Quote:
Originally Posted by SDL
Actually, a few more '69 Mets are at the Great Shea Stadium In The Sky
Danny Frisella, Don Cardwell, and Cal Koonce are there as well as Gil Hodges, Rube Walker and Eddie Yost.
|
Damn, I forgot about Cardwell and Koonce. And of course I knew about Danny and the damn dune buggy, but I thought he spent the entire season in the minors. Nope, three games as a September call-up. So that makes six, and brings the empty chairs total a little closer to Seattle's.
We could also count Jim Bibby, were we so inclined. Never got into a game, but he was on the roster in September and can be seen in the division-clinching clubhouse celebration footage. (He's wearing #49, whooping it up with Amos Otis.)
And I left out the Manager and the coaches as, being older to begin with, it's not that surprising for them to have gone on. Actually though, that widens the Mets/Pilots gap; Joe Pignatano is still around to tell tales of the Shea Stadium Tomato Patch (the tomatoes weren't planted until the mid-70s, but still), whereas Joe Schultz can't pound any more Budweiser, Sal Maglie can't second-guess pitchers, Eddie O'Brien isn't telling anybody to put their hat on, and Frankie Crosetti, Ron Plaza, and Sibby Sisti are likewise gone.
And I did miss one more Pilot (although given the amount of churn they had on that team, I'm glad it was only one), with Jose Vidal having traded in one set of wings for another back in 2011. Vaya con dios, Papito.