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If you spend enough time around collectors, you start to notice that the best collections rarely begin with money. They begin with moments. A handshake. A story. A childhood connection that somehow follows you for the rest of your life. This month’s Kollector’s Korner Met-o-ra-bil-ia Hall of Fame inductee has built a lifetime of those moments, often without even chasing them. Meet Paul Friedlander. Paul is 71 years old and has spent more than 45 years working as a tax account

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly stroll through the Mets attic where the yearbooks are a little worn, the bubble gum cards stick together, and every once in a while you come across a name that makes you stop and say, “Wait a second… how did we forget that guy?” Last week we talked about the time the Mets brought in Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson to serve as what manager Joe Torre jokingly called the team’s attitude coach. Because if your

It’s hard to determine who had a greater impact on the Met’s 2011 season: Sandy Alderson, the newly-hired general manager, or Irving H. Picard, the trustee appointed by a federal judge to recoup money lost by victims of Bernard Madoff’s financial fraud. That’s because overshadowing whatever Alderson accomplished or tried to accomplish with the Mets on the field – changing the culture, changing the players – was the Sword of Damocles lawsuit seeking $1 billion f

Trading hs been described as a zero-sum game, but the history between the Mets and Blue Jays suggests a more complicated relationship. Over the 50 years of Toronto history, these two clubs have frequently used one another to solve their most pressing roster crises. Whether it was the Mets looking for an ace or a three-hole bat or the Jays adding to a championship core, the swaps between these two Eastern clubs has produced some of the most debated trades in Mets history. Alth

David Wright, arguably the best New York Met of all time, ended his career in the 2010s. He suffered from a chronic spinal issue that limited his participation in the second half of the decade. From 2015-2018, he only played 75 total games for the Mets, making his exit a quiet one. He'll always be remembered as "Captain America" to the fans who cheered for him, and for what could have been a Hall of Fame lock if the injury hadn't consumed him. He did provide some "Amazin'" mo

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we brush the dust off the bubble gum cards, flip through curling yearbooks, and rediscover the names that once made you stop mid knish and say, “Hold on… he was a Met, right?” Last week we explored the day the fastest man on Earth showed up in camp to teach the Mets how to run. This week we stay in the same aisle of baseball oddities, only instead of Olympic speed we

Bill Mazeroski, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Hall of Fame second baseman and one of baseball’s most enduring figures, passed away Friday at age 89—just eight days after the passing of his 1960 World Series teammate Roy Face. While most fans will forever associate Mazeroski with his miraculous walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series against the Yankees, his career was defined by far more than that singular, electrifying swing. A ten-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Gl

If you tried to list the elements of a quintessential Mets season they would probably include: a splashy offseason free agent signing who would likely disappoint, spring training optimism, a fast start that raises hope that this might be the year , injuries (not all of them on the field) that dash that optimism, a midseason swoon and a late rally that creates hope but ends up breaking fans’ hearts. 2010 was a quintessential Mets season. That it e

By the time I pulled into the complex at Clover Park for my sixth and final day of covering Mets Spring Training, the place felt almost civilized. No 6:00 a.m. cattle call. No players stumbling in before sunrise for picture day obligations. The press room didn’t open until 9:45. The clubhouse doors welcomed us at 10. It felt like baseball had hit the snooze button. And honestly, after a week of controlled chaos, it was kind of perfect. The room itself was quiet. Not tense qui

Spring Training has a rhythm to it. The crack of the bat. The thud of a fastball into leather. The hum of golf carts. And apparently… the gentle click of chess pieces. Day 5 began in the clubhouse, and what jumped out immediately had nothing to do with radar guns or exit velocity. It was Sean Manaea holding court with Jonah Tong, teaching him chess as if he were channeling Bobby Fischer rather than former Mets pitcher Jack Fisher. Manaea wasn’t just explaining moves. He was e

The New York Mets and the Houston Astros share much history. They both began as expansion teams in 1962. They had perhaps the most dramatic NLCS ever in 1986. They shared some of the greatest pitchers in baseball history: Nolan Ryan, Justin Verlander, and Billy Wagner. What did they not share? The Mets did not star in the underrated "Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" in 1977. Cameos by Cesar Cedeno, Bob Watson, Leon Roberts, Enos Cabell, and J.R. Richard highlighted the fa

By the time the Florida humidity announced itself before breakfast, Clover Park was already humming. Clover Park was already humming. Spring Training coverage Day 4 began early — locker room doors open at 8 a.m. — and if you’ve been around this game long enough you know that’s when the real stories tend to wander in, usually wearing spikes and carrying a cup of bad clubhouse coffee. I made the rounds, hopping from locker to locker — speed dating for reporters, where the goal

There’s a certain kind of player you notice when you wander through a spring training clubhouse long enough. Not the guy surrounded by cameras. Not the kid with a Top 100 ranking and a radar gun following him around like paparazzi. I’m talking about the player with miles on the odometer and stories tucked into the seams of his glove. The kind of guy whose résumé reads less like a stat sheet and more like a road atlas. That’s where you find Carl Edwards Jr. this spring. You re

There are certain moments in spring training when you stumble across a story you weren’t expecting. Maybe it’s a kid throwing 97 free and easy like he found it in the bottom of a Cracker Jack box, or maybe it’s just wandering past a locker when a glove catches your eye, covered in pop culture references that would make a film studies professor spill his latte.. That’s how I wound up talking pitching and psychological satire with Mets prospect Ryan Lambert, which is how you k

Day three in Port St. Lucie and by now you start noticing the things you miss when you first arrive — the small details, the subtle changes, the little hints that baseball continues to evolve even if the smell of sunscreen and pine tar still feels exactly the same. I’ve reached the midpoint of my six days here covering camp, and what stood out most today wasn’t a home run or a diving catch. It was intent. There’s a little more purpose to everything, from the way players stret

We write about the positions by decade every week, but it's super rare to run into a decade where it was all about one person. The 2000s 3rd basemen for the Mets will be all about David Wright. He's a legend for Mets fans, and he ranks at the top of almost every statistical category for the team in the 2000s. "Captain America" was a hero to an entire generation of fans, so he deserves all the kind words. The 2000s started with Robin Ventura at 3rd base for 2000 and 2001. Vent

If Day 1 is about handshakes and fresh spikes in the clubhouse, Day 2 is where the tone starts to reveal itself. And the tone on this morning was set in the dugout. Steve Cohen met the media for 22 minutes, and if there was one word he kept circling back to, it was “excited.” But don’t confuse that with satisfied. “I feel like there’s a different energy here this year than last year,” Cohen said. “I don’t know what it is. It just feels really optimistic.” That optimism lives

There are very few two word phrases in the English language that, when spoken together, instantly bring a smile to your face. I do. Game 7. Spring Training. Opening Day. So yes, I am smiling.( You maybe able to see it in the picture above, but take my word for it) Everything worked out. The 6:45 a.m. flight from Islip to West Palm lifted off on time. Wheels down at 9:45. I was in the rental car by 10:05 and on the back fields by 11:15. Not bad for a February morning that bega

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we brush the dust off the bubble gum cards, flip through curling yearbooks, and rediscover the names that once made you stop mid knish and say, “Hold on… he was a Met, right?” Last week we stood, removed our caps, and revisited the voices that opened Mets games long before the first pitch and the first second guessing of the bullpen. From Pearl Bailey setting the tone

The day is almost upon us. Players can finally 'argue' balls and strikes without getting tossed and making a shameful appearance on every highlight show later that night. It's called the 'Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System' (ABS), and players will be able to use it during the entire 2026 season. They teased us last year during spring training, making us wait an entire season, while screaming all kinds of creative language at our televisions. But will this be a 'be careful