There are only a few issues on earth extra highly effective than nostalgia.
On Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, followers had been using the excessive of watching their favourite gamers from yesteryear placed on a Mets jersey yet another time.
Everyone from Jay Hook (the primary successful pitcher in franchise historical past) to Daniel Murphy (who was nonetheless a significant leaguer as lately as 2020) had been readily available to have a good time the staff’s Amazin’ historical past. During the pregame introductions, bona fide superstars like Darryl Strawberry and Pedro Martinez drew among the loudest ovations, however so too did beloved cult figures like Bartolo Colon and Endy Chavez.
“We didn’t go out there to evaluate our talent or evaluate who was out there,” Martinez mentioned within the postgame press convention. “I can inform you, there was an enormous quantity of respect from the youngest to the oldest. To have the chance to share my time with a few of my heroes from the ‘80s, and be able to share it with some of my ex-teammates from the Mets, it’s a heck of an honor.
“I’m extremely proud to have been part of the Mets.”
There was additionally a baseball recreation to play. Every baseball recreation wants managers, and the Mets referred to as up Joe Torre, Willie Randolph, Terry Collins and Bobby Valentine to do the honors. Torre, ceaselessly related to the Yankees’ dynasty of the late Nineties and early 2000s, acquired a couple of jest-filled boos from Mets’ followers nonetheless reeling from the 2000 World Series.
The Miracles, co-managed by Collins and Valentine, beat Torre and Randolph’s Amazins in a powerful 8-1 win. The Miracles had the posh of taking part in three guys who had been very a lot nonetheless in recreation form — Murphy, Chavez and Jose Reyes — they usually ended the three-inning recreation with 14 hits to their opponents’ three. The Miracles had been additionally sparked by Mookie Wilson, who made a twisting catch on a deep fly ball in left subject and lashed a line drive on the plate that went all the way in which to the wall.
“It was very fun today until I had to relive facing Pedro, which I didn’t want to do,” Robin Ventura mentioned afterward.
The followers acquired just about all the pieces they’d have wished from their Mets’ heroes, save for a Colon at-bat. Colon, Martinez, Dwight Gooden, Jesse Orosco and Al Leiter every acquired a activate the mound, and when Leiter walked Mike Piazza on 4 pitches, the previous teammates agreed to let him keep within the field till he put a ball in play. That led to a sacrifice fly, which was far more in regards to the crowd desirous to see how far Piazza can nonetheless hit a baseball reasonably than the catcher making an attempt to get a run in from third.
The crowd additionally went predictably hog wild for the 1986 alumni, which not solely included Strawberry, Gooden, Wilson and Orosco, but in addition Keith Hernandez, Ray Knight, Tim Teufel, Howard Johnson and extra.
“We used to get together every year,” Knight mentioned of the 1986 staff. “As time has passed, we’ve had a few people that stopped showing up, people that were in jail. It just kind of stopped. [But] any time that you’ve gone to battle the way that we did, and accomplished things together as a team, there’s a closeness.”
Old Timers’ Day, a slam dunk occasion so far as followers are involved, must be right here to remain for so long as Steve and Alex Cohen are prepared to fund it. Apart from simply getting the possibility to see so many Mets’ legends in a single place, the occasion additionally results in the form of childlike pleasure that reminds everybody why they fell in love with baseball within the first place.
“Today was just a different deal, to be able to be around all these great players and know that we all have put on the same uniform,” mentioned Knight, MVP of the 1986 World Series. “It’s a fraternity, and it’s strong. When you’re sitting there, it’s almost like you’re a little boy again, it really is.”
“It’s just been a terrific experience,” mentioned staff president Sandy Alderson. “I think that is true for the players, who are all here today. I think it’s true, certainly, for the organization. But most importantly, perhaps, it’s true for the fans. It was tremendously rewarding that there were so many fans in the ballpark when those introductions started.”
The incontrovertible fact that Old Timers’ Day even occurred in any respect — and included a recreation, one thing that the crosstown Yankees don’t do anymore, which delighted Martinez — is a testomony to simply how a lot has modified underneath the Cohen possession.
“This organization is totally different than it was when I was here,” Knight mentioned, noting that Steve Cohen got here and personally addressed the Old Timers earlier than they took the sphere. “The way the team is run, and the way that the owners treated players and made them feel a part of everything, you just feel it. There’s new kids in town, no doubt about it, and it starts at the top.”
Knight, an unquestioned pillar of one in all simply two groups in franchise historical past to win a World Series, was his true unfiltered self on Saturday. He used his platform to voice his displeasure for the earlier house owners, who he says by no means invited him again for even a ceremonial first pitch, not to mention coordinated an Old Timers’ Day.
“I love the New York Mets. I don’t like the Wilpons or any of that deal.”
With a profitable Old Timers’ Day within the bag, plus a roster that ought to contend for a 3rd World Series ring, Saturday appeared like a definitive turning of the web page from the Wilpons to the Cohens.
That’s one thing that each technology of Mets historical past can embrace.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com