Doubleday has his say
Monday, July 21, 2003
nj.com
It has been almost 11 months since he completed the sale of his half of the Mets to Fred Wilpon, and Nelson Doubleday misses being involved in Major League Baseball, which is not to say he misses being involved with the Mets.
"I think it's been awful out there," Doubleday said by phone early Friday night from his Long Island home. "I don't want to fire shells at somebody, but we're 22 games out. It's so close that it gets you nervous. We might fall into a minor league. We might not even make it into Triple-A.
"The Mets might be in Double-A next year.
"The most exciting thing lately was that brawl between the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones. Maybe they took lessons from (Armando) Benitez. He hadn't even reported yet and they got into that brawl."
That Doubleday knew the Class A affiliates of the Yankees and Mets had a nasty brawl Thursday is evidence he's been paying close attention to baseball, even as he said he occupies his time these days playing golf in "Florida, Nantucket, here and there. I haven't made it out to Shea once this year."
Doubleday still owns box seats at Shea, right next to the Mets' dugout, close to where Jeff Wilpon sometimes sits in the owner's seats. That seems to be one reason Doubleday doesn't go to games.
"Jeff sits there by himself like he's King Tut waiting for his camel," Doubleday said. "Hump one. Hump two. They like that, two for the price of one."
Doubleday has great disdain for Fred Wilpon, but maybe even more for his son, whom he single-handedly kept out of the organization in recent years.
"He got thrown out of Greenvale in the fifth grade for being arrogant and he hasn't improved," Doubleday said of the Long Island private school his children attended and through which he met Wilpon.
"I saw a comment in another paper after the (Roberto) Alomar trade, that it was a very good trade, but it would have been an excellent trade if they had included Jeff Wilpon.
"(John) Franco and (Al) Leiter meet with Mr. Jeff Wilpon everyday. Mr. Jeff Wilpon has decided that he's going to learn how to run a baseball team and take over at the end of the year.
"Run for the hills, boys. I think probably all those baseball people will bail."
Doubleday wondered whether any potential exodus would include Mike Piazza. Doubleday was the driving force behind his acquisition and suspects the Wilpons might be trying to push the superstar out of the organization
"I like the skill and finesse with which they told Mike he is going to be a first baseman," Doubleday said. "That's like an oversized truck trying to get through the Midtown Tunnel. 'Here's your hat. What's your hurry?'"
Doubleday also said he "felt badly" that Steve Phillips and Bobby Valentine were fired.
"I mean, Art Howe?" Doubleday said. "Come on. This isn't Padooka."
Doubleday seemed amused that Alomar, Mo Vaughn, Armando Benitez and Tom Glavine have been disappointments after celebrated recruiting and motivational efforts by Fred Wilpon this winter.
On Vaughn, Doubleday said: "They made him lose weight so they didn't have to feed him so much in the team lunch basket."
Of Glavine, Doubleday said: "Somebody ought to check his record in the second half of last season. Maybe he lost his lunch at the Four Seasons."
The restaurant in the Manhattan Four Seasons is where Wilpon dined with Alomar and Glavine during the winter.
Doubleday also took some shots at Franco, a favorite of Wilpon's and fellow alumnus of Lafayette High School in Brooklyn.
"There's a great pitcher," Doubleday said. "The other night, it didn't look like he could throw it through the hole in a life preserver. But he's from Brooklyn! Watch out! He goes home to Ebbets Field every night. He takes a ride on the Cyclone."
Doubleday misses baseball, but not the Wilpons or the Mets.
INSUPPORTABLE CLAIMS
Those hollow claims from the remaining Mets that they always supported Armando Benitez were pretty laughable. Somebody in that clubhouse sure was stabbing him in the back, and as recently as last July 11, five days before Benitez got traded.
Longtime Newsday writer Marty Noble, who has quoted anonymous Mets ripping Benitez numerous times in the past, wrote in this past Friday's paper about a conversation he and multiple Mets veterans had in the clubhouse on July 11.
Noble quoted one of the unnamed Mets veterans as saying Benitez's acquisition would lighten the workload of Mariano Rivera because, "Armando will blow it in the eighth and Mariano won't have to pitch the ninth."
WHAT'S THE DEAL?
Picking up Jeromy Burnitz and Rickey Henderson seems like a practical joke against the Dodgers players and fans by GM Dan Evans, who gave the Mets two very good prospects in Double-A infielder Victor Diaz and pitcher Joselo Diaz. Class A pitcher Kole Strayhorn was a considered a throw-in and his fastball was clocked at 95 mph the other day.
Upon his departure, Burnitz was curiously described as a leader and a consummate professional, funny considering that he's one of the most losing players in baseball. An 11-year veteran, Burnitz has never spent a full season on a team that finished above .500, and has never, ever hit under pressure. He won't this time, either, and will help the Dodgers plummet even faster.
That means no chance at the postseason incentives in Henderson's minimum salary contract. He gets $25,000 if he is the NLCS MVP and $100,000 as World Series MVP. He also has to start the five-year clock again on his Hall of Fame eligibility. |
