Ex-Amazin’s return as Mets ring in the old
Nostalgia always sells, and the Mets certainly understand that.
On Tuesday, the team officially announced the return of Old Timers’ Day and held a press conference with a trio of alumni. The event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27 prior to the game at Citi Field against the Rockies. Introductions for the more than 40 former players will begin at 5 p.m.
“I think it’s gonna be great, I really do,” said Cliff Floyd, a Met from 2003-06 who will partake in the festivities. “Other than the fact that I’m terrified of hurting myself doing something stupid, it should be fun! Hell, when we get to this point in our lives, you’ve gotta be careful. It’ll be fun to see all the fans and be back in the city.”
Frank Thomas, Ron Swoboda, Jon Matlack, Felix Millan, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Bobby Ojeda, Robin Ventura, Turk Wendell, Endy Chavez, Floyd and Daniel Murphy are all scheduled to participate, forming a group that features an original player from the 1962 team as well as someone who was a Met just seven years ago.
“I’m about to be 37,” Murphy said in Tuesday’s virtual press conference. “I guess I’ll probably be the youngest one there, which is quite comical. My wife wouldn’t miss an opportunity to go to New York as well.”
When asked about how he feels being lumped into the old guy category, Murphy said that when he looks at the backs of the other guys’ baseball cards and sees all they accomplished, he’ll gladly take that lumping. It’s unclear if he has the same aspirations as the oldest member of the squad.
“I plan on taking some BP before the game,” said the 92-year-old Thomas through a statement released by the Mets. “I hit homers at the Polo Grounds and at Shea. I would love to hit one at Citi Field.”
Thomas hit 52 homers in his three-year Met career, including 34 during the historically pitiful ’62 season. Floyd also hit 34 dingers during the 2005 season, and said that since the news broke, people have been hitting him up asking if he’s still got any pop left in his bat.
“I have no idea why people think I’m going to hit it over the fence,” Floyd laughed.
Ventura was also part of the Zoom press conference on Tuesday and said that he’s thrilled about the opportunity to come back to New York and see his old teammates, less so about getting into a uniform again. Ventura’s reminiscing about his Mets career is all based in Shea Stadium, though, which will make his Old Timers’ Day experience one more degree removed from his playing days.
“You better be a doberman with his ears pinched back and be purposeful,” Ventura remembered of playing in the old ballpark. “There’s a certain noise at Shea. I don’t know if it’s the acoustics, but stadiums are built different now. At Shea the noise came down and you felt it inside your chest.”
The Mets said names will be added to the list at a later date. The team last hosted Old Timers’ Day in 1994. Owner Steve Cohen said the public’s vocal clamoring to bring it back made his decision fairly easy.
“Bringing back Old Timers’ Day was one of the most passionate requests I heard from our fans,” said Cohen. “As we celebrate our 60th anniversary season, having these legendary players return to the ballpark to hear cheers from Mets fans once again is the perfect way to honor our past.”
Murphy, despite being just two years removed from playing in MLB games, cautioned people not to expect anything close to his performance from the legendary 2015 playoff run.
“It’s really cool that Mr. Cohen wanted to restart this and it was spurred by the fans,” he said, while revealing that he brought his son to watch Jacob deGrom in Atlanta last season and knew right away that he didn’t belong on the same field anymore. “Don’t expect too much, but it will be a lot of fun.”
There is no word yet on what the Mets plan to do if the lockout interferes with the season and causes any change to the schedule. One person seemed to be especially worried about that possibility, and gave his urging to the players vs. owners standoff.
“Being 100 as I possibly can, we gotta get a deal done,” Floyd said.