

Saturday will be the clearest expression of that yet. “It’s really by everyday involvement and conversation.” I think that’s of interest to Steve and Alex in that sense.”Īlderson said that while the Cohens haven’t formally pushed the team’s history, they “have freed the organization to pursue that and have done so through their own interest in the history of the Mets.” The Mets are as they exist today and as we see them, but there’s a long story - a saga, if you will - behind them. I think, to some extent, that applies to the Mets. “Certainly the history behind a work of art can add a tremendous amount of texture to one’s appreciation of it. “It’s the provenance of a painting that is often the most interesting aspect of a particular piece,” Alderson said.

Heck, earlier this year they embraced history by honoring Horwitz, the team historian.Īlderson pointed to the Cohens’ art collection. They’ve held days for Gil Hodges and Keith Hernandez, they’ve poked fun at the informal one celebrated across the sport for Bobby Bonilla and they’ve brought back uniforms beloved to a certain segment of the fan base. However, in the 21 months since the Cohens bought the team from the Wilpons, the Mets have made significant strides in their alumni relations, embracing all aspects of a history both bumbling and bewitching. Neither Steve nor Alex Cohen was made available for this story upon request.

“There seems like there’s a more of a feeling of inclusion now and appreciation in this organization that hasn’t been there for a while,” said pitcher Ed Lynch, one of the 19 members of the ’86 team returning. “It’s been fully embraced by the organization, but it’s been fully embraced by those attending as well, and the sheer number reflects that,” said Alderson. “We just thought with 60 years of Mets baseball, we wanted to make it just Mets - not just other teams. “This is all 65 Mets players,” said Jay Horwitz, the Mets’ vice president of alumni relations and team historian. Sixty-five former players and managers will be on hand at Citi Field on Saturday when the Mets last held Old-Timers Day, 28 of them had yet to become Mets. It’s been 28 years since the last Old-Timers Day in Queens, nearly half of the franchise’s life span. It is different now, in the franchise’s 60th anniversary season, under an ownership that grew up with the Mets and not their predecessors in Brooklyn. Back then, there was not enough Mets history worth celebrating. Antecedents of it either honored the Mets’ National League forebears, the Giants and Dodgers, or pitted a group of Mets against a squad of former All-Stars. It will be an Old-Timers Day unlike any of its forerunners in the franchise’s history. “It’s possible it could be one of those seminal events that we remember for quite a while,” said team president Sandy Alderson, “not because it’s the only one we have for quite a while, but because it’s the first, because it’s so well-attended, because the novelty of it given where the Mets organization has been.”ĭarell, No brainer to have Old Times Day, done And so on Saturday, the first pitch will be thrown out by 85-year-old Jay Hook, the first pitcher to record a win in their uniform.
Mets old timers day roster full#
And four former Met managers - Terry Collins, Joe Torre, Willie Randolph and Bobby Valentine - will take part in the festivities.Ĭheck out the full roster of former players and managers that will be in attendance for Old Timers’ Day presented by on August 27.įull Roster 👉 Mets are young enough, though, for that history to be contained within a lifetime.
Mets old timers day roster series#
Veterans of the 1969 World Series champion Mets planning to attend include Ron Swoboda, Art Shamsky, Cleon Jones and Ed Kranepool. Mets broadcasters and veterans of the 1986 World Series champion team Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will be competing, along with their '86 teammates Sid Fernandez, Roger McDowell, Bobby Ojeda, Jesse Orosco, Doug Sisk, Wally Backman, Kevin Elster, Howard Johnson, Ray Knight, Tim Teufel, Kevin Mitchell, Lee Mazzilli and Mookie Wilson. 27, ahead of the present day-Mets' game against the Colorado Rockies. Sluggers Mike Piazza and Darryl Strawberry, aces Dwight Gooden and Pedro Martínez, and mythic figures Endy Chávez and Bartolo Colón will be in attendance with dozens of other Mets veterans from every era of the franchise for the team's first Old Timers' Day game since 1994. For the first time in decades, the biggest names from New York Mets lore will gather in Queens to honor the franchise's history in a friendly game of baseball between stars and fan-favorites alike.
