David Rubin - Has That Black Cat Come Back- Or Has He Been Here All Along??

Mets News & Notes: 50 Years After ‘69

By David Rubin

Oh, The Cat Came Back…

It’s not just that this team is nearly impossible to write about right now; it’s that, 50 years after winning their first World Series, this organization remains mired in a one step up, two steps back cycle that cannot seem to be broken. It makes you wonder, when good players with other teams become Mets and cannot regain their past level of success time after time, whether that Black Cat from 1969 that haunted the Cubs has somehow given birth to generations of little Black Cats that are now haunting the Mets! That old saying, “you can’t keep track of the players without a scorecard” has never been more true than it has over this past week with the promotion/demotion/waivers/injured reserve flurry of activity that we’ve borne witness to. When I posited, prior to the season, that the most important moves that Brodie had made might have been the populating of Syracuse with the likes of Rajai Davis, Carlos Gomez, etc, I certainly didn’t think 

that on May 23^rd, these players would be called upon to play such an active role on the big league roster let alone STARTING GAMES!!!! Imagine, however, if Brodie had used the same approach as Sandy had? We’d have an outfield that would’ve made the current San Francisco Giants look like they still had Jim Ray Hart, Willie Mays & Felipe Alou shagging flies in Candlestick! Imagine being JEALOUS of an outfield featuring Jay Payton, Timo Perez and Darryl Hamilton!! Thankfully, Brodie has learned from past mistakes, and we have to hope that Conforto, McNeil and Nimmo return soon from the IR (still DL to me!) with no complications.

Old Before Their Time…

I still remember wondering what happened to Tommie Agee after the 1972 season. He was traded to the Astros, and wound up his career at the still-young age of 31 with the St Louis Cardinals. In 1970, just one season after his legendary catch in the ’69 World Series, Agee led all NL Outfielders in putouts and range factor, and won the first Gold Glove by a Mets outfielder in team history. A mere 3 years later, he seemingly aged overnight and was out of the game. 31 remains an interesting number to me – it’s the age I was when I got married, and it’s the age of current Mets catcher, Wilson Ramos. The way Ramos has looked so far this season, it makes you wonder if he has whatever Agee had- “aging-fast-itis.” I’m praying it’s not the case, as without either a minor leaguer to replace him or a suitable catcher available via trade (or even free agency any time soon) it’s imperative that the Venezuelan native returns to the form that has made him one of the best at his position over the past 7 years. And, after all- I’m still married after all these years, so 31 CAN be a lucky number!

Gil for the Hall in 2020

One of my parent’s best friends, the late Marty Adler, was perhaps the biggest Brooklyn Dodger fan of all time. He even created the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame, housed in the basement of the school he taught in (in Brooklyn, natch) – and the majority of the memorabilia was supplied by Marty’s own collection. If you were lucky enough to have a chat with Marty about baseball, within a minute or so he’d let you know about the biggest injustice in the game- the fact that one Gil Hodges was not yet a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame! Marty passed in 2013, and in the last conversation that I had with him, quite a few years earlier, he remained convinced that Gil would, indeed, be admitted to that gorgeous museum in Cooperstown, NY. Once again, Gil’s name is going to come up for election, as the special committee that inducts players from the pre-1970’s era will meet next year, as they now do every five years, and the hope runs high that they will finally correct this grievous error and allow Gil to enter the gates of the HOF once and for all. After all, if there IS a heaven, I can guarantee that Gil’s been there since that horrible day in 1972 when he left us far too young…and his lovely widow, Joan, 93 years young, deserves to see this wrong righted while she can still appreciate it. 

I’m not going to argue Gil’s credentials here- they’re far beyond reproach. I’ll just say that, as a paying member of the Hall for many years, I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to send in my yearly check if this isn’t rectified with this vote. Like the book title said, once more I’ll be “Praying for Gil Hodges.”

They Said It Couldn’t Be Done- But they DID!

Due to some family issues, I’m currently still only three-quarters of the way through Wayne Coffey’s excellent book on the ’69 team, “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done” – but I WILL say that, combined with Shamsky and Sherman’s excellent “After The Miracle,” Mets’ fans are in for literary candy the likes of which we haven’t experienced in a long, long time! I’m just waiting for ’69 Champ Ron Swoboda’s book to drop in mid-June!!

Lose Three, Win Four, and Mickey’s Not Thrown Out the Door

From the “much ado about nothing” department, Brodie’s press conference this past Monday only served to keep Mickey Callaway’s status as one to be speculated about for the remainder of this season. He gave the manager a vote of confidence that only referenced the proverbial “foreseeable future”- coming on the heels of three straight losses to the hapless Marlins, most people thought that, as of last Sunday night, Callaway’s firing was a mere fait accomplis. It wasn’t, and, quite frankly, with as little control over the actual team as any Mets’ manager has (or, for that matter, most managers), and considering the fact that Mickey doesn’t actually PLAY any position, his ability to influence game outcomes might be as minimal as any manager who has ever worn the orange and blue. That being said, I remain unconvinced that Mickey is either the manager of today or of the future, but I’m certainly not in favor of firing him to placate an angry fan-base. And, as bad as we looked Sunday afternoon, after losses in three games that we all convinced ourselves would be sure-fire victories, we came to play against the Nationals and beat them four straight, led by home runs in the last 2 games from none less than- Rajai Davis and Carlos Gomez!!!!

Let’s hope that those four victories over those pesky Nats are something to build upon, as we return to health next week.