‘JAWS HIT THE FLOOR’
Players, Callaway react to GM’s cancer shocker
Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, minutes after the Mets closed their clubhouse to the media, general manager Sandy Alderson stood before his players and coaches and told them he would be taking a leave of absence from the organization.
Doctors had discovered a recurrence of Alderson’s cancer in late April or early May. For months, Alderson kept the news to himself and a close circle. Manager Mickey Callaway did not know Alderson was battling the illness for virtually all of this disappointing season. Neither did the players. So the news came as a shock in that clubhouse, one already reeling from loss after loss.
“Jaws hit the floor,” said David Wright, who’s been with the team for the entirety of Alderson’s Mets tenure, which began in October 2010.
Callaway, who Alderson hired prior to the season, became emotional when praising Alderson as a leader and selfless individual.
“Coming into this job, I had heard a lot about Sandy Alderson: the leader he was, how bright, how selfless, what kind of servant leader he was,” Callaway said. “I experienced all those things first hand and he lived up to all those qualities. Now knowing that he went through what he went through, he’s a badass Marine, that’s all I can say.”
Alderson drafted Michael Conforto in the first round of the 2014 draft.
“It’s very tough to hear,” Conforto told The News. “Each of us have a unique connection with Sandy, and so we’re all keeping him in our prayers and hoping that he can take the time to focus the energy on what’s most important for him. …We know he’s a strong man and he should be able to pull through just fine.”
Added Todd Frazier, who Alderson signed this offseason: “Ah man, it’s tough. He brought me over here, and he’s a good friend of mine. You never want to hear news like that. My thoughts are with him and his family.”
Wright recalled one memory that defined Alderson as a person and executive.
After the Mets finished their sweep of the Cubs in the 2015 NLCS, players celebrated on the field. Alderson, meanwhile, sat alone in the stands, watching from 30 rows back under the shadows of the overhang at Wrigley Field.
A photo captured Alderson from behind.
“He’s just by himself up there, doesn’t want the attention, wants all the positive attention on the players,” Wright said. “When things go bad, he’s the first one to take the heat. I think that personifies Sandy in a nutshell, is he’s in the darkness of the stands in Chicago when we’re getting a chance to celebrate on the field. He doesn’t want to take the players’ moment away from the players.
“It’s kind of the same thing now where you could just tell, he cares so much about this team and this organization and this city that he was willing to put that before his health for the first half of this year.”
Wright said Alderson choked back tears and broke down in front of the team when he revealed his decision. When Alderson was finished talking, the players and coaches erupted in a round of applause.
“He said that he couldn’t help but talk about baseball and what we’re going through,” Wright said. “For him to even think about what’s going on here (with) what he’s going through and what he’s battling, it certainly speaks volumes to not necessarily Sandy Alderson the GM but Sandy Alderson the man and just how much he puts himself on the back burner at times.”
Every player on the roster has, in some way, been touched by Alderson, who was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2015 before being free of the illness for close to a year.
Brandon Nimmo was Alderson’s first draft pick in the first round of the 2011 draft.
“It definitely puts life in perspective,” Nimmo said. “Something like this, it definitely reminds you that baseball is a game, and his life and his family are much more important right now.”