Comments on: Don't Hide Your Fame

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:05:00 +0000

Eminently quotable, Ed Coleman once asked Rickey a question about his baserunning with the Mets (possibly about how if the Mets had a faster team, would he be getting more stolen bases – but I really don't remember, and it doesn't really matter), and Rickey began his answer with (and this part's exact):
“Well, I really don't want to take anything away from myself…”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:16:00 +0000

albertsonmets, that's a great memory. Allow me to suggest that you to copy it and post it to Ed's page at the Ultimate Mets Database.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:05:00 +0000

Apropos of the original 7 train, I have a friend who was very excited to run into Eddie K. in the Carnegie Deli. Gosh, I asked, what was the experience like?
“He looked at me like I owed him money.”
I'm glad Ed had it goin' on for the kids or, more likely, the parents at the hospital. Not to detract from his kind deed, but do a lot of children in the 21st century go to bed at night dreaming of a chance meeting with Ed Kranepool?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:16:00 +0000

If we're speaking about retiring numbers, I'd like to see #31 up there for Mike. I think he's earned that. But in the same breath, Johnny will always be #31 to me.
I tend to agree about Willie Mays. On the one hand, he's WILLIE FREAKING MAYS. On the other hand, he wasn't really WILLIE FREAKING MAYS as a Met. All that hullabaloo about Rickey and #24 was just stupid, especially when he crassly suggested taking #35 from Rick Reed instead. If it wasn't Rickey, you might think he was kidding. Rickey don't kid about Rickey's supreme greatness.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:00:00 +0000

We briefly saw a Koo jersey from afar…being worn by Koo. Fortunately, Koo too (wheeee! fun to type!) was a spectator. He had the birthday, we got the gift.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 17:52:00 +0000

On his old show, Letterman used to do a bit with the audience called “Brush with Greatness” in which people would tell funny anecdotes relating generally off-beat encounters with celebrities.
My “Brush with Krane” occurred in late 2001 when my then 2 year-old son was hospitalized due to a household accident (he's fine today). A woman walks into the children's ward and says, with a sort of resigned enthusiasm “Does anyone want to meet Ed Kranepool from the '69 Mets?!” To which I replied “Heck, nevermind '69, he was an original 1962 Met.”
I lack the writing skill to describe the look of astonishment / relief that overtook this woman's face followed by a barely audible “You know him.” As she exited quickly down the hall, I swear I heard her urgently whsiper at least twice “Somebody down here knows him.” So anyway, in comes ol' number 7, every bit the nice old man. Just Eddie from Brooklyn, shaking hands, handing out toys carried by his entourage with a subdued “how ya doin'” for kids and grownups alike.
I know I'll never forget it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 17:47:00 +0000

Jason, please tell me that came off the top of your head and you really didn't see anyone in a Mr. Koo jersey. Then again, I did see a Braden Looper shirt once.
Speaking of which, I loved hearing the “LOOOOOOOOP” last night. Well done! I've been joking about that all year, imagining the guys in the clubhouse trying to convince him that he's not being booed. “They're saying 'Looooooop'! Really! Awww, don't be like that, Loop…” Now they can stop lying to him!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 17:08:00 +0000

Good rant. My money is with the reader who suggested emulating Syracuse: Retire numbers sparingly, but earmark certain ones to be handed out only with care and consideration. (And if a certain amount of pressure comes with that, that's OK. This New York place, it's a tough town till you prove yourself. Mr. Beltran, ask Mr. Piazza about that.) Whenever I see some anonymous Met sporting #17 or #8, I think glumly of Mex and the Kid — there ain't no mystic chords of memory connecting Dae-Sung Koo and Keith Hernandez.
The only time the Mets seem to have done that is with #24, and I've always thought that was fetishizing Willie Mays a bit too much. (And how did it get handed out to Kelvin Torve, anyway?)
Off the top of my head, this would mean Syracuse treatment for Mookie, Gary, Keith, Buddy, Koosman, Piazza, Franco, Grote, Tug, Cleon, Krane, Doc, Darryl and Orosco. You might argue for adding Fonzie, maybe subtracting the ever-truculent Jesse O. Points off for Cone and Rusty (love 'em though I do) for changing their numbers too often to develop that kind of identity.
On the other hand, giving someone #7 might mean suggesting to them that they're destined to be a platoon player who becomes a pinch-hitter and cult hero, which is nice but not what every player dreams about. So be it: Maybe they get to shoot a Gilette Foamy commercial making fun of blackouts.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 15:22:00 +0000

The MBTN rant on retired numbers here.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:20:00 +0000

I think my comment about “triple digits” should have sufficed with regard to how I feel about it the Yankees' showboating. I think it's absurd. I was merely pointing out that there is a big grey area between grossly overdoing it and grossly underdoing it, and it would be nice if the Mets would live there. We have more “greats” than our HOF would indicate.