Mack's Apples - 11-16-17 - Carlos Beltran, Larry Gall, Kaden Polcovich, Campbell's Field

Good morning.

It’s hard to imagine Carlos Beltran not going into the Hall Of Fame for any other team than the Mets. Sure, there will be some debate whether or not others should get in before him, and yes, maybe the Mets did give up on this guy a little too early, but he did play his best ball as a Met.

Beltran played 20 seasons in the majors, seven with the Mets. It was easiest the longest stint with any team and produced his most productive numbers.

I remember Carlos as being a quiet person in the Mets spring training clubhouse. He wasn’t sullen, like Oliver Perez was, or the ‘Clubhouse Clown’ like Jose Reyes. No, he was just quiet and kept to himself.

His locker was on the back row with all the stars like Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and David Wright were. Reporters weren’t allowed to roam back there. You usually could get away with an unauthorized question or two with the guys in the ‘front row’, especially the rookies right in front of the area where we all were allowed to congregate. When you did get to go back there, as part of a gaggle, Beltran kept to himself.

I never got to ask him a question because I was so far down the totem pole for that gaggle. Jay Horowitz, PR Director, never allowed me as part of a gaggle. I was a reporter for a Class A Affiliate and nothing more.

On, and off the field, Beltran did his business and went on his way. This is how he chose to play pro ball and everyone respected it simply because of his talent.

I loved the day the Mets traded him to San Francisco. He was in his move year and batting .289 at the time. There was no indication that he was going to sit down with the Mets to sign a new deal and we had the opportunity to steal the Giants number one prospect, SP Zack Wheeler. In a tradeline deal. This was truly a win/win deal.

Still, I did miss him and found myself sneaking onto the Baseball Cube site over the years to check out what he was doing while playing for the Cardinals, Yankees, Rangers, and Astros. The 32 home runs he hit for the Cardinals in 2012 especially stung.

We wish him well and I do expect to read about him helping his people recover in Puerto Rico. Let’s remember that 20 kids from his baseball academy in Florida for Puerto Rico prospects were drafted by major league teams.

Larry Gall turned his love of baseball into acclaimed coaching career –

Like any other young man who grew up playing baseball, Larry Gall had dreams of becoming a major leaguer. He even had a shot at playing pro ball in the Detroit Tigers' system, but it came with a high risk and no guarantee of a high reward.

"When it was my senior year at Scottville (High School), the scout for the Detroit Tigers approached me at a tryout and asked me if I would join the Tigers,"

Kentucky baseball dismisses highly  touted freshman -

One of Kentucky’s top baseball signees in the 2017 class is no longer with the program.

Kaden Polcovich, a freshman infielder from Edmond, Oklahoma, was dismissed from the team according to a UK spokesperson. 

Polcovich told The Cats’ Pause he’ll enroll at Northwest Florida State College for the spring semester. He plans to pursue a professional career after one season at Northwest Florida State College.

Polcovich was the highest-rated high school position player in Kentucky’s 2017 class. He was ranked No. 282 nationally by Perfect Game. Baseball America ranked Polcovich as the No. 9 draft eligible second baseman prior to the 2017 MLB Draft.

Details why players like this are dismissed are usually kept hush hush.

The point to walk away with here is whatever it was, it has nothing to do with his talent on the baseball field. We’ll make a mental note of this name and come back to it next year to see what his mock rankings are in November 2018.

The downward spiral of a $21M baseball stadium built on taxpayers' backs, explained. Campbell's Field -

The 6,400-seat baseball stadium formerly known as Campbell's Field has been without a major tenant since 2015, when the Camden Riversharks minor-league baseball team folded under a pile of debt. Nearly a billion dollars of development continued on the waterfront around it, but the stadium, still used for Rutgers University Camden's Division III baseball team, seemed to be an afterthought.

That changed late last month after South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross predicted the stadium would be demolished and $35 million state taxpayers shelled out to develop and build it would go whoosh, down the drain.

This was just a shame. This is a good stadium in a good baseball town that was doomed because of New Jersey botched financing.

The only business this state ever seems to understand is gambling and they even screwed that up.