By Lloyd Carroll
What has always most impressed me about Glavine is that he has never lost his patience or sense of humor. He made himself available to reporters who asked the same questions over and over about 300 wins, and answered them with the same insights as if it had been the first time he had heard those queries. He chuckled heartily when a reporter mentioned that the Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau should be thanking him for the horde of media who would be filling up hotel rooms in his first attempt to reach the holy grail of pitching milestones. “The mayor should give me a key to the city!” a beaming Glavine said.
Two weeks ago, Mets catching great and Hall of Famer Gary Carter made a stop at Shea on his way to Cooperstown to honor new inductees Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. Gary managed the Mets’ Port St. Lucie team to the Florida State League title last year, and was offered the Binghamton Mets skipper position this year but turned it down to work for a MasterCard/Major League Baseball promotion.
“I was hoping to land the coaching spot that Howard Johnson has with the Mets. In addition when the Mets signed Willie (Randolph) to a three-year managerial contract I figured that it would limit my future with the organization,” Carter said, but his expression indicated some regret about not taking the Binghamton post.
It is highly likely Carter will be a big league manager in the near future. He certainly has the requisite baseball smarts but that is not the key reason why a team owner will entrust him. “These days the public relations aspects of this business are more important than in-game decisions. You have to be willing to meet with team sponsors and pose for photos with fans and sign autographs for them as well as enjoy the daily Q&A with the media, particularly in this town,” said the man who will forever be known as “The Kid.”
Carter had the grace not to mention that PR is not Randolph’s strong suit. It seems as if Willie has two moods: gloomy and gloomier. A neighbor of mine told me how Randolph blew past her son and her grandchildren when they were hoping to get an autograph prior to a spring training game in Port St. Lucie.
The Baseball Hall of Fame ought to have a wing to celebrate the journeyman ballplayer. If they did, Pirates coach Jeff Manto, who bears a strong resemblance to actor Joseph Bologna and is one of the most delightful guys you’ll ever meet in the game, would be enshrined. Manto played for 10 teams in his career. My guess is that the former Lakewood Blue Claws skipper will be a manager in the bigs in the near future.
Xavier Nady returned to Shea Stadium for the first time as a member of the Pirates just before the first anniversary of his trade to that team. Nady was dealt for relief pitcher Roberto Hernandez (and starter Oliver Perez) right after Mets setup man Duaner Sanchez was injured in a taxicab accident in Miami. Sanchez has still not returned since that injury, and his absence is a good reason why the Mets lost to the Cardinals in the playoffs last year and why they have been shaky this year. “I should have rented a car in Miami and chauffeured Sanchez around,“ Nady said wistfully.
John Travolta and Robin Williams filmed a scene for their upcoming Disney movie, Old Dogs, at Shea Stadium during the Mets last homestand. The part merely called for them to play Mets fans who were watching a game. Mets public address announcer Alex Anthony implored the crowd to cheer madly for them, but the results were half-hearted at best. All-Star Pirates outfielder Jason Bay was surprised by the rather muted reaction the two stars received. “If this were Pittsburgh, people would have screamed like maniacs for the entire game,” Bay said. New Yorkers are rather blasé about celebrity sightings and were smart enough to know that they were being taken advantage by unwillingly becoming unpaid extras. In addition, Disney certainly did not offer to pay for anyone’s tickets to the game.
While the customers at Shea were indifferent to providing free services to the Walt Disney Company, they were making great plays on foul balls while the Mets were booting it all over the place that afternoon in a dreary 8-4 loss to the last place Pirates. “The fans made better defensive plays than we did,” outfielder Shawn Green wryly observed.
Brentwood’s Bill “The Baker” Stimers was recently named by Newsday as one of WFAN’s greatest callers. In addition, he is a favorite of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. Oliver Platt, who portrays “The Boss” on ESPN’s summer miniseries The Bronx Is Burning, gets a thumbs-up from Bill – even though Steinbrenner is reportedly unhappy with the toupee and garish 70s clothes Platt sports.
Southampton native and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski has written his autobiography, entitled Yastrzemski (Rugged Land), of course. The former outfielder remembers the bitter summers of 1977 and 1978 for the Red Sox as well as reminiscing about the heartbreaking 1975 World Series loss seven-game loss the Reds.
Newark Star-Ledger baseball columnist Dan Graziano has just had his second novel, The Ultimatum (Avon Books), published. Graziano, who is married with two kids, has written once again about commitment-phobic men. His first book, I Think She Is Trying To Tell Me Something, was a funny look at a thirtysomething bachelor debating about loss of freedom.
Jets head coach Eric Mangini joked with the press at the opening day of training camp about his cameo on the penultimate episode of “The Sopranos”: “I like eating good food in restaurants so I was perfect for the role.” He avoided answering whether he was satisfied with the way series creator David Chase chose to end the show.
Mangini also showed that he has a sense of humor. When asked if he thought that all of his players were looking forward to two-a-day training camp workouts, Mangini cracked, “Of course. Everyone loves going to camp, although we don’t tell ghost stories here.”
Wantagh native and resident Joseph Villani was a center for the University of Pittsburgh, and was signed by the Jets as a free agent. He is a long shot to make the team but is certainly thrilled to be wearing the green and white uniform at Hofstra for the time being. “I remember coming to watch the Jets work out when I was playing Pop Warner Football for the Seaford-Wantagh Stingers,” Villani said proudly.
Visiting Jets training camp on opening day was former NFL QB and current Sirius NFL analyst Jim Miller, who played a dozen years in the league is well aware of the health problems facing NFL veterans and the lack of help that they receive from their old union. “The NFLPA has never turned down any of my claims because I documented every time I went to the trainer’s room when I played," Miller stated. I always filed workman’s compensation claims against every team I played for whenever I was injured. I also was well aware that retired players receive full health insurance coverage from the NFL for the first five years after they retire. I have scheduled a ton of surgeries now that I am in that window.”
Here is another reason to despise Yankees radio voice Suzyn Waldman: You could hear the glee in her voice when she reported that Red Sox slugger David Ortiz had an injured shoulder. I could never imagine Gary Cohen, Howie Rose or Tom McCarthy doing the same when reporting on, say, Phillies second baseman Chase Utley’s broken hand.
You know things are bleak in the world of sports when Bob Shieffer convenes a panel to discuss steroids, dog fighting, and a basketball ref shaving points on CBS’s tony Sunday morning political show, “Face The Nation.”
Just as they are about to sign Central Islip native Boomer Esiason to take over the old Imus morning slot, WFAN may have stumbled onto a winning morning combo in Chris Carlin and Kimberly Jones. I knew Jones for her work as a very good football writer for the Star-Ledger and as a Yankees post-game reporter for YES, but I never realized how funny she can be until I heard her on the FAN. She is the anti-Waldman.
