit surrounded Evans. �It�s a very disturbing crime scene,� a police spokesman said after the murder. Investigators said they were convinced there had been a violent struggle inside the apartment. �There was blood everywhere � almost in every room,� Sheriff Tim Hutchison told reporters at the time. Deputies were alerted to the crime at 7:30 a.m., when one of the occupants of the apartment called 911. The woman went on to say she had been sleeping at the time of the shooting, but she knew that a man named Mike had been gunned down. There was no need for an ambulance, she grimly told the dispatcher. Police determined there were five people in the apartment at the time of the murder � but two of them, Warren and Dejongh, were nowhere to be found. The pair were last seen driving a stolen 1992 red Lexus on Interstate 75 toward Georgia. A manhunt was launched. The couple�s pictures were splashed across local papers; even �America�s Most Wanted� featured the case. An alert was sent out to the press describing Warren as a white female, 5-feet-5 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds, with short dark hair. Warren was captured in Portland, Ore., June 18. Her brunette hair was dyed purple and she sported a tongue ring, reports show. Detectives swarmed her after she used a pay phone to call her grandmother, who was caring for her young child. Michael Evans Sr. and his wife, Romaine, pose with a photo of their son Michael Evans Jr., who was found dead in January 1996 with two bullet holes in his head. Warren had been calling periodically to check on her kid, authorities said, and she told investigators she was four months pregnant. �She indicated (to her grandmother) she was getting tired of running,� Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison said. But Warren clammed up as soon as Knox County authorities picked her up. �She refused to give a statement, and as far as I know, she never gave a statement,� Cowan told The News. Dejongh was captured that August in the Atlanta area. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder in January 1998, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. Dejongh later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 21 years behind bars. He died in prison. Prosecutors later dropped the murder charges against Warren and instead brought forward an accessory charge, but the state ended up dismissing that charge in May 1998. �We have determined we don�t have sufficient proof to show she is guilty of that charge,� Knox County Deputy District Attorney Bill Crabtree said, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. That decision didn�t sit well with Cowan, the investigator. Evans was a community college student from a well-to-do family who was preparing to enlist in the Navy. �That was against my will,� he said. �I would think the fact that she was pregnant had something to do with it.� Warren�s lawyer at the time, Tom Dillard, insists that there�s a simple reason why the charges were dropped. �She didn�t do anything,� Dillard told The News. �There was no miscarriage of justice. The state couldn�t prove the case. There was no evidence that she was involved in assisting and abetting the shooter. �She was frightened, as you could imagine, and left the scene with this fellow,� Dillard added. �That was the only problem she had.� After the charges were dismissed, Warren seemed to fall off the grid. �I didn�t know what happened to her,� Cowan said. �The last thing I remember hearing is that she was going to live with her grandmother in Atlanta.� Some 15 years later, Evans Sr. remains convinced Warren played an instrumental role in the slaying. He said he�s always believed Warren got off �because she had rich parents who got her a good lawyer.� To this day, he thinks she was involved. �She was definitely a part of the murder of my son,� Evans Sr. said. �She�s a killer.� Warren certainly had killer looks, and she used them to turn her life around in a flash. The same year her charges were dropped, Warren met Benson at an Atlanta strip club where she worked. It�s unclear if Benson had any idea about his new girlfriend�s dark past, but the pair married the following year, and Anna Warren became Anna Benson � who was soon known as the most polarizing wife in Major League Baseball. Benson�s beauty bragged about having sex with the budding Pittsburgh Pirates star in a stadium parking lot. She did a jaw-dropping Penthouse spread and, after he was traded to the Mets, she showed up at the team�s 2005 Christmas party in a shockingly revealing Mrs. Claus suit. The pair had three children � daughter Haylee, and sons P.J. and Devin James. They also raised Anna�s daughter from her first marriage, Alyssa Warren. It�s unclear if Benson�s wife ever delivered the child she was carrying while on the lam. Kris Benson, 38, filed for divorce in 2012, setting up the bizarre incident last week. Authorities say the 37-year-old burst inside her estranged hubby�s Georgia home on Monday and tried to rob him at gunpoint of $30,000. The former �Baseball Wives� star was clad in black, wielding a baton, carrying ammo and a knife, and wearing a bulletproof vest. Benson made it out of his house unscathed and called 911. Anna Benson was charged with aggravated assault with a gun � and tossed behind bars. Evans Sr. believes that�s where she should remain. �This girl doesn�t care about human life,� he said. �She�s a very dangerous person.� �I wish her husband the best,� Evans Sr. added. �He made a big mistake.� http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/anna-benson-dirty-secret-article-1.1398254

This one could just as logically go in the Everything's Harvey thread. Matt Harvey's blister no longer a problem, Mets manager Terry Collins says

43 years ago today, Tom Seaver strikes out four in three innings in his only ASG start. Gil Hodges manages the Nationals. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/7/14/4522240/this-date-in-mets-history-july-14-tom-seaver-gil-hodges-johnny-murphy-robin-ventura-birthday 1970 National Gillette Razor Ad for the 1970 ASG (fan vote reinstated) featuring managers Gil Hodges and Earl Weaver. The illustration for the ad is among the last Met themed pieces ever done by Willard Mullin, and might even be Mullin's last Met illustration. And ... yeah ... that was the Hickman/Rose/Fosse ASG.

43 years ago today, Tom Seaver strikes out four in three innings in his only ASG start. Gil Hodges manages the Nationals. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/7/14/4522240/this-date-in-mets-history-july-14-tom-seaver-gil-hodges-johnny-murphy-robin-ventura-birthday 1970 National Gillette Razor Ad for the 1970 ASG (fan vote reinstated) featuring managers Gil Hodges and Earl Weaver. The illustration for the ad is among the last Met themed pieces ever done by Willard Mullin, and might even be Mullin's last Met illustration.

43 years ago today, Tom Seaver strikes out four in three innings in his only ASG start. Gil Hodges manages the Nationals. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/7/14/4522240/this-date-in-mets-history-july-14-tom-seaver-gil-hodges-johnny-murphy-robin-ventura-birthday

"Mike Piazza reinvigorated our franchise when we acquired him in May, 1998,� Jeff Wilpon, who has final say on such honors, said in a statement. �Mike is one of the greatest players in our history and we are thrilled to induct him into the Mets Hall of Fame.� http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/72629/piazza-to-be-inducted-into-mets-hall "This couldn't have happened without my say-so. Where's my credit"?

Pirates aim for best 1st-half record since '71, sweep of Mets

This ASG business is sure generating lotsa Mets-centric pieces. And not just the kind that you'd think were written by Howie Megdal. When Shea Was the Stadium of the Future By JARED DIAMOND If the Mets still called Shea Stadium home, Major League Baseball probably wouldn't let them host next week's All-Star Game, one of the sport's premier events. Taken at its best, Shea stood as a nostalgic remnant from a kooky bygone era by the time the Mets vacated the old place following the 2008 season. Most people probably didn't read that much into it: They just referred to it as a dump. But dismissing Shea Stadium as nothing more than an ugly blue semicircle surrounded by a sea of auto-part shops�and it certainly fit that description at the end�ignores the building's influential role in ballpark history. When the All-Star Game last came to Flushing in 1964, the three-month-old Shea represented a bold vision of the future. It just so happens that "the future" became "the past" far quicker than anybody imagined. "Shea Stadium was then not only new, but in the vanguard of ballpark architecture," said John Thorn, MLB's official historian. "It became an eye sore, but it didn't look as ugly as it would." Shea Stadium�then the first new stadium built in New York City in more than 40 years�opened on April 17, 1964, a season later than originally expected. The delay wound up serving as a fortunate coincidence: The 1964 World's Fair, held at Flushing Meadows Park in the shadow of Shea, began less than a week later. That fair, renowned for its optimistic perspective on the blossoming Space Age and the promise of progress that would come with it, became intrinsically connected with the new ballpark. Though technically not located in the fairgrounds, Shea appeared on the fair's maps. The Mets wore a patch commemorating the fair on their uniforms. The fair's official guidebook heralded the stadium as "the latest word in comfort, convenience and design for sporting arenas." It began with the exterior, noted for its bright colors and bizarre blue and orange panels suspended on cables so thin that they appeared to float in midair. (The funky neon baseball players came much later.) Inside, Shea didn't feature vertical columns and therefore had no Wrigley Field-like obstructed-view seats, despite a capacity of more than 55,000. John Pastier, an architecture critic and the author of a book about baseball stadiums, said that "people remarked that this was the brightest sports lighting system ever installed." In the mid-1960s, this looked space-aged. This looked sleek. Shea received so much attention when it opened that the Beatles went there in 1965, playing one of their most famous concerts ever. "The World's Fair was all about inventing the future as you would like to see it," said Mark Lamster, an architecture professor and critic with a background in writing about baseball. "Shea was like another relic of the future that lasted a long time until the future passed it by." Shea's attempt at futurism perfectly reflected the era, spurring a boom of similar ballpark design. An entire generation of stadiums�some loved, some reviled�traces its origin back to Queens. Shea marked the second of the multipurpose round stadiums (the Jets played there, too), opening two seasons after Washington's RFK Stadium. It sparked an onslaught of multipurpose round stadiums around the country�a collection of stadiums now known derisively as "cookie cutters." But at the time, "cookie cutter" seemed like the next wave. The model strove for efficiency, not beauty: a giant sterile circle built in its own little world. Pastier called the notion of building one stadium for baseball and football "a progressive idea," rooted in the economic philosophies of the period. "It saved money," he said. "It was a progressive, modern way of being more rational than what preceded it." At this time, middle-class families lived in the suburbs. They wanted to drive to the game, take advantage of the ocean of parking spaces and then turn around and drive home, all without going through the big bad city. They couldn't do that at Yankee Stadium or Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds. Ron Hunt, the Mets' lone representative in the 1964 All-Star Game, remembers Shea as a "plus for fans," in large part because of the massive parking lot and overall ease of access by automobile, especially compared to the Polo Grounds. Pastier described it as "modern living." "Shea was form flowing from function," Thorn said. "The function? To give you a comfortable seat to watch the ballgame and easy parking to get out of it. It was the new functionalism. Everything started going that direction." So what went wrong? Economic conditions in New York played a role in Shea's demise, as the city's financial woes in the 1970s affected the stadium's upkeep. Pastier surmised that the field perhaps took a beating in 1975, when the Mets, Yankees (during their stadium's renovation), Jets and Giants all played their home games at Shea. But more than any of that, Shea simply went out of style. Fans began to bemoan the cookie-cutter model as bland and impersonal. Cities began to revitalize their downtowns. Franchise owners began to sense new ways to increase revenues by building stadiums designed only for baseball, filled with suites and luxury boxes. Once Baltimore's Camden Yards opened in 1992, Shea didn't stand a chance. One by one, the cookie-cutters fell, replaced by "retro-modern" stadiums, meant to look and feel like the cozy ballparks of old. Football teams began building their own stadiums as well. Compared to Citi Field, maybe Shea was a dump. But it was the Mets' dump�and an important one at that. "When it was brand-spanking new, it was an idea of what the future might be," Lamster said. "But very quickly the reality set in on what Shea was: A not-super accommodating concrete-and steel-donut." A version of this article appeared July 13, 2013, on page A22 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Queens' Futuristic Blue Semicircle. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324879504578602144268188454.html?mod=wsj_streaming_stream

The Tim McCarver Farewell Tour rolls on as Tim is set to announce his last ASG. In this piece, Tim shoots the breeze about Yasiel Puig, the 1980's Mets and Harvelous Harv. excerpt: With the game being played at Citi Field, McCarver talked about his 16 years as a Mets broadcaster, from 1983 to �98. It�s easy to forget, he said, �how big the Mets were during the 1980s. I know New Yorkers and people around the country are familiar with how attached New Yorkers are to the New York Yankees now, but they were at least equally attached to the Mets back in the �80s. The Mets owned the town, with those colorful ball clubs. � And some of their announcers thought, including me, that they should have won it all more than in just 1986. In 1988, I thought they had a better club than they did in 1986. They had better pitching with David Cone� that year. Mets pitcher Matt Harvey is expected to be the NL�s starter on Tuesday night in the Mid-Summer Classic. Mets manager Terry Collins skipped Harvey�s spot in the rotation on Saturday to keep his pitcher fresh for the All-Star Game, a very unconventional move. McCarver, as you might have guessed, had an opinion on that. �I think it�s a real shot in the arm for that franchise to have a guy like Matt Harvey starting,� McCarver said. �Of course he has not been named yet, but everybody is speculating that he will be the pitcher. � Harvey is missing a start during the season, on Saturday, because he has blister problems, in order to be able to start on Tuesday night. I think that�s refreshing. I think it�s the right thing to do, because that franchise really needs a lift like the one Harvey has given them through the first half and could certainly give them in the All-Star Game.� http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130713/SPORTS/130719549/1004

Ashie62 wrote: Still like the intro more than the game... Me, too. Seeing all the all-stars lined up on the foul lines in their different uniforms is my favorite part of the ASG.

"What the hell is there to do in Pittsburgh when Matt Harvey isn't starting?"

Why am I not surprised that there would come a point this season when the Mets would be wearing their electric blue pajama tops virtually every single day? Alternates, schmalternates.

The General All Purpose 40th Anninversary of the 1973 Mets Thread Yogi Berra has a booth at Fanfest 2013 Remembering 'Grampa' Yogi's Mets career A Yankees icon, Berra also managed Amazin's to 1973 National League pennant By Lindsay Berra / MLB.com | 7/12/2013 2:22 P.M. ET NEW YORK -- Saunter on by the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center's booth at the 2013 T-Mobile All-Star FanFest at the Jacob Javitz Center, and you'll learn about the place built in honor of Lorenzo Pietro Berra. The Museum is on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J. There, you can see the 10 glittering World Series rings Berra won as a Yankees player, take a gander at one of the 35-inch, 35-ounce Louisville Slugger R43 bats the 5-foot-8 Berra routinely wielded, and read the love letters he wrote to wife, Carmen, as a rookie. The whole place is a testament to the life and career of the Greatest Living Yankee. Which is why everyone always forgets he was also a Met. This year is the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Mets, who Berra managed to a National League pennant. It was during the '73 season that he spawned his now famous saying, "It ain't over 'til it's over." In 1974, Berra managed the NL All-Star team to victory in Pittsburgh as a Met. That ring, along with the World Series ring Berra earned as the first-base coach of the 1969 "Miracle Mets," is on display at the Museum, too. Now, I have to come clean. As the oldest of the 11 Berra grandchildren, I think the Greatest Living Yankee is also the Greatest Living Grampa, and I'm also the only family member on the board of the Museum. I grew up hearing stories about the Yankees' dynasty of the 1950s and '60s from the mouths of the participants themselves -- Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto. Those years are legendary. But I also heard stories about the 10 years my Grampa spent coaching and managing the Mets, years my Gram refers to as "just plain fun." My Gramp made lifelong friendships with fellow Mets coaches Eddie Yost, Rube Walker and Joe Pignatano. My grandma loved being the matriarch to a young group of baseball wives, and formed a fast friendship with Mets majority owner Joan Whitney Payson, who shared my grandmother's love for the arts. My dad, Larry, the oldest Berra son, went on a few roadtrips in the late 1960s as a bullpen catcher before heading into the Cape Cod League. Spring Trainings were a blast at the Colonial Inn in St. Pete Beach, Fla., where Tug McGraw, originator of the "Ya Gotta Believe!" rallying cry, tried to pick up "a hot blonde" at the pool before realizing, to his chagrin and Grampa's ire, that it was my Gram. In 1964, Grampa was the Yankees' manager. He led his team to the American League pennant, then lost to the Cardinals in a seven-game World Series. He was promptly fired, and joined the Mets for the 1965 season as a player/coach. The player part was short-lived. On May 9, just three days before his 40th birthday, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Braves, Gramp struck out three times on Tony Cloninger fastballs. It was the first time in his career he'd struck out three times in one game. This, after all, is a man who struck out only 12 times in all of 1950. He drove back home to Jersey and told my Gram he'd quit immediately after the game. "I didn't go out there to be embarrassed," he said. So yes, the Greatest Living Yankee retired as a Met. Gramp spent the rest of the 1965 season coaching under Casey Stengel, his longtime Yankees manager and mentor, who had been coaxed out of retirement to lead the Mets. He also coached under Wes Westrum, Salty Parker and Gil Hodges, and took over as the Mets' skipper in '72, when Hodges passed away. Little did Gramp know what a remarkable year 1973 would be. Midway through the season, the Mets were in last place, but in the midst of a very tight race in the NL East. When asked by the media if the season was over, Gramp replied, "It ain't over 'til it's over." And it wasn't. The Mets rallied, and they managed to win the division with a mere 82 victories and .509 winning percentage. Then, they beat the Big Red Machine in the NL Championship Series. Remember the Game 3 incident between Pete Rose and Buddy Harrelson, after Rose slid high and hard into Harrelson at second base? That pennant was Gramp's second as a manager -- one in each league. The Mets would go on to lose the World Series to the defending champion Oakland A's in seven games. Until I was a teenager, that World Series was only something I'd heard about. But in 1995, when ESPN Classic began showing footage of old games, I was in for a treat. I went for dinner at my grandparents' house in Montclair, N.J., and found Grampa in the living room, watching Game 2 of the 1973 Word Series, which went 12 innings and was, at the time, the longest in Series history. In the bottom of the 10th, as Harrelson was tagging up from third base on a Felix Millan fly ball to left, my Grampa rose out of his chair. Harrelson was called out by home-plate umpire Augie Donatelli in one of the more controversial calls in World Series history. I watched Grampa holler at the TV like his anger was as fresh as a daisy, while at the same time his side-burned, gold-framed Aviator-clad '70s self shouted in Donatelli's face on the screen. "Where'd he touch him? Where'd he touch him?" both Grampas questioned in unison. Donatelli claimed A's catcher Ray Fosse had tagged Harrelson on the rear end, but neither of the Grampas agreed. While he was still hooting at the TV, my Gram came in, rolling her eyes, to tell us dinner was ready. "Yogi, that play isn't going to end any differently, no matter how many times you watch it or how much hollering you do," she said. "Now, come eat your rigatoni." Grampa's decade-long tenure with the Mets came to an end with his firing on Aug. 5, 1975. He had a managerial record of 292 wins, 296 losses and a whole lot of fun. And that is what kids have at his Museum, which offers sports education and character-building programs for kids of all ages, along with baseball and softball camps in the summer. Grampa grew up a poor Italian immigrant kid on The Hill in St. Louis. He went on to become a Hall of Famer. His Museum and Learning Center aims to teach children that they, too, can be whatever they want to be. And that's amazin'. http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130712&content_id=53533004&vkey=news_nym&c_id=nym