The Mets' Forgotten Man

The Sports Media Wants To Include This Emerging Superstar In Any Trade. Why?

When it comes to a topic, a writer should know what he/she's talking about. Simple, right? Basic, Hm? Not when it comes down to many sportswriters. Too many, in fact. Clickbait always wins out until the facts finally arrive to save the day.

With Steve Cohen taking over from the Wilpon family as owner of the New York Mets, the trade and free agent rumors are running amok. Baseball's annual Hot Stove League is always fun for the fans but not when some sportswriters try to light a fire using a damp sponge.

In most trade scenarios involving any number of superstars coming to the Mets, the the one player always in the mix is left fielder/first baseman Dominic Smith with the idea being if the Mets sign George Springer to play center field, Brandon Nimmo moves to his natural position in left and, with no DH in the National League for 2021 and first base occupied by Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith becomes expendable.

Their reasoning is, besides being a better fit in left field, Brandon Nimmo is also a very good leadoff hitter.  But that's there the comparisons stop dead in their tracks so, with your kind indulgence, allow me to enlighten those who have been dis-enlightened.

Yes, Nimmo is better defensively in left than Dominic Smith but let's look closer at the offensive comparison. Nimmo put up quality numbers in 2020. However, Smith was on a whole other level. Over a 162-game schedule Smith's numbers look like this: 32 home runs, 136 RBI, 87 runs scored and 68 doubles which would've broken the Major League record of 67 set by Earl Webb of the Boston Red Sox in 1931.

Smith's been improving each year and he's still only 25. If he hits like that anybody should gladly deal with whatever defensive shortcomings he has in left field. He plays hard, he's willing to learn and is one of the most popular players on and off the field. No matter how you cut it, Smith's not going anywhere and that bat is not coming out of the lineup. If the Mets sign George Springer, what's wrong with Nimmo as the 4th outfielder? A strong bench is just as vital to a contender as the everyday starters and Nimmo could also be a top trade chip at the trade deadline should the need arise. Meanwhile, the leadoff spot is in excellent hands with Jeff McNeil starting things off with those big bats looming behind him.

Bottom line: If the Mets make a deal for Nolan Arenado (or anyone else, for that matter), include Dominic Smith out.

There's Only One Way To Force The Wilpons Out

In what's becoming yet another disappointing (so far) season for the Mets, the Wilpons' declaration of changing the culture of the team are looking like political promises - easily made, easily broken and the results are nothing new for Met fans. The starting pitching and the offense have been inconsistent (despite the presence of two very bright young stars in Jeff McNeil and powerhouse Rookie Of The Year candidate Pete Alonso) and the bullpen's been bull. And, inexplicably, manager Mickey Calloway and agent-turned-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen had zero job experience when the Wilpons hired them. Not surprisingly, that lack of experience is showing with Calloway's poor handling of the bullpen and the drive-by firing of respected pitching coach and designated scapegoat Dave Eiland.

 McNeil greets Alonso after a two-run homer at Wrigley Field.

So what to do this time? Well, Met fans, desperate times indeed call for desperate measures and if you're genuinely prepared to back up your demands that the Wilpons sell the team, there's one sure-fire way to make it happen. And that is (barring a pennant race down the stretch), stop going to the ballgames. Yes, that's a bitter pill but the long-term results can be satisfying if not rewarding. If the Mets fight their way back into the race that's one thing, but if they fall out of it and become sellers once again, the question you need to ask yourselves is, are you getting your money's worth? So why give the Wilpons their money's worth?  

Look, it's obvious nothing's going to change unless serious action is taken. Met fans did just that during the 1970s and by 1979 they brought to an end the ownership of Charles Shipman Payson, the skinflint husband of Joan Payson who, as team owner before she died in 1975, wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to improve the team.

Mets first owner Joan Payson flanked by Tom Seaver and Art Shamsky

M. Donald Grant

Unfortunately, after 1975 came the notorious mismanagement of infamous board chairman M. Donald Grant, who earned the fans' wrath by trading off the team's most popular and valuable assets for very little in return. This included Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Dave Kingman, Rusty Staub and Jerry Koosman among others. And to make matters worse the Mets sat out the free agent market while the Yankees, under George Steinbrenner, regained their former glory as the Mets crashed into the cellar.

Watching the Mets at Shea in virtual privacy, circa late 1970s

From 1970 to 1979 the Mets' attendance went from 2,697,479 to only 788,905, a drop of 1,908,574 paying admissions in only nine years. Management stubbornly ignored the fans' message, but by the late 1970s Shea Stadium began to look as neglected as the team was. Paint was peeling off the scoreboard backdrop, the parking lots were always flooded rain or shine, the amenities were becoming unsanitary and the entire inside of the ballpark became unkempt.

Finally, after drawing the fewest fans in their history in 1979, the Mets were sold to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon for a reported $21.1 million. They promised to do whatever it took to win and they started out by hiring Frank Cashen as general manager (He built the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the late 1960s and early '70s). Shea Stadium was refurbished inside and out, and with the necessary funds provided by the new owners, Cashen assembled a championship team that won the World Series in 1986 and the National League East in 1988.

 "The Mets have won the World Series!" ~ Bob Murphy

In 2002, Wilpon bought out Doubleday for $135 million and became the principal owner, something he was never prepared to do as evidenced by the Mets falling into mediocrity after The Subway Series in 2000 (although they did rise to a first place finish in 2006). 

Mike Piazza sends the ball on its way

With few exceptions (Mike Piazza, Carlos Delgado Carlos Beltran), ownership has shown little ability to make the right moves. Even when they opened their bank vault in 1993 and 2003 the Mets finished with the worst record in the league. 

In recent years, particularly since his involvement in the Bernie Madoff scandal, Fred and his son Jeff, the team's COO, have persistantly maintained a reluctance to spend and do whatever it takes to build a winning team while the Yankees have regained their former glor---wait a minute, haven't we been down this dead end before? In spite of a National League pennant in 2015 the whole thing feels hauntingly like the M. Donald Grant years after the 1973 pennant, doesn't it? 

Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Like father like son

Met fans back then knew the answer to the ownership problem. A losing team is a bad draw. Even a mediocre team. If Met fans today want the same end result of 40 years ago there's only one thing to do. Hit the owners where it hurts: Their pocketbooks.

Although things aren't nearly as bad for the Mets now as they were during the '70s, it's just as frustrating for the same reasons. The time has come to finally demonstrate to the Wilpons just who has the real power within a sports franchise and that power belongs to the fans who pay for tickets, parking, concessions, souvenirs, memorabilia and the Mets' cable network, because without those paying customers, professional sports as we know it would not exist. And since the Wilpons, like Charles Shipman Payson before them, are very wealthy mizers they'll feel the pinch very quickly. But you better act fast, Met fans. Fred is now 82 and when he dies Jeff will take over and the Wilpon conundrum will only continue ad infinitum ad nauseum.

Knicks Signing Durant Goes Against All Logic

As of this writing, it would appear that Kevin Durant will miss most, if not all of the 2019-20 season, which would seem to throw a major league monkey wrench into his free agency plans. Logic dictates that he will exercise his $31.5 million option for next season and wait until next summer because he'll never get that kind of payout through free agency now. Right?

Of course, you can't have logic without illogic. That part of the equation is provided in abundance by the many sports media talking heads and newspaper hacks because without it they can never fill a newspaper or a broadcast with enough quality information to warrant their careers. According to these so-called "experts" Durant is going to opt out anyway and that the Knicks, Nets, Lakers and Clippers should and will tender him max contract offers despite his long-term injury prognosis.

That's absurd enough, but there's no team that should avoid taking that kind of risk more than the Knicks because it's the kind of foolish move they've made in the past (Antonio McDyess in 2003 comes to mind). But that's only part of it.

The opinion here is that it would be absolutely ridiculous for the Knicks to sign damaged goods to a max contract and then have to wait a year while paying him millions not to play while he rehabs. Another consideration is Durant will be 32 on Opening Night 2020 and he has a lot of miles on his legs. 

[Illogic is taking a real beating here.]

The logical course of action for the Knicks is to ditch their plans for Durant and instead go after Kawhi Leonard, another unrestricted free agent superstar who's going completely ignored as the only viable option. He's three years younger than Durant and most importantly, he's healthy and can step right into the Knicks' lineup immediately. 

[See the simple logic here?]

The Knicks can not afford to screw up this time. Their winning percentage in this century is .416, worst in the league. They're coming off their second 65-loss season in five years under two regimes. They traded Kristaps Porzingis after he (justifiably) complained about the constant losing. Ironically, he was in the process of missing the entire season rehabbing a major knee injury. Why should Knick fans have to wait again with Durant's injury?

What it all comes down to is that signing Kevin Durant virtually guarantees at least another year to what's already been a long, agonizing wait for Knick fans for another championship caliber team.

Since the Knicks have a legendary embarrassing reputation for making illogical moves it's up to owner James Dolan to keep his nose out of things and let the current regime of team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, who've openly dedicated themselves to building a winner the right way, to follow through on their pledge. 

And that starts this summer by trying to sign Kawhi Leonard, not Kevin Durant. It's the logical thing to do.

I Went To a Fight and a Hockey Game Broke Out. No, Really!

          

It’s impossible to talk about hockey's  glorious history without referring to fights. After all, fighting, for better or worse, is part of the game but this particular game was way-hey off the charts.

On March 5, 2004 at Philadelphia’s Wychovia Center the Flyers and Ottawa Senators played a game that was so wracked with penalties and ejections in the final minutes that they actually came close to not having enough players to finish it.

It was a matchup of two good teams contending for first place in their respective divisions, but there was bad blood brewing between them. The previous two seasons the Senators had eliminated the Flyers from the playoffs, and when the teams played each other a week before this game, Ottawa forward Martin Havlat high-sticked Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi in the face, earning a two-game suspension. Havlat was making his return tonight, so anything was possible.

Once the game started Ottawa scored first but the Flyers reeled off three straight goals and led 3-1 after the first period. Philadelphia maintained control  through the second and entered the final period with a 4-2 lead. It was a physical, well played game to that point, with ten minutes in penalties. Nothing unusual…yet.

With 1:45 left in the game and Philadelphia comfortably ahead 5-2, Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear and Senators tough guy Rob Ray dropped their gloves and started fighting. Almost immediately, players on both teams began going at one another. Even the goaltenders got into it as Ottawa’s Patrick LaLime skated the length of the ice to take on Flyer goalie Robert Esche. 173 minutes in penalties were doled out, many of which were game misconducts, including both goalies. After the gloves and sticks were picked up off the ice and the penalized players were either in the crowded penalty boxes or the locker rooms, they lined up for a face-off to resume play. As soon as the puck was dropped the players on the ice started brawling again resulting in 42 more penalty minutes and another ejection. Again the players lined up. The puck had barely hit the ice when Philadelphia's Michal Handzus and Ottawa's Mike Fisher began pounding away at each other. They were each tagged with 20 minutes in penalties and booted. It took 24 seconds before the next round started and that one resulted in 82 minutes in penalties and four more ejections. The teams were starting to run out of players so it became imperative to end this game while they could. But Philadelphia's Patrick Sharp and Ottawa's Jason Spezza didn't care. They squared off for a final round which resulted in their departures with a full hour of penalty minutes between them. 

When the horn sounded signaling peace on ice, the Senators had just six players remaining and the Flyers had seven. Fortunately, a cessation in hostilities was finally reached. Ottawa scored with 13 seconds left, but Philadelphia won this literally hard-fought game/war, 5-3.

The Flyers were called for 213 minutes in penalties while the Senators were tagged for 206. The whopping total of 419 minutes is the most ever in an NHL game and it resulted in one very, very long box score.

Regarde:

Ottawa  1         1          1  -  3

Phil       3         1          1  -  5

FIRST PERIOD - 1, Ottawa, Neil, 9 (Simpson, Havlat), 4:07. 2, Philadelphia, Lapointe 4 (Somik, Slaney), 10:41. 3, Philadelphia, Recchi 25 (LeClair, Handzus), 11:11. 4, Philadelphia, Markov, 6 (Handzus,  LeClair), 16:10. Penalty - Philadelphia, T. Amonte, (obstruction - holding), 5:17

   SECOND PERIOD - 5, Philadelphia, Johnsson, 9 (Zhamnov, Slaney), 5:22, pp. 6, Ottawa, Chara 15  (Spezza, Schaefer), 14:32, pp. Penalties - Ottawa, M. Fisher (tripping) 3:57; Ottawa T. Simpson, (holding), 6:06; Philadelphia, R. Somik (slashing), 13:08;  Ottawa, M. Fisher (high sticking), 17:07.

   THIRD PERIOD - 7, Philadelphia, Zhamnov 10 (Gagne, Amonte) , 6:54. 8, Ottawa, Bondra 24  (Alfredsson, Schaefer), 19:47, pp. Penalties - Ottawa, Alfredsson (roughing), 9:03; Philadelphia,  Zhamnov (roughing), 9:03, Ottawa Smolinski (roughing), 12:18; Philadelphia, Sharp (roughing), 12:18;  Ottawa, Simpson (slashing), 14:21;  Philadelphia, bench served by Sharp (too many men on the ice) 15:57; Ottawa, Ray (major-fighting), 18:15; Philadelphia,.Brashear (instigator, roughing, double-major, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:15; Philadelphia, Radivojevic (major-fighting, double-game misconduct), 18:15; Ottawa, Van Allen (major-fighting, double-game misconduct), 18:15; Philadelphia, Markov (major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:15; Ottawa Simpson (major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:15; Philadelphia, Esche (goalie leaving crease, double-major-fighting, double-game misconduct), 18;15; Ottawa, Lalime (goalie leaving crease, major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:15; Philadelphia, Somik (major-fighting), 18:18; Ottawa, Neil (major-fighting), 18:15; Philadelphia, Timander (major fighting), 18:18; Ottawa, Chara (instigator-served by Havlat, major-fighting, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:18; Philadelphia, Handzus (major, fighting, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:21; Ottawa, Fisher (major-fighting, misconduct, game misconduct). 18:21; Philadelphia, Recchi (major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:45; Ottawa, Smolinski (major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:45; Ottawa, Redden (major-fighting, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:45; Philadelphia, LeClair (holding, major-fighting, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:45; Philadelphia, Sharp (major-fighting, misconduct, game misconduct), 18:47; Ottawa, Spezza (major-fighting, misconduct, double-game misconduct), 18:47.

Shots on goal:

Ottawa   7- 9-10—26

Phil      13-11- 6—30

  Goalies - Ottawa, Lalime (30 shots, 25 saves), Prusek (18:15 third, 0-0); Philadelphia, Esche (22-20), Burke (18:15 third, 4-3).

The Man They Called...

Most basketball fans only know the name Wilt Chamberlain because he scored 100 points in a game. They often qualify Wilt's herculean accomplishments by saying he's overrated because he was bigger and taller than anyone else in his era. Oh, what little those fans choose to know. The fact is, there's a hell of a lot more about how spectacular an athlete he was than people know about.

Statistics and video footage of Wilt Chamberlain very strongly suggest that his combination of size (7'1", 275 lbs - he weighed in at 258 as a rookie), strength, athleticism, a vertical leap between 39 and 50 inches (depending on his age and who you talk to), unmatched durability and excellent fundamentals on both ends of the floor would still make him a better and more intimidating player than any big man in today's slower-paced NBA game.

Your Honor, the evidence:

Wilt Chamberlain's dominance started getting nationwide attention when he was a teenager at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. At Kansas University Chamberlain not only played basketball, he was also a star member of the Track and Field team. He ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds; the 440 in 48.9 seconds; shot-putted 56 feet; posted a 22' 8' inch broad jump and won the high jump in the Big Eight track and field championships three straight years. By the time he was 21 he had already been featured in Life, Look, Newsweek and Time magazines before he even turned pro.

Wilt left college early and spent a year playing for the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the NBA in 1959 and once he got to the Philadelphia Warriors as a territorial draft choice the records began falling like dominoes. In his very first game, played against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Wilt set rookie debut records for points (43) and rebounds (28) that still stand. It was a powerful omen.

You know a player is dominant when the powers that be change the rules because of that player. That's what the NCAA and NBA did to Chamberlain. In college, Kansas devised an inbound play from under the basket where the inbounding player would throw the ball over the backboard to a leaping Chamberlain who would jam it home. The NCAA banned that move, as well as some others before he even played one game. The NBA not only did the same, they also widened the free throw lane. In addition, goaltending, which was legal then, was outlawed due to Wilt's uncanny ability to block shots within 10 feet of the basket no matter where the shot originated. Curiously, Wilt was a very poor foul shooter. He had a good shot away from the basket (he had a deadly baseline jumper) but at the line he was one of the worst. He tried every method: two-handed, one handed, even underhanded, to no avail. About the only thing he didn't try was bouncing it in. It's widely speculated that he was working on a way to leap from the foul line and release the ball less than a few feet from the rim before touching the ground. The league, well aware of Wilt's track  and field background, nixed that idea, too.

With Chamberlain overwhelming opponents game after game he immediately became a sensation and the NBA's biggest drawing card since the legendary George Mikan. He went on to shatter virtually every scoring and rebounding record (as a rookie, remember) and wrapped up his first year in the NBA with averages of 37.6 points and 27 rebounds a game. Fans and media alike were dumbfounded. Nobody had ever seen this kind of dominance before. Some people feared he would wreck the game. He was criticized and called selfish and a loser, leading him to bitterly lament,  "Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath."

During the 1961-62 season Wilt's scoring average climbed to a surreal 50.4 points a game, highlighted by his unbeatable 100-point effort as well as a 3-overtime game where he poured in 78 points and grabbed 43 rebounds and another game of 73 points and 36 rebounds. [Read the story and the box score of his 100-point game here.]

Here's Chamberlain's game log from that iconic season. Any one of these games would be a career achievement for any player. Wilt Chamberlain was achieving it virtually every game. 

In the current era where nobody plays all 48 minutes of a game, Chamberlain averaged a seemingly impossible 48.5 minutes a game in 1961-62. He played every minute of a game (including overtime  minutes) 79 times that season, including 47 in a row.

In his 7th season Wilt scored his 20,000th point in his 499th career game, which by far remains (and likely will always remain) the record for the fastest to achieve that milestone.

Wilt never fouled out of a game, which spanned 1,205 games including 160 playoff contests.

He's the only player to record a 40/40 (at least 40 points and 40 rebounds in one game) and he did it five times.

Six players have scored 70 or more points in a game. Wilt did it six times.

Michael Jordan scored 50 or more points 31 times in his career. Wilt Chamberlain did it 45 times in one season and 118 times in his career.

The second best scoring average by a player not named Chamberlain was Elgin Baylor's 38.3 in 1961-62, the same year as Wilt's 50.4. That makes Wilt's number 31.6 percent higher than Baylor. Now let's put that into perspective:
• The highest batting average for a season in Major League Baseball over the past 70 years is Tony Gwynn's .394 in 1994. To exceed Gwynn by 31.6 percent, a batter would have to hit .518.
• The all-time single season rushing record in the NFL is 2,105 yards by Eric Dickerson in 1984. To exceed Dickerson by 31.6 percent a runner would have to gain 2,770 yards.

• The NHL single-season record for goals is 92 by Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82. To exceed Gretzky by Chamberlain's pace, a player would have to score 121 goals.

There are those who claim that all Chamberlain could do was score. However, much to their ignorance, Wilt had 78 career triple-doubles, more than Larry Bird (59), Michael Jordan (31) and Kobe Bryant (21). Wilt had 31 of them in one season.

In 1960 Wilt grabbed an astonishing 55 rebounds in one game, against Bill Russell, no less. He's said to have been more proud of this record than his 100-point game because it was harder to do.

Wilt Chamberlain doesn't just block this shot, he catches it and turns it into a rebound.

In 1966-67 Wilt won his first championship (dethroning the 8-time defending champion Boston Celtics in the playoffs along the way) when he averaged 24.1 points, 24.2 rebounds and 7.8 assists a game and led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 68-13 record and the NBA title. Here's Wilt's game log from that historic season.

Chamberlain followed up that season in 1967-68 by becoming the only center to lead the league in total assists in a season with 702. His numbers were 24.3/23.8/8.6. The peak of that season ocurred on February 2, 1968 when he became the first player in NBA history to get a double triple-double (at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists in one game). It took 51 years before Russel Westbrook became the second one. Here's the box score of Wilt's game.

Occasionally, somebody would count hifferent stats during a given game. In 1968 Chamberlain produced an unofficial quintuple-double with 53 points, 32 rebounds, 14 assists, 24 blocks and 11 steals.

  

Wilt had 40 or more rebounds in a game 14 times. Bill Russell did it 11 times. The only others members of the 40-rebound club are NBA Hall Of Famers Nate Thurmond and Jerry Lucas who each did it once.

When Wilt Chamberlain left the NBA in 1973 he held 126 NBA records. Up to this date he still holds 73 records, 67 by himself.

Off the court, Wilt could palm a bowling ball, bench press 465 lbs, clean-and-jerk 375 lbs, deadlift 625 lbs among other feats of strength, and life after basketball saw him become a Hall Of Fame volleyball player.

Some quotes about Wilt Chamberlain:

NBA great Johnny Kerr -- "Once Wilt got upset with me and dunked the ball so hard it went through the rim with such force that it broke my toe as it hit the floor."

Hall Of Fame coach Alex Hannum -- "When I coached the San Francisco Warriors, I thought Al Attles was the fastest guy on our team--by far. We used to gamble a lot--which player could jump the highest and run the fastest.  So I set up a series of races, baseline to baseline. In the finals, it was Wilt and Al Attles and Wilt just blew past him. I'm convinced that Wilt Chamberlain is one of the greatest all-around athletes the world has ever seen." 

Al Attles -- "I'd see what the other players were doing to Wilt and what the officials were allowing, and I'd get more upset than if it were happening to me. It wasn't that Wilt couldn't defend himself...If he ever got really hot, he'd kill people, so he let things pass."

New York Knick Darrell Imhoff, the starting opposing center the night Wilt scored 100 points -- "I can't have a nightmare tonight. I've just lived through one."

Former teammate Tom Meschery -- "A lot of people are walking around today only because Wilt never lost his temper."

Hall Of Fame Boston Celtic K.C. Jones -- "He stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling.  It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game."

Rugged power forward Paul Silas -- "One time, when I was with Boston and he was with the Lakers, Happy Hairston and I were about to get in a scrape. All of a sudden, I felt an enormous vise around me. I was 6-7, 235 and Wilt had picked me up and turned me around. He said, 'We're not going to have that stuff.' I said,'Yes sir.'"

Hall Of Fame center Bob Lanier who was 6'11", 260 lb. -- "When he picked me up here and put me down there, I thought he was the baddest."

Hall Of Fame power forward/center Elvin Hayes -- "He was such an awesome physical specimen. To go up under Wilt Chamberlain, to be down there and look up at him when he's towering up over you waiting to dunk, was a terrifying picture. Everyone was scared when he got that "Don't try to stop this" look.

Hall Of Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier -- "His legacy is comical. When you read about his records, it makes you laugh. He has records that are just remarkable. I don't care if he was 10 feet tall, the things that he did."

Chamberlain showed some interest in football which attracted the attention of legendary coach Hank Stram, who invited Wilt to a workout. Here's what happened:

Wilt's career numbers 

A list of some of his records and achievements:

And some video highlights.

It's a credit to Wilt Chamberlain's awesome athletic ability that he kept getting comeback offers for 18 years after his retirement. "Bulls, Cavaliers, Nets, Knicks twice, Sixers twice, Mavericks, Suns, Clippers - those are all the teams that tried to get me in the last decade," Chamberlain said in 1991. "It's great for the ego to think at age 50, 52, 53 that guys think I could still go out and play. And personally, I think I could do it. But I have no desire. The time I had was enough."