Remember 1969: Remember's Ramblings

Remember's Reminiscing - a Prologue

As the excellent and prolific Mack's author Tom is taking a step back from writing as frequently as he has been recently, I have been convinced (coerced?) to step in and write a once-a-week piece, to be published every Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.  

I am going to try to go down a little different path.   While Mack does a great job looking forwards with his upcoming high school and college draft options, I am going to do something I very seldom do - look backwards.   (By nature, I am a forward looking optimist). 

Seeing as how my writing handle is Remember1969, and as we are now still very much alive in that World Series race, doing a quick look back to that magical '69 October could be my very first article next week.

I may get in the groove of finding a random player, manager, or coach (or two) from yore (perhaps one celebrating a birthday that week?) each week and writing a short topical biography.   I think that from the list of 1252 players that have played in one or more games for the Mets over the last 63 years, I should be able to find a few that you will remember fondly, not so fondly, or perhaps not even at all.  

I will probably add a Remember's Rambling section to the bottom of each piece to discuss current events - signing, trades, maybe touch any winter league stats/standouts, etc.   I will try to stay away from the hypothetical and focus on the actual.   We all play armchair general manager much of the winter - I feel that is Reese's corner and will not go there in my original columns.  

So, stay tuned for my first real piece next week.   I will call my series "Remember's Reminiscing".

Remember's Ramblings for the Week of October 8

You guys have all done a great job doing reviews of the exciting week we have just concluded.  Since there was no game last night, nothing more to add to that.   As for the week ahead, I do like the chances for the Mets.   They are a resilient bunch.  

Sunday evening's game was a heart-breaker, but this team bounces back quickly (see this past Thursday after the Wednesday loss drawing them to 1-1 in the best of three).    Having the home field advantage for the NLDS (at this point) is big and there is something going on this year that just feels good.   

For history, there have been two teams that have won the World Series the first year following the firing of Buck Showalter.  Could this be the third??  (for the record, there were also two other Buck firings that did not result in championships).   Did I catch this little tidbit in a Mack's article?   If not, and you haven't heard it, care to guess which teams were the winners?   add to comments below.

The starting pitching should be in great shape - all rested up and on regular (or longer) start intervals.  I like the fact that the Mets have three rested lefties on the ready for the lefty-dangerous Phillies line-up. 

A tip from the late, great Bob Murphy:  "Fasten your seatbelts!"   We're in for quite a ride this week!