MET YEAR 8 A.D. (After Doubleday)

Yes Met fans...

welcome to my continuing dissertation about

Met Year 8 A.D. ~ AFTER DOUBLEDAY.

This morning on Boomer and Carton (660WFAN) a caller reminded me of some pretty cutting words our former co-owner of the Mets made as parting shots against his soon to be former partner and about the Mets in general.  We need to go back to 2003.  The Mets were pretty bad.  Actually they were in chaos not much unlike today.

Nelson Doubleday sold his half of the New York Metropolitans in a very contentious deal to his co-partner Fred Wilpon.  On the way out, so to say, Mr. Doubleday shared a few thoughts with the Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey one day.

 A Google search instantly brought up the ESPN article chronicling Nelson Doubleday's loose lips.  He was always good for a crack line back then regardless.  I also remind everyone Doubleday wanted to renovate Shea Stadium.  Wilpon always insisted on his shrine to the Dodgers.  This bares out when you read the sarcasm when referring to John Franco. 

Background; Fred Wilpon is from Brooklyn, went to High School in my neighborhood of Bensonhurst and played with Sandy Koufax on that H.S. team.  Oh yea...and he was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan.

OK, the ESPN article:

On Jeff Wilpon who was beginning to have a burgeoning role within the organization:

“Mr. Jeff Wilpon has decided that he’s going to learn how to run a baseball team and take over at the end of the year… Run for the hills, boys. I think probably all those baseball people will bail… Jeff sits there by himself like he’s King Tut waiting for his camel.”


On the 2003 season ~ “I think it’s been awful out there,  - I don’t want to fire shells at somebody, but we’re 22 games out. It’s so close that it gets you nervous. We might fall into a minor league. We might not even make it into Triple-A.”

Nelson Doubleday said exactly what he was feeling this day and apparently had no want of holding back his feelings, and making them quite known.  

Doubleday doesn't even go to the games anymore because Jeff is there.  Doubleday really couldn't stand him.


About Jeff, Doubleday said, “Jeff sits there by himself like he’s King Tut waiting for his camel,” Doubleday told the paper. “Hump one. Hump two. They like that, two for the price of one.”

Doubleday also criticized the Mets for how they handled the Mike Piazza situation. The Mets want Piazza to learn to play first base to ease the physical workload of his catching duties.  “I like the skill and finesse with which they told Mike he is going to be a first baseman,” Doubleday told the paper. “That’s like an over sized truck trying to get through the Midtown Tunnel. ‘Here’s your hat. What’s your hurry?’ “  Is there anything today to campare and contrast with?  You Betcha!  How about the equally tactless manner they treated Todd Hundley.  Look what they did between Kaz Matsui and Reyes.  Look how they botched the Randolph firing.....ect.

This next comment was just oozing with sarcasm.  Because of Fred Wilpon I'm sure Nelson was up to his earlobes in old Brooklyn stories as told to by Fred.  Wilpon was so under Doubleday's skin...the most commonly word used to describe Nelson's feeling back then towards Wilpon was how "insufferable" he found him.   So on John Franco Doubleday offered this:

- On 42-year-old reliever John Franco, who recently returned from major elbow surgery: “There’s a great pitcher. The other night, it didn’t look like he could throw it through the hole in a life preserver. But he’s from Brooklyn! Watch out! He goes home to Ebbets Field every night. He takes a ride on the Cyclone.”

Please See the Complete ESPN article from JUNE 2003
as it was written

HERE

 as it is clear mine is a very poor redaction of ESPN's article. 

So please , check out theirs to see how it really reads out.

.

I've said so many times the owner with the better baseball acumen of this organization left

with Nelson Doubleday.  Welcome to MET Year 8 A.D. folks.

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/