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1/21/21

SAVAGE VIEWS – Nothing to Say, Except

 


January 21, 2021

This was the week that I thought I had nothing to say.  With not much happening in the free-agent market I wondered what to write about.  That you, Jared Porter.

What a difference a week makes.  In my last post, I was bubbling over the Mets front office and being ecstatic over the hirings of Jared Porter and Zack Scott.  My thought process was that the Mets had finally brought a sense of stability to an organization that did not seem to prize that trait.  Turns out Porter was a bit of a pervert who was guilty of sending unwanted sex-texts to a female reporter.  Apparently, ESPN knew the details and were on the verge of exposing him (pun intended).  You have to wonder who was responsible for the vetting process.

During these dreary winter days, I only get out to play golf a couple of times a week and only if the temperatures hits at least 40 degrees.  Leaves a fair amount of time to get caught up on my reading. I just finished reading “Tales From The Dugout” by Carl Erskine.

Carl, Willie Mays and I have something in common.  We were all at the Polo Grounds On October 3rd, 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit “the shot heard round the world”.

Books like this make a nice trip down memory lane for someone like me who lived through that era and who is old enough to remember certain prominent events.  Everyone recalls the great catch Willie made against Vic Wertz at the Polo Grounds.  Less remembered is the time he threw Billy Cox out from CF.  Billy was on third when the batter hit a line drive to center about 320 feet away.  Willie dove, caught the ball and came up throwing.  He got Billy by at least 10 feet.  I saw that on TV.

Carl and Jackie Robinson were huge friends.   Carl believes that Jackie never got the recognition of being the great civil right leader that he was.   Jackie helped paved the way for Martin Luther King, Jr. but history simply recognizes Jackie as a great athlete who broke the color barrier.  Wonder if the reason is because Jackie was a Republican who was part of Nelson Rockefeller’s team.  I got to meet Jackie and NAR in July 1972 in a parking garage on West 49th Street a block from Rockefeller Center.  Jackie died three months later.  This was a year before I started working for the Rockefellers.

Trouble with being very old is that you sometimes remember things others have forgotten.  In discussing Tommy LaSorta, Carl says Tommy never made it to the majors.  In fact, I recall Tommy being brought up by the Dodgers in 1954.

It’s somewhat amazing that I can remember journeymen players from 65-70 years ago while having trouble recalling the Mets roster from two years ago. It was 70 years ago that the Dodgers traded Gene Hermanski, Eddie Miksis and Bruce Edwards to the Cubs to get Andy Pafco.  Names that have been long forgotten remain on my mind.

I guess the next move after the Jays signed Springer is for the Mets to go after JBB.  If so, would also need to add a right hand hitter such as Marisnick to platoon.  Wonder if the trade for Lucchesi takes them out of the mix for Hand?

Ray

3 comments:

  1. Ray, your Bobby Thompson game was incredible to be at. I was working in 1977 at a client where Ken Griffey’s sister in law worked. He had tickets for the series. She liked one of our guys and offered us the tix, at cost. We drew straws, I got game 6, and saw Reggie hit 3 HRs on 3 swings.

    Jackie Robinson did so much more than just break baseball’s color barrier. He was remarkable.

    I worked on a coop audit at Brown Harris Stevens. The building I audited on 5th Ave and the low 60’s had a full floor Rockefeller penthouse. He bought the adjoining floor in the building next door and combined the two spaces into a single mega penthouse in Manhattan. With money you can do almost everything...even buy the NY Mets.

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  2. Great stories guys but it does mean we're getting a little older ( a little LOL). My real early memory was going to Ebbets field with the Cub Scouts in either 55 or 56 and only being interested in the peanuts and popcorn and ice cream. I was such silly boy back then had I known I would have searched everywhere for that Mickey Mantle rookie card that sold for 5.2 million the other day.

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  3. I was born a die hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan. I was 10 years old when i played hookey to catch that infamous game.

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