Zvon

Part II: http://www.gothambaseball.com/2009/09/the-new-york-mets-destined-to-fail-part-2/ ty sir I don't read the end of books before I read the beginning and middle as well.

I'm not gonna quote that but, oooooo, sweet.

GO and stay out of the bazaar DP!

Mex17 wrote: What Zvon posted (and Frayed Knot paraphrased) is what happened. . whatever word or term you want to use to describe it is fine by me. But the basic truth of it is that it is not what Doubleday intended to have take place. The greater, and more important, truth is that the result of it has had a severe negative impact on the team's ability to succeed. Doubleday made things better via means of passive noninterference. Wilpon then attempted to re-invent a wheel that had already produced a World Champion. Which brings me back to my original point. Despite everything, I am still holding out hope that they can learn from their mistakes. Methinks that there is a jumble at the top right now. If one of the two Wilpons were to excuse himself from the stage voluntarily, and if authority was then properly shifted down the chain a bit (for real this time), then perhaps we can get back on the right track. By every account, in spite of the rather ruthless business tactic of 24 years ago, these are good men with noble intentions. But another "Apology Day" media blitz one day after the season ends ain't gonna cut the mustard this time. Fundamental change is needed. These could have been proofread a little better for grammar mistakes here and there (sorry, Healy, but it's true), but I don't think that the content was pulled out of the sky just for grins and giggles. http://www.baseballdigest.com/2009/07/08/the-new-york-mets-destined-to-fail-part-i/ http://www.baseballdigest.com/2009/07/08/the-new-york-mets-destined-to-fail-part-i/ http://www.baseballdigest.com/2009/10/05/the-new-york-mets-destined-to-fail-part-3/ ty for these articles Mex. Can you possibly fix that so part two is available? There are two Pt. 1s and a 3.

I think an apt way to put it is that Wilpon elbowed his way in, and possibly elbowed Doubleday out. I need to read more about the 2003 bidness.

He strikes out a bunch! He's sucked since the All-Star Break! A month-and-a-half-of-putrid obviously means he's ordinary! TRADE DAVID WRIGHT! Or not. (Megdal for GM, indeed.) The grim truth is evident for all to see: David Wright's .648 OPS from July 1 through August 15 is no different than the times other third basemen proved they simply weren't capable of being franchise performers, day-in and day-out. The definitively inconsistent Mike Schmidt season has to be 1980, when the Hall of Fame third baseman hit .286 with 48 home runs, a 199 OPS+, and led the Phillies to a World Series victory. Unfortunately, his year will be forever marred by the period from June 17 through August 10, 1980, when he hit just .196/.319/.406, marking him as an inconsistent player in the eyes of all of baseball then and forever. He further cemented this distinction by following that period with a season-ending run of .311/.405/.661, a devastating display of sometime hitting. Eddie Mathews let the baseball world know just how inconsistent he'd be at age 21, hitting 47 home runs at third base while posting an OPS+ of 171 in 1953. And yet, from June 4 through June 30, 1953, Erratic Eddie hit just .232/.301/.438, after starting the season with a line of .333/.453/.730 through June 3. Talk about unreliable! Very nice article. Puts things in their proper perspective.

I hope we all have our dickeys ready.

And I screwed up by only asking for one more run. I'm new at being a Buckethead. Bucketheads can ask for more.

Your fuckin kidden me. I hate to say it but I like Pence cuz he so does not look like a ballplayer and every time I see him he's playing good baseball.

Nice DP. Who's this guy in for Fulchino? Melancon ?

One run guys. Can ya get one freakin run please. Fulchino has given up 23 runs in around 36 innings pitched. Come-on already. Ouch. One out double by an Asstro.

Great throw by Beltran.Nice quick tag by Tejeda. Nice freaking play and Bourne ultimately loses his identity at second through supremacy.

How could it feel for a kid like Thole to be catching a pitcher like Santana? I mean, I'd be like WOW. K, Wright still backin up but he fields that on solid legs and gets the out. Now lets go get some more runs Mets!

Settle down Johan, we need you tonight. The real good you.

I've been reading this and all the links and I must say I was very ignorant of the situation surrounding the Wilpon/Doubleday partnership. I had read snippets here and there over the years but never really looked at the full picture. I remember reading once that Doubleday was more of a "baseball guy" than Wilpon. I don't see any evidence of that here. From what I'm reading Doubleday may not have made things any better. Or any worse. I can't say at this point. One thing is clear is that we would not now have a stadium that pays tribute to Ebbets Field if he had his way. I found this interesting. And that bad TV deal makes me think he thought the team had more of a Phillies kind of market base as opposed to comparing the team to the Yankees model. That observation could be off base but interesting to me. I wanna learn more about all of this. Please continue this conversation. (dgwphotography wrote: Wasn't Fred the major player in buying the team from the DeRoulet's? IIRC, Fred didn't have the needed capital, and brought the proposal to Nelson, and had to convince him to buy in. From a linked article here: When the team went on the market in 1980, Mr. Wilpon was a successful real estate developer, but he hardly had the kind of wealth necessary to buy a team. He approached his friend John Pickett, then the owner of the New York Islanders, about mounting a bid. Mr. Pickett declined, but he did match him with another member of the Long Island aristocracy: Mr. Doubleday. In the beginning, Doubleday Publishing owned 95 percent of the team. Mr. Doubleday gained a reputation as a hands-off owner who let general manager Frank Cashen make all the baseball decisions. The strategy paid off in 1986, when a Mets team filled with young players cultivated by Mr. Cashen won the World Series. But around the same time, Mr. Wilpon was outmaneuvering Mr. Doubleday, parlaying his 5 percent stake into half-ownership. At the time, Mr. Doubleday was selling the publishing company that owned the Mets to the German firm Bertelsmann A.G. But Mr. Wilpon had a right of first refusal in the event of any sale of the team, and his lawyers made it clear he was ready to exercise it. In a settlement, the two men agreed to become equal partners, paying Bertelsmann $81 million for the team. It has been said that Mr. Doubleday never forgave Mr. Wilpon.

Whoops. Sorry.

Well, if it is then we have just suffered a perfect night gentlemen. Gah, Braves won. But still.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: "Long Halloween" (along with "Dark Victory") is from Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale, and is one of the more recent great Batman story arcs. Good stuff, and available in trade paper, too. Thnx 4 the info LWFS. I am looking foward to reading this now.