Long before Kelsie Whitmore became the first overall pick in the inaugural Women's Pro Baseball League Draft, before she was pitching in front of packed Major League ballparks as a member of the Savannah Bananas, and before millions of social media followers came to know her name, she was simply chasing a dream that many believed was impossible. On Wednesday night at Citi Field, the Amazin' Mets Foundation recognized that journey, naming Whitmore the recipient of its 2026 Leg

Every kid growing up on Long Island who ever threw a baseball against the garage door has imagined the same thing. Bottom of the ninth. Citi Field. "Meet the Mets" playing somewhere in the distance. And somehow you're the guy jogging in from the bullpen. Most of us eventually traded that dream for mortgages and ibuprofen. Matt Seelinger never did. On Monday, the Mets acquired the Westbury native from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for cash, and while cash has been known to pr

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." When the Continental Congress adopted those words on July 4, 1776, they weren't thinking about baseball. After all, there wasn't a baseball game to be found. But it's hard to imagine that nearly 250 years later, another American tradition would come to embody so many of the ideals those words represent—fairness, opportunity, perseverance, hope, and the simple joy of coming together. James Earl Jones

Being a Mets fan has never been for the faint of heart. It's a little like buying a brand-new sports car only to discover the steering wheel is optional. Just when you think you've finally escaped decades of frustration, the baseball gods remember your forwarding address. For years I've joked about The Mets Murphy's Law. Not Daniel or Bob—the other Murphy. The one that insists that anything that can go wrong with a Mets move eventually will. Around here, Murphy's Law doesn't

David Stearns has made a habit of wandering baseball's clearance aisle looking for hidden gems. Sometimes he finds one. Sometimes he comes home with something that belongs at a garage sale. On Tuesday, the Mets general manager reached into that bargain bin once again, signing former Cubs, Rays and Marlins utility player Christopher Morel to a minor league contract and assigning him to Triple-A Syracuse. It costs the Mets next to nothing, carries virtually no risk, and if ligh

There is an old saying in baseball. There are three sides to every story. Your side. My side. And somewhere in the middle, the truth is probably taking batting practice. Former Mets hitting coach Eric Chavez recently released what he called an "emergency" episode of his EC3 Podcast, and if you listened to it without knowing the backstory, you'd think David Stearns personally canceled baseball, brought back the Mercury Mets jerseys and traded for Cedric Mullins in a deadline d

I've reached my breaking point. Not with the Mets. But with Mets fans. Actually, let me be more specific. With the never-ending, soul-crushing, keyboard-smashing, microphone-yelling, social media-fueled, twenty-four-hour-a-day misery that somehow passes for being a Met fan these days. The Mets lose a game? The season's over. The Mets win a game? Well, they should have won by more. Juan Soto goes 2-for-4 with a double, two walks and a run scored? "Yeah, but he's not earning th

There are press conferences where you walk away with a notebook full of clichés. Then there are press conferences where you walk away thinking, "I'd run through a brick wall for this guy." Andy Green's introduction as the Mets' interim manager fell squarely into the second category. Whether he's ultimately successful over the next 81 games is anyone's guess. Baseball has humbled far better men than Andy Green. His first opportunity managing the Padres produced a 274-366 (.428

There are days albeit few and far between when being a Mets fan feels like winning the lottery. Then there are days like today. The kind of day where you know the guillotine is coming, you just don't know whose neck is underneath it until the blade falls. This time it was Carlos Mendoza. As David Stearns walked to the podium Friday afternoon to explain why the Mets had fired their manager, he looked like a man who knew exactly what everyone in the room was thinking. He didn't

Just a few weeks ago on May 12th, David Stearns stood in front of the media and defended his manager, insisting the Mets' disappointing season wasn't on Carlos Mendoza. On Thursday, that changed. The Mets announced they had parted ways with Mendoza, with Andy Green taking over as interim manager for the remainder of the season. So much for that vote of confidence. Let's be clear about one thing. When you lose six straight games and commit eight errors over your last two conte

For six-plus seasons, David Peterson was baseball's version of that refrigerator in your basement that somehow kept working despite every indication that it shouldn't. Not flashy. Not dominant. Not entirely reliable. But somehow always there. That chapter officially ended last night when the Mets traded the longest-tenured player on their roster to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for first baseman prospect Cole Mathis, one of Chicago's top 15 prospects. For Peterson, it closes t

If baseball life were tidy, predictable, and well-organized, Eric Wagaman would not be here. Not in the philosophical sense. In the literal sense. He would’ve been somewhere back in Low-A Staten Island, hitting .194, wondering if the next stop was coaching, scouting, or a very honest conversation with a real estate agent. Instead, he’s in Queens. And not just in Queens—he’s in the Mets lineup, where his first at-bat famously turned into a home run, which is baseball’s way of

If you've followed my writing here on Kiner's Korner for any length of time, you know two things about me. First, I have been a Mets fan longer than some countries have existed. Second, I am generally one of the most optimistic Mets fans you'll ever meet. I always see the glass as half full. Sometimes three-quarters full. Occasionally overflowing. Right now, however, after listening to David Stearns' latest homestand press conference, I would describe the glass as roughly one

The Mets had once again just dropped back-to-back gut-punch losses. My Strat-O-Matic team was somehow performing even worse, which is really saying something because unlike the Mets, my roster doesn't have actual human beings making millions of dollars. So there I was sometime around midnight, staring at my bedroom ceiling, watching imaginary box scores bounce around my head like a pinball machine. But if you've read any of my previous work—whether it was my deep dive into "T

There are baseball names that feel like they belong to a certain place, and then there are baseball names that are a place. And every once in a while, one of those names comes back with its own theme song already playing in your head. Welcome back… Not Mr. Kotter returning to Brooklyn—but Wally Backman returning to a different borough entirely. And instead of the Sweathogs, he’s now got the FerryHawks. Different classroom, same New York edge, same unmistakable voice at the fr

The Knicks' stunning comeback against the Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals was one of those rare sports moments that stopped New York in its tracks. You know the kind. The kind where phones start buzzing. The kind where complete strangers suddenly become best friends. The kind where, twenty years from now, people will still say, "I remember exactly where I was when..." As I watched the Garden erupt and social media lose its collective mind, the question that always follows a

As the Mets continue navigating a season that has featured enough injuries and adversity to test the patience of even the most optimistic Mets fan, (even me) one player who has consistently found answers is reliever Luke Weaver. Prior to Thursday's game against the Cardinals, I caught up with Weaver to discuss the secret behind his success, the mindset that keeps him locked in, and why the Mets still believe they can make noise despite the challenges that have piled up during

If you've ever seen A Beautiful Mind, imagine Russell Crowe's character staring at walls covered in mathematical formulas. Now replace the formulas with Mets box scores, Bugs Bunny episodes, Bruce Springsteen lyrics, Seinfeld quotes, Curb Your Enthusiasm social disasters, Leave It to Beaver reruns, and random facts like realizing the actress who played Aunt Harriet on Batman also lived next door to Beaver Cleaver, and you've got a pretty accurate picture of how my brain works

Every now and then I stumble into a rabbit hole so deep that I'm convinced my search history is used by Google as part of employee orientation, right after the slide titled, "Yes, These Were All Real Searches." This latest journey began innocently enough while putting together a presentation for the SABR Baseball Memories Program for our Long Island Chapter. (feel free to join us) If you're not familiar with the program, it's designed to use baseball memories to engage people

After our recent trip to Louisville to experience a minor league city with a major league attitude, My wife Beth and I decided to head to another baseball destination that had long been on our bucket list: Seattle. Now, before we get to the baseball, let me warn you that Seattle is one of those places where you can spend three days doing things that have absolutely nothing to do with baseball and still feel like you barely scratched the surface. It is part waterfront city, pa