One heck of a road game

Georgia on my mind. My dear wife Karen used her card points to buy me plane tickets to visit my great friend KP and his fantastic wife Sue in their near-Atlanta home. I’ve been talking about that trip south in a spring month since, well, pretty much soon after they moved from Central New York…

One great player, HoJo was

The good, old days. Howard Johnson’s first two major league managers were Sparky Anderson for the Detroit Tigers and Davey Johnson for the New York Mets, a member of the audience at the Syracuse Mets open house reminded him during the Q and A session Saturday. Could there be a more buttoned-down or loosey-goosey managers…

Meet the Met

He’ll sign until … Howard Johnson was a big part of the New York Mets’ 1986 World Series championship squad. Befitting that hero status, Syracuse Mets fans filled the NBT Bank Metropolitan Room for Johnson’s open house autograph session. He signed smiled, smiled and signed. In fact, officials had to cut the session short to…

Meet Mrs. Met

Our new friend. What with all the Syracuse Mets games we attend as a family, my dear wife Karen smiled quite widely when presented with this handmade gift. Elisabeth worked hard on Mrs. Met. And she looks great on her perch next to Otto the Orange.

I see spring on my living room TV

2022 NL batting champion Jeff McNeil at the plate. One benefit for this retired guy is flipping on the weekday early spring training game televised by SNY for my New York Mets. I watched on Thursday afternoon. I hardly cared that they lost to bitter NL East rival, the Atlanta Braves. The games don’t count…

When the hat fits

Ready for winter. It did not take long for terrific daughter Elisabeth to final her second version of my New York Mets Big Apple home run winter hat. It fits my noggin’ perfectly. Now I have a great winter hat for my part of the world. Fantastic Christmas gift, indeed. Thank you so much for…

Jake de Grom looks pretty fine in Syracuse

The moment word got out that New York Mets star pitcher Jake de Grom was likely to take a rehab start in our very own Syracuse Mets’ NBT Bank Stadium, my dear wife Karen said, yes, thank you, she would like to see that moment with her own eyes. So I drove over on my…

There was Tom Seaver and the rest of the Mets

Oh, I liked the Mets before Tom Seaver arrived on the mound in 1967. It’s just that as a young boy growing up on Long Island, I didn’t know better than to endure all that losing from my very first favorite team. And then this pitcher came to Shea Stadium from Southern California and showed…

I can always support my team

My dear wife Karen spotted me admiring my New York Mets in the batters box, on the base paths, in the field, toward their spikes. Some of them were wearing cool socks. Now I have a pair. Let’s Go Mets indeed, even in January. Even after this week’s managerial change as part of the sign-stealing…

I’m ready for my next Mets moments

My dear wife Karen and terrific daughter Elisabeth hit the mark with their birthday gifts. Karen remembered how much I loved visiting memorable Mets exhibits when we visited the Hall of Fame a while back. Mike Piazza, enshrined in Cooperstown. Tom Seaver, in the Hall before him. Now part of my gear. I will be…