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Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #44 : Gone Too Soon: The Mets’ Lost Superstar, Brian Cole
Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Chuck Hiller and Harvey Haddix , two men who helped shape a young franchise with fundamentals, grit, and good humor. This week, we shift gears to someone who never made it to Shea but whose name still makes longtime

Mark Rosenman
Nov 2, 20254 min read


Saturday Seasons : 1994 If the Glove Don’t Fit, You’re Probably Playing Shortstop for the ’94 Mets
If the 1994 Mets were a metaphor, they’d be a white Ford Bronco lumbering down the Long Island Expressway with the hazards on. Everyone in New York knew it wasn’t going to end well — but we couldn’t stop watching. While O.J. Simpson’s real-life slow-speed chase captivated the country that summer, the Mets were running their own version in Queens: a low-drama, low-speed pursuit of competence that ended in surrender long before the season did. You could almost hear the crowd at

Mark Rosenman
Nov 1, 20254 min read


Kollector’s Korner Met-o-ra-bil-ia Hall of Fame Inductee #10 : The Engineer of Amazin’: How David Svach Built One of the Most Meticulous Mets Collections Ever
If you’ve followed the first nine installments of our Kollectors Hall of Fame series, you already know this is where we celebrate the diehards , the fans whose devotion to the orange and blue doesn’t stop at the final out. These are the people who live Mets baseball, preserve its history, and build their lives around the memories the team has given them. This month, we induct a collector whose precision and passion are matched only by his loyalty. Meet David Svach, an Enginee

Mark Rosenman
Nov 1, 20255 min read


Not hitting much lately? Grab a Snitker.
Not hitting much lately? Grab a Snitker. You’re not you when you’re slumping and Mets fans know that better than anyone. After too many nights of runners stranded and warning-track fly balls, this lineup has been hungry for something or someone to finally satisfy. Enter Troy Snitker, the new Mets hitting coach, here to feed an offense that’s been living off empty calories. He’s not a candy bar, though his last name sounds like one. He’s a data-loving, launch-angle-tracking

Mark Rosenman
Oct 28, 20257 min read


Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #43 :The Yankees Had M&M, the Mets Had H&H: Meet the Mets’ Hiller and Haddix in ’67
Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where the dust smells like pine tar and nostalgia, and where we occasionally stumble across treasures we thought we’d forgotten. Last week, we focused on Ron Herbel, a sturdy right-hander whose brief but reliable stint with the Mets in 1970 made him the kind of pitcher every team needs: steady, uncomplaining, and quietly effective. This week, we return to the 1960s, to a Me

Mark Rosenman
Oct 26, 20256 min read


Saturday Seasons : 1993 The Worst Sequel Money Could Buy.
If 1992 was “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” then 1993 was the Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice. a straight-to-video disaster that made Toe Blake spin in his grave and the Hanson Brothers beg for a line change. This was supposed to be a bounce-back year, the baseball version of a redemption tour. A new shortstop (Tony Fernández), a few veteran arms, and the faint hope that all that expensive talent might actually act like, well, talent. Instead, what we got was 59 wins, 103 los

Mark Rosenman
Oct 25, 20254 min read


Strat-O-Matic and Sportsphone: The Forgotten Heroes of the 1981 Baseball Strike
Inspiration for a story can come from just about anywhere. Sometimes it’s a stat that jumps off the page. Sometimes it’s a random YouTube clip of Ralph Kiner interviewing Ed Kranepool in glorious 1970s color, the kind that makes you miss both of them and Shea Stadium all over again. And sometimes, it’s a text from my good friend Ken Ricken. After reading yesterday’s piece about Rusty Staub and George Steinbrenner appearing together on Face the Nation during the 1981 baseball

Mark Rosenman
Oct 23, 20257 min read


When Rusty Staub Faced the Nation: A Mets Voice Amid the 1981 Baseball Strike
On July 5, 1981 , as Major League Baseball sat still in silence, the diamond’s disputes found their way to the Sunday morning airwaves. On Face the Nation, one of television’s most respected public affairs programs, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and New York Mets first baseman Rusty Staub joined CBS News to publicly discuss the game’s crippling labor strike — a rare and fascinating crossover between America’s pastime and America’s political discourse. For fans ac

Mark Rosenman
Oct 22, 20255 min read


I Make the Call
I just completed by 27th year as a Major League Baseball accredited Official Scorer. During that time, I’ve been fortunate to have scored over 1500 regular season games and 41 post season games. Included among that list is 11 Mets post season games. I was hoping to add to that list but it wasn’t meant to be in 2025 so I thought, thanks to a suggestion from Mark Rosenman, I reflected on those Mets post season games that I have had the privilege to score. October 22nd, 2000: Wo

Howie Karpin
Oct 21, 202510 min read


The Fifth Beatle, the Comic, and the Captain: Keith Hernandez and a Very 1986 Talk Show
Yesterday marked Keith Hernandez’s 72nd birthday ,and if that doesn’t make you feel old, consider this: when Keith sat down on David Brenner’s Nightlife on December 1, 1986, over 38 years ago it had only been 35 days since the Mets won the World Series. Just over a month removed from Mookie’s grounder rolling through Buckner’s legs, and New York was still floating somewhere between disbelief and euphoria. And there was Keith, the mustachioed captain of the newly crowned worl

Mark Rosenman
Oct 21, 20254 min read


Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #42 : The Hardest Working Arm You Forgot: Ron Herbel’s 1970 Mets Cameo
Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where the dust smells like pine tar and nostalgia, and where we occasionally find something we forgot we ever owned. Last week, we wandered off the basepaths entirely and into the barnyard, revisiting Homer the Beagle and Mettle the Mule , the two mascots who barked, brayed, and did their best to distract us from box scores that sometimes made you want to cover your eyes. T

Mark Rosenman
Oct 19, 20254 min read


Saturday Seasons: The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Crying Game at Shea – The 1992 Mets
If you were a Mets fan in 1992, you probably remember two things: You had to blow into your Super Nintendo cartridge to make Super Mario Cart work, and you had to do the same thing to your TV remote just to get through a Mets game. This was supposed to be a bounce back year for the Mets’ as we added A Few Good Men . But instead we got The Crying Game .When the big reveal came, we couldn’t handle the truth and much like The Crying Game, we were left blinking in disbelief, a

Mark Rosenman
Oct 18, 20256 min read


Farewell to the Iron Pony: Remembering Sandy Alomar Sr., the Father of a Baseball Family
Baseball lost one of its quiet constants yesterday. Sandy Alomar Sr. the slick-fielding infielder, devoted baseball lifer, proud father, and one-time Mets coach passed away Monday in his native Puerto Rico at the age of 81. To most fans, the Alomar name brings to mind his two remarkable sons , Roberto, the Hall of Famer, and Sandy Jr., the six-time All-Star but before either of them was turning double plays or catching big league fastballs, there was the original: a 5-foot-9

Mark Rosenman
Oct 13, 20254 min read


WTF (“What the Frick”)? Ralph Kiner, the Broadcasters Left Behind, and How We Can Fix the Frick Award
Ralph Kiner once said, “All of Rick Aguilera’s saves have come in relief appearances.” And just like that, he taught us everything we...

Mark Rosenman
Oct 13, 20259 min read


Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #41 : The Beagle and the Mule That Time Forgot: Mets Mascot Madness
Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum...

Mark Rosenman
Oct 12, 20255 min read


Saturday Seasons: In 1991, The Buddy System Failed
The 1991 season marked a return to the bad old days for the New York Mets: their first losing record since 1983, the departure of a hero,...

A.J. Carter
Oct 11, 20257 min read


What Do Soupy Sales, Tony and the Tigers, and ‘Hullabaloo’ Have to Do with the Mets?
Today was one of those raw, gray October mornings, the kind that makes you reach for an old Mets yearbook instead of the remote, because...

Mark Rosenman
Oct 8, 20255 min read


Ralph Kiner’s Vinyl Lesson: When Baseball Wisdom Spun at 78 RPM
There was a time—long before YouTube tutorials, batting cage swing analyzers, or launch angle debates—when baseball instruction came not...

Mark Rosenman
Oct 6, 20253 min read


Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing #40: From No-Hitter to Miracle: The Story of Don Cardwell
Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum...

Mark Rosenman
Oct 5, 20254 min read


A Slow and Sudden Demise
I believe this exchange from the 1985 classic film, Fletch, does a perfect job of summarizing the 2025 Mets season: Dr. Dolan - You know...

shaikushner
Oct 4, 20255 min read
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