Buck Showalter, old Mets skippers share mutual admiration
Mets manager Buck Showalter walks to the dugout after a pitching change against the Phillies during an MLB game at Citi Field on Aug. 14. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
One by one, they filtered into the news conference room in the bowels of Citi Field, wearing their old uniforms with their old numbers, taking their seats on a temporary dais next to the man who has their old job now.
As part of the festivities for the Mets’ first Old-Timers’ Day since 1994, former managers Terry Collins, Willie Randolph, Joe Torre and Bobby Valentine joined current manager Buck Showalter for his usual pregame media session, taking turns reminiscing about their days with the organization — until Collins shifted the conversation to these Mets.
“Buck, it’s been a blast to watch,” he said. “For us old-time guys, we think there’s a way to play the game — and you’re doing it. It is a fun, fun team to watch play. Very, very proud to know you and the job you’ve done. Finish it up.”
For Showalter, the youngest of the bunch at 66, the appreciation was mutual.
“There’s a lot of healthy respect. But when they were in the dugout, there were a few other words,” said Showalter, who can count each of the other four as contemporaries. “Listening to everybody talk, the one common denominator is the passion and the love of the game, the engagement they bring with their eyes. The players fed off all these guys. Not only their skills of managing the game and their knowledge, but how much their sincerity came across.”
These men represented an expansive cross-section of Mets history, from Collins, who guided the Mets to their most recent postseason appearance (2016) and most recent World Series appearance (2015), all the way back to Torre. He was a player/manager in 1977 — and before that, he was quick to remind listeners, was with the Cardinals when he grounded into a game-ending double play on Sept. 24, 1969, when the Mets clinched their first division title.
“We’ve seen that a time or two over the years,” Torre said.
Years later, near the end of his nine-time All-Star playing career, Torre joined the Mets as a corner infielder until his duties expanded in what he believes was a life-altering promotion. Torre wound up replacing Showalter as the Yankees’ manager after the 1995 season (with Showalter getting the Mets job 45 years after Torre).
“If it wasn’t for the New York Mets back then, I’m not sure I ever would’ve gotten an opportunity to manage,” said Torre, who won four World Series titles in 12 years with the Yankees. “Because I hadn’t managed in the minor leagues before that, and M. Donald Grant gave me the opportunity to put the uniform on as a manager, and that’ll always be something that I’ll be very appreciative of. Who knows what would’ve happened after that? The rest is, I guess history.”
Randolph recalled being a 15-year-old New York City kid when the Mets won it all in ’69, dancing in the streets with his friends after the final out against Baltimore.
“We couldn’t believe they beat the mighty Orioles,” he said.
And then there was Valentine, who played for the Mets in 1977-78, was a coach with them from 1983-85 and managed them from 1996-2002. Knowing so many Mets from a variety of eras gave him special insight into what Old-Timers’ Day meant.
“There are so many guys that I wore a uniform with who didn’t win a world championship and kind of felt that, well, we really don’t count because we didn’t win a world championship,” Valentine said. “It was only ’69 and ’86.
“To come back here and be honored on that field, for some of these guys, it’s going to make them a Met fan for the rest of this year. They’re going to celebrate with everybody at the end because they feel like they’re wanted.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
