TO JAY, SHE WAS SIMPLY AMAZIN’
Five years after death of beloved Mets PR guru Forde, longtime friend & boss recalls a ‘trailblazer’
The cancer had spread all across her body, yet there was no way Shannon Forde was going to miss the 2015 World Series. She literally willed her way to Kansas City.
The first player she saw in the clubhouse was David Wright, her closest friend on the team. At the start of David’s career, Shannon served as a quasi-mentor, suggesting places to eat, places to visit and even an occasional dating tip.
Shannon brushed off questions about her health. She was only concerned with David’s welfare and how happy she was for his first World Series appearance.
Shannon, then 44 and the mother of two young kids Nick and Kendall, died five years ago (March 4). It was a Friday night and I was having dinner with two friends Linda Emr and Barbara Lake in Port St. Lucie when we got the call.
Some days it feels like the call came yesterday. Some days it seems like it was 10 years ago.
I’m writing this story so people won’t forget about Shannon Forde. Her nearly fouryear-long battle with cancer was beyond courageous. But there is so much more to her legacy and so much more people need to remember.
Shannon was a trailblazer for women in public relations in baseball and for that matter in all sports. When I hired her in 1994 as an intern from St. John’s, I knew I had a keeper. She was smart, knew how to keep score, was a dedicated Mets fan and she just bowled me over with her enthusiasm.
She didn’t let me down. In her 22 years in our media relations department she rose up to become a senior director and one of the most respected PR people in all of sports.
It’s worth repeating in the 1990s, women in pro sports PR was an anomaly.
She was cool under pressure, warm yet demanding and with a great ability to get along with everyone — which is no easy task. A PR person really serves such a diverse universe; the players, the media, the front office and ownership. They all loved her.
Shannon ran the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field and was at my side for the 2015 World Series. She edited perhaps the best press guide in baseball. In addition, MLB asked her to work various playoff games, World Series and All-Star Games.
She would accompany Mike Piazza on his minor league rehab trips, be the point person on many of our charity endeavors — such as our work with Tuesday’s Children after 9/11 — and make sure players were never late for media appearances.
On one particular rainy day in spring training I was waiting on the top of the stadium in Port St. Lucie to do a live TV shot with Todd Hundley. Todd was late and Shannon volunteered to go down the clubhouse to get him. She promised he wouldn’t be late and he wasn’t.
In the summer of 2012, Shannon told me she hadn’t been feeling well and was waiting for a doctor’s report. I was in her office when the phone rang and the report wasn’t great. The diagnosis was breast cancer and surgery would soon follow.
Shannon was ready to face the challenge that lay ahead, have surgery and get back to work. She shared her news with Jeff Wilpon who reached out to his friend, the late Don Imus who was connected to the Hackensack Hospital.
The doctors at Hackensack advised another test before surgery, and the tests showed the cancer had spread to her bones and the operation was now out of the question.
Again Shannon faced the challenge head on. She wanted no sympathy. She just wanted to work and do her job.
As the disease continued to spread, she worked as long as she could. It got so people would always come and visit her when she was in the office to see how she was doing. She appreciated the concern, but she would shut her door to make sure she could get some work done.
In the fall of 2012, Shannon’s friends and family held a gigantic fundraiser for her at the Westmount Country Club in New Jersey. Over 1,500 people attended including 18 Mets players and staff. Darryl Strawberry, Ed Kranepool, Terry Collins, Doc Gooden and the late Ed Charles were there.
Shannon always hated it when I asked how she was feeling. I tried to respect her wishes but it was hard.
She kept up her work schedule in 2012 and 2013. In fact Shannon, Ethan Wilson and I all attended the All-Star Game in Kansas City to prepare for our game.
Her doctors didn’t want her to attend spring training in 2014, but Shannon persisted. A few days after she was there her doctor called again and said she had to come home immediately because the cancer had spread to her liver and she had to go home to begin chemo.
There were no tears. She just turned to me and said “This sucks.”
In January 2016 the cancer spread to her brain and three months later the call came.
The tributes she received after her death were just amazing:
Our office received close to 500 texts and letters from people expressing their sympathy. Players such as Piazza, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Al Leiter all got in touch with us. No less than nine
major league teams held a moment of silence for her.
MLB helped construct a baseball field in her honor in her hometown of Little Ferry, N.J. Local colleges and high school now play on Shannon Dalton Forde Field.
We held a memorial service at Citi Field and there were more than 1,000 people in attendance. David Wright was one of the speakers. Practically every baseball writer in NYC wrote stories about her career.
The New York Baseball Writers renamed an award after her at their annual dinner. She received the first annual Carmen Berra Award at the annual Yogi Berra Dinner.
And just last week it was announced she has been chosen for induction into the Class of 2021 of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.
This year has been a remarkable year for women reaching new heights all across the national landscape. We have the first woman vice president, the first woman general manager in sports and the first woman to play Power Five college football.
On the five-year anniversary of her passing I just thought it was important to point out that Shannon Forde was a trailblazer in her own right for more than 20 years.
Her Mets family will never forget her.