Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall is choosing a baseball club to root for. Even growing up in upstate New York, I never had any trouble or doubt about this, but here’s my attempt to help him pick the right New York team.
Josh,
Speaking as a life-long Red Sox fan, I think it’s a disgrace you never got to Fenway. Just awful. But at least you have the guts to admit it.
Now, let’s look at the Mets: Too new? Josh, they were created in ’61, before you or I were born; they were managed by the emininently historic Casey Stengel, and had an eminently, historically, disgracefully horrible first season: 42-120. Plus ’69, ’86 (Yes, as a Sox fan, it kills me to say it … but really all is forgiven after ’04) … come on. They’ve got history.
As for who they are today:
They’ve got Pedro Martinez, one of the smartest, vainest, most talented and fascinating players in any sport. His brain and stuff are electric. He’s not what he was in ’99, say, but still awfully good. I’m convinced he will go into politics some day.
Superstars Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are easy to root for; Billy Wagner is Randy Johnson in the ‘pen; they’ve got Julio Franco, who is 1,053 years old. Tom Glavine’s about to turn into a pumpkin, too; it’ll be fascinating to see if he can bluff his way through another 13-win season on the outside corner. And as for home-grown talent, you can’t get much better than 3b David Wright. 2b Jose Reyes had 60 SB last season at age 22 — he’s still developing. They had a great story this spring with rookie Brian Bannister, who made the rotation.
As for manager: Even when he played for the Yankees, I never hated Willie Randolph. ‘Nuff said.
Here’s what it comes down to for me: I can root for just about any team with Pedro Martinez. He’s that awesome.
Hope this helps,
Charley
