Any way you slice it, Yogi Berra was our treasure

It’s over. Yogi Berra left our world, the news show told me this morning. To generations of New Yorkers, the man born Lawrence Peter Berra on May 12, 1925 was forever endearing. For the way he looked, squatted square behind home plate with the gated mask over that likeable mug and lefty stance dangerously over…

My 15 seconds of Mets fan fame comes when I’m not looking

They’ve flashed a cute picture of some kid wearing Mets garb on SNY every game this season as my dear Karen and I have watched our squad. The feature is called the Data Strong Fan of the Game. I finally grew weary of all these youngsters getting a shout-out from Gary Cohen on TV. I…

Reading between the lines with Yoenis Céspedes, kids

Sometimes sports isn’t just about what happens out there in the heat of competition. Sure, it’s the winning and losing that brings fans to a fever pitch and puts the games on TV and makes the money such an important element to it all. So much of American society is hooked on this screaming, passionate…

At the Blog of Funny Names, there’s a Festivus …

How often do the worlds of the New York Mets and Jerry Seinfeld collide? More than you’d think. The funny guy grew up on Long Island, a couple towns and a few years from me. He, too, has remained an avid Mets rooter. Remember first baseman Keith Hernandez showing up on Jerry’s sitcom on a…

I’m glad there’s crying in baseball

My Mets lost last night, but even during a pennant race, that wasn’t the big story. Wilmer Flores got tears in his eyes. On the field. During the game. He couldn’t hide it from the TV cameras. There is crying baseball, Tom Hanks’ crusty manager Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own. And that…

Pete Rose, the sight of you makes me sad, and a bit angry

As all of baseball returns to the diamonds across America today to commence the races for division titles and wild cards and the playoffs that will lead us to the World Series, I’d like to take one more deep All-Star Break breath and ponder Pete Rose with you all. Yeah, the American League team will…

Planely speaking, Citi Field was on the right path

On the inbound path to Citi Field, my dear wife Karen and I along with fellow New York Mets lover and good friend Steve Vicik Jr. and his lovely wife Kristen passed a whole lot of access to La Guardia Airport. Yes, Flushing Meadows is right next to one of the Big Apple’s major air…

Plenty of neat places at Mets’ Citi Field

The first time my dear wife Karen and I caught a game at Citi Field, they won behind a one-hitter by R.A. Dickey, the day after Johann Santana pitched the first and still only no-hitter in our beloved New York Mets’ history. But that was on a tour bus trip from Syracuse just a little…

Wet, those six innings were

We enjoyed the five hours we spent at Citi Field in Flushing, N.Y. this past Saturday, my dear wife Karen and I with our New York Mets-loving friend Steve Vicik Jr. and his lovely wife Kristen. But it was wet. How rainy was it as our Mets and the Cincinnati Reds played to that 1-1…

Wow, the Mets have memories

You walk into the main entrance of the New York Mets’ Citi Field and into the Rotunda. There’s an elaborate tribute to Jackie Robinson, the first to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Many considered these Metropolitans to be a replacement for his Brooklyn Dodgers, who’d left for Los Angeles, when they were…