New York Daily News

FINAL GOODBYES TO RUSTY STAUB:

Staub made mark on field & off

- BILL MADDEN

Outside, the day-long rain was falling as hundreds of mourners began filing into St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pay their final respects to Rusty Staub, son of four cities but especially New York.

It was here where he played with honor and distinctio­n with the Mets, and took care of the multitudes by raising more than $100 million for the widows of cops, firemen and first responders, and served nearly 10,000 meals to the hungry through Catholic Charities.

Once everyone was seated and began singing “Amazing Grace,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan led the Mass procession of a dozen priests down the aisle, periodical­ly stopping to thank the people from across the baseball ranks — Commission­er Rob Manfred, Players Associatio­n chief Tony Clark, Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, former National League president Leonard Coleman, Rusty’s former teammates Lee Mazzilli and Ron Darling, ex-Mets manager Bobby Valentine, and police and fire commission­ers past and present, including James O’Neill, Daniel Nigro, Ray Kelly and Thomas Von Essen.

“There are three groups of people here,” Dolan said. “One, our Lord and savior who died and was resurrecte­d — Rusty believed that. Two, Rusty himself, who we thank for all the good things he did in his life, and three, all his family and friends who loved him. We miss him.”

In accordance with his wishes, Rusty had other memorial services, including in New Orleans, his hometown, and Houston, where he lived and played and broke into the big leagues as a 19-year-old with the thenHousto­n Colt 45s in 1963.

“I was an African-American kid from the streets of Oakland, California, and Rusty came from the deep South, and you could not have found two more diverse teenagers who came up together on that team,” said Hall of Famer Joe Morgan by phone from California Wednesday.

“We just became the closest of friends at a time when Texas was Texas in those days. Rusty, he was special. Other players saw our bond, and I think it really had an impact on that team.”

Morgan, who was ill with the flu and could not make the trip to New York for the service, went on to say that everywhere Staub went afterward — Montreal (where he became “Le Grand Orange”), New York, Detroit, Texas and New York again, he was beloved.

“That was no accident,” Morgan said. “He was one of my closest friends right to the end.”

Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of New York, was quick to note in his eulogy that he was a Yankee fan.

“Rusty,” he said, lifting his eyes, “you got all those hits for four different teams. Couldn’t you have made one stopover in the Bronx?”

Perhaps if he had, he’d have gotten those extra 284 hits for 3,000 and a sure ticket to the Hall of Fame.

“Rusty, through a friend of his introduced me to my wife,” said Mazzilli. “Thirty-five years ago, my wife and I walked down this same aisle and were married in this cathedral. So today, I feel very close to him.”

Another irony was uttered by Dolan in recalling March 29, the day Staub died in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“It was Holy Thursday and Msgr. Sullivan and I were up in the Bronx with the Franciscan Sisters, when all of a sudden a big truck came by full of meals with sign on it: ‘Rusty Staub Foundation,’ ” he said.

Staub will be remembered for a lot of things, more of them outside of baseball. As Valentine recalled: “One of the most profound things Rusty said to me was, ‘No one cares what you know. It’s that they know you care.’ ”

It was left to Msgr. Sullivan to sum up the essence of Rusty Staub, a giant of a man who graced us with his playing skill, kindness and unlimited generosity.

“He lived in the likeness of God,” Sullivan said. “He taught you that being a celebrity was no excuse for failing to being a human. He understood that being a profession­al was no excuse for not being human.”

Then, in a subtle swipe at the baseball writers for never electing Staub to the Hall of Fame, Sullivan apologized for using a baseball cliché: “Rusty has made it on the first ballot to God’s Hall of Fame in heaven.”

There was applause for that one from the huge throng that, after Communion, filed onto Fifth Ave. to further reminisce in the rain about the man who meant so much to this city and the Mets.

It was a stark reminder that whoever said the weather will ultimately decide the size of your funeral never met Rusty Staub.

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 ??  ?? Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine (left) embraces former player Lee Mazzilli during Mass for Rusty Staub (right) at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday. The longtime Met died last month at age 73.
Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine (left) embraces former player Lee Mazzilli during Mass for Rusty Staub (right) at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday. The longtime Met died last month at age 73.
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