Wilpon: `Not upset' about Walter Reed absentees

            Standing in a firehouse across the street from Ground Zero, not far from a plaque commemorating the six firefighters from Ladder 10, Engine 10 who lost their lives on 9/11, Jeff Wilpon insisted on moving on. He declined on Friday to criticize Mets players who didn’t make the trip to Walter Reed Hospital Tuesday, and praised the ones who did.

            Wilpon, the Mets chief operating officer and a member of the large contingent that visited wounded military personnel during the team’s series in Washington this week, said, “It wasn’t mandatory. You can’t get upset.”

            If he and Mets players had at some point been upset about the absences of Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez, they did not bring it into the firehouse yesterday. Wilpon appeared with David Wright and Mike Pelfrey. All three toured the house, heard stories from firefighter John Morabito, who was working on 9/11 and fled the World Trade Center, and spoke with New York Fire Department Commissioner Salvatore Cassano.

            The theme, on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, was on the people that Wright called “true heroes” and on how the ups and downs of a baseball season can seem insignificant.

            “It’s minute,” Wilpon said, while cranes were busily moving across the street, rebuilding the World Trade Center site. “I mean, people lost their lives here. And people are losing their lives every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, it’s tough to win and lose [in baseball], but it doesn’t compare.”

           He recalled with pride that the Mets helped in the days after 9/11, when city officials needed somewhere to store supplies and the club offered Shea Stadium. Mets employees—including then-manager Bobby Valentine—were among those who unloaded trucks.

            Wright, who had just been drafted by the Mets, his favorite team, recalled watching the first game after the attacks. He said that the home run that Mike Piazza hit in that emotionally charged night at Shea Stadium was one of the biggest hits in team history.

            Cassano, a Mets fan, agreed. “They brought us back,” he said of the club.

            Pelfrey recalled having watched the coverage of 9/11 from home, after he got home from high school that day. The pitcher said he was proud that his current club has shown a knack for voluntarism and community spirit. He pointed out that 27 players did make the trip to Walter Reed, adding that he does not believe there will be any lingering repercussions regarding the three who did not.

            Wilpon said that the reason there was such a large turnout was that Pelfrey had taken it upon himself to write on the clubhouse message board that it was mandatory—even though management had not made that demand. Wilpon was proud of the pitcher, saying, “He’s becoming a great man.”

            The chief operating officer was asked if the annual Walter Reed trip could become a mandatory exercise next year. “We’ll take a look at it. We might do that,” Wilpon said. “This way, it might take out any controversy.”