David Rubin: - Baseball Once, and Baseball Again

I remember the time I had a chance to speak with the late Mets’ super-scout, Harry Minor, at a dinner honoring Scouts in Beverly Hills, CA. I was beyond excited to be able to talk with him for about 30 minutes, and we discussed everything from how Whitey Herzog wanted to remake that early 70’s Mets team before losing out on the manager’s job to Yogi Berra upon the great Gil Hodges’ death; what growing up in Long Beach, CA was like in the 30’s and 40’s; and how major league baseball brought to then-owner Charles Shipman Payson’s attention how board Chairman M Donald Grant had nearly destroyed his late wife’s beloved franchise.

Reflecting on this amazing conversation recently, I thought about what a year without baseball would have been like for a man like Minor, someone elected to multiple halls-of-fame, a man who spent just about 65 years dedicated to the game. I also thought about how baseball on the radio helped my late father learn English, listening to NY Giants games on the radio, in a house where Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian were the primary languages. Baseball was one of the first links to my dad, and it is a link I share with my best friends, my brother, and now my own grandchildren. It’s literally a through-line across my family’s US history, as my dad was the first American-born person in my family.

I think about these things, as we ponder the current COVID-19 pandemic, and things that once mattered seem to matter less, or more, or not at all. Baseball is one that, to me, matters even more, as we look for distractions from the remote lives we now lead. 

What unites us? Netflix? Not hardly. It’s a great distraction, and shows like “Money Heist” and “The Stranger” and “Fauda” have been true treats to watch, but nothing can, or will, replace the ability to turn on a new, fresh baseball game every day at 4pm Pacific Time, counting the days to Jacob deGrom’s next start, much as we recently did for “Happy Harvey Day”, much as we had for Dwight Gooden, and Tom Seaver before him. 

And yet, it’s impossible to feel angry, when so many are sick, when so many have died, to want baseball players and staffs to take a risk at getting sick or worse simply to keep us entertained, to keep our fandom alive.

Yes, I miss seeing newly-minted stars like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil doing there thing on a nightly basis; and of course, I especially miss seeing Jacob take the mound every five days and keeping the tradition of great Met’s pitching alive. But those are all selfish conceits, certainly not worthy of putting a player’s life in jeopardy, nor that of their families or friends.

We’re left to feel like the off-season never ended, like Spring has never truly shown itself while leaping headlong into the heat of summer (it’s already hit 98 this week here in sunny SoCal), and we feel like one of our arms or legs is now missing. It forces me to think about my late dad again, and how in 2015, as happy as I was to not only have the Mets reach the World Series, but in going to the 2 play-off victories against the Dodgers out here, had me remembering how I was never able to keep a promise to my dad, of bringing him out to Los Angeles one day, not to see his grandkids (which he did dozens of times), but to see a Mets vs Dodgers play-off game together, in my home of 26 years, Los Angeles. 

It never happened, but I DID have a photo of him with me at both games. And I think about the last time I visited him in a New York hospital, a week before he died, telling him how the Mets were about to acquire Johan Santana, only to have him not believe me, thinking I was trying to make a dying man feel better. 

He had lived long enough to see, in-person, Jim Bunning throw a perfect game against the Mets on Father’s Day, 1964, mere weeks before I was born, but not long enough to see that same Santana throw the one (and still, only) no-hitter FOR the Mets (shown again, recently, on MLB and SNY). And the resentment that my dad never got to see one more Mets’ World Series victory comes back again, as I face my own mortality, my own recent battle with cancer (as I discussed on this page a few months ago) remaining top-of-mind at a time where baseball isn’t part of my daily reality, for the first time in my 56 years.

My personal, private wish is simple - I want to live long enough to see 2 things; first, I want to see all 4 of my grandchildren graduate high school and go to college or pursue a career that’s their passion; and second, to see my beloved NY Mets win just one more World Series championship. My current reality, my current, BIGGER wish, is that we ALL live through this pandemic, that we all reach maximum employment again, soon, and then, and only then, that baseball becomes once more the distraction that takes us away from the realities of this daily life of ours. 

Right now, to put all of that on baseball’s shoulders isn’t fair to our beloved past-time; and until then, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO and some great baseball books will just have to do…but Pete, Jeff, Jacob and company, please stay safe, stay strong, and know that NONE of us have forgotten you, and we are counting the (unknown) days until we see you once again…

News and Notes:

~I strongly recommend a recently released book about Negro Leagues' great, Oscar Charleston, entitled "Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Player" by Jeremy Beer. So little had been known about this legendary Hall-of-Famer, someone my dad had introduced me to but not someone he had the pleasure of seeing, the way he had Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and so many other greats. This book offers more than we had ever thought we'd learn about this mysterious man, a well-written 400+ pages worth far more than the time and money investment.

~So how's that Jeff Lowrie investment looking these days? To be fair, I was all for that signing when it happened, but I couldn't understand why that money hadn't been used on the bullpen and another back-up arm for the rotation. In all fairness, with Lowrie coming off of an All-Star appearance the year before he was signed, I thought we had paid far too little for this versatile infielder. Here's hoping that if/when the season begins, he's healthy enough to at least take the field and offer some innings in place of Cano or McNeil to keep them both rested.

~That once-vaunted Mets' rotation is sadly looking like it's going to be, in 2021, a one-man road show of deGrom and a supporting cast of thousands!! 

~Will the Mets have the money to sign Marcus Stroman before he becomes a free agent next year? Do they even want him? Will they bring back Syndergaard in 2022 in his first full season back from TJ surgery? Will they have the money? Look, here's the reality - the Wilpons cannot afford a $100 million dollar-plus loss from revenues this season, and their refusal to include SNY in the sale of their team limits the list of potential buyers to maybe one! And that man,  minority owner Steven Cohen, had already dropped out, frustrated with terms that certainly weren't favorable to a fair purchase. Thankfully, the "J-Rod" group is no longer in play, but unless the Fred/Saul combo can kiss and make up with Billionaire Cohen, things are decidedly NOT looking good for the future of this organization, once we learn how to live a "new normal" when this pandemic ends. 

~I was really looking forward to seeing how some of the team's minor league arms were going to perform this spring, as Kilome, Humphrey and Szapucki were coming back from injuries and Peterson looked to bounce back from being truly underwhelming in AA ball. The reality is, at least one, if not two, of these young arms are going to be thrust into the big league team's rotation in 2022, unless somehow a huge cash infusion does, indeed, come in. Allan and Wolf are still at least 3 years away, and there aren't any other cost-controlled arms ready for promotion to the bigs in the Mets system. This is going to be perhaps the biggest challenge GM Brodie faces in his short tenure, and this test will most likely be the one to determine how his work as a GM will truly be evaluated. Here's hoping for the best, as always, as his success is literally ours, too.

~Finally, I hope you and yours are doing as well as can be during these crazy, unknown times. Put aside politics, put aside disagreements, and focus on all of the things that are blessings in our lives; the roof over our head, the food in our fridges, the love of family and friends and the convenience of things like the internet and paid entertainment services. And don't let your downtime be judged by anyone else, as you DON'T need to adopt a side-hustle, cook 15 new dishes, read 20 books and learn a foreign language in order to have your time considered a "success" - all you need to do is be okay through this, keep your mental and physical health in check, and be grateful for the many things we DO have. 

I look forward to that time, hopefully sooner than later, when we can go back to the simpler things, like just blogging about baseball...but until then, please be safe and treat yourself well. You deserve it!