Author: Jon Springer

Jon Springer is a writer in Brooklyn. Mets by the Numbers began as a goof in 1998, later became a book, then went back to being a goof.

Ditching the Black

A note in the latest UniWatch column by Paul Lukas suggests inside knowledge that the Mets willdial back the black this season and noted evidence of such exists already in some of the team’s marketing materials (pocket schedules and the mets.com homepage banner; not to mention Subway and bus-mounted advertisements I happened to notice something different about myself). This is certainly a welcome piece of news and portends, we suspect, to a return to more traditional jersey to coincide with the 2009 Citifield opening. For reasons we’re not entirely sure of, baseball authorities require especially early advance notice of plans to change the official uniform so if a change is in the offing we should be able to smell it now.

Speaking of new looks, a “soft” opening for this here new mbtn page was met with yawns from some of its intended audience. Ideally, the finished product would retain the distinct look and feel of the old site, just with additional functionality and ease of use. Work in progress.

MBTN is Dead. Long Live MBTN

Just like the Mets, we’re replacing a gigantic orange monstrosity from another era with sleek new digs, only we’re not getting the city to pay us for it.

This is the “new” mbtn.net, only, it’s not at that address but at metsbythenumbers.com. This new addy will allow us to stay in touch and up to date while we rebuild the old numbers database and other parts of the site to be more user friendly and engaging. The new logo to the right is the work of Scott Turner and Superba Graphics. His firm did more cool stuff we will reveal in time.

The “old” mbtn.net still works; over the coming months, this platform (or a similar successor) will settle back in at that address, while all the stuff currently at that address will eventually move to this platform. Things will likely be in transition for a time, but there’s no need to change bookmarks is what I’m saying. Oh, but if you rip off photos and other graphics from mbtn, move them to your own host soon because they’re eventually going to be moved.

I published Mets by the Numbers for the first time more than eight years ago. Sometime in the early going, I developed an irritating habit of referring to the site as “we.” I’m going to try and do less of that now. While I operate one of the oldest Met-related sites out there (the brilliant Ultimate Mets Database is just a few weeks older) I’m probably the last Met fan alive without a blog. While this new format ought to make updates easier and more frequent, I’m still going to try to keep focused on my niche: Chronicling and illuminating the history of the team, its fortunes and its players through an examination of the uniform. There is an awful lot more to be said and be discovered on that topic still.

The real “we” are the reader/participants whose interest delivered one email at a time helped this site evolve from a goofy experiment many years ago to a reputable research project capable of withstanding some scrutiny, and who put up with spelling errors and infrequent updates, and at times, an indifferent host along the way. I hope “we” will use the comment field here frequently and learn from one another.

You may also reach me privately at a new address: mbtn01 /at/ gmail / dot / com .

Bazooka Joe and the 800th Met

Unless something really unexpected happens, it appears Moises Alou 18 will become the 800th Met when the season begins a week from today.

Other first-time Mets would appear to be Damion Easley (No. 2), David Newhan (17), Aaron Sele (32), Scott Schoeneweis (60), Chan Ho Park (61) and “Bazooka” Joe Smith, who is, for all we know, still going around in the No. 70 jersey they assign to longshot bullpen wannabees. I made up that “Bazooka” nickname by the way, sort of. Remember Joe Smith, the basketball player? When he was a student at Maryland the school paper held a nickname contest to give him more pizzazz where ‘Bazooka’ was among the choices. I don’t think it ever stuck with that Joe Smith. We can’t let it go this time.

So what number does Bazooka Joe Smith get?

I don’t even have to look it up to tell you this is the first season the Mets began a year with two guys wearing numbers in the 60s.

Doing 90

Thanks to reader effort we’re relatively sure catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. is wearing No. 90 which we also think may be the highest number in camp this spring. Nice job by the Mets to dress longshot catching invitee Jose Reyes in No. 77, which not only recalls his famous namesake but indicates he’s roughly twice his size. In a new number this spring is Steve Schmoll, submarining in the No. 38 jersey belonging most recently to Victor Zambrano.Schmoll last year attended camp wearing 46.

Zambrano, by the way, is non-rostering it with the Blue Jays wearing No. 31. Steve Trachselof the Orioles is wearing No. 18. And in an arrangement we won’t believe till we see, Cliff Floyd wears No. 15 for the Cubs (And Ted Lilly gets 30. Really, now).

Hojo in 52 & Other Notes

Newly named coach Howard Johnson was spied at Spring Training revealing jersey No. 52 and temporarily ending some wild speculation that he’d finagle his old No. 20 from Shawn Green. The rules of the jersey game clearly pointed to this outcome — coaches don’t take jerseys from players, except when the player happens to be someone like Jeff McKnight. Then, all bets are off.

Thanks to readers Gene and Matt for pointing it out.

Also worth noting: Coach Jerry Manuel is back in No. 53, with spring training invitee Aaron Sele in 35. Manuel, you may recall, was assigned 53 last spring but switched jerseys when Chad Bradford — who’d been assigned 35 — preferred the latter. This restores at least some orderliness on the coaching bench: Sandy Alomar Sr. is still waddling around in No. 2, but the rest of the staff are nice and Rube Walkerly in the 50s — Rick Peterson 51; Hojo 52; Manuel 53; Rick Down 54; Tom Nieto 55; and Guy Conti 56.

Other sightings at Spring Training, as reported by various witnesses: Carlos Gomez in 88 and Fernando Martinez in 67. There have been several photos of recently signed ancient catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. floating around the Met but none in a jersey we’ve seen yet. Let us know if find something.

Marty Noble on the Jose Valentin/Moises Alou “controversy” (I use quotes here because I strongly suspect Valentin has more affection for 22, his number for many years, than for 18,his number for just one. But good Nobling here nonetheless:

Sometime this year, Mets left fielder Moises Alou will receive a bill, the amount of which has yet to be established. It will come from his new teammate, Jose Valentin.“I haven’t decided yet,” Valentin said. “It depends on how well he plays.”

The bill will be compensation for the uniform No. 18, which Valentin surrendered to Alou. Valentin has changed to No. 22 — worn previously by Ray Knight, Donn Clendenon, Kevin McReynolds, Al Leiter and Xavier Nady, among others — to accommodate Alou. Except for his first two games with the Pirates in 1990, when he wore No. 52, Alou has worn No. 18 throughout his career.

Alou’s uncle, Jesus, wore No. 23 with the Mets in 1975.

On with the Show

Newsday’s David Lennon on Scott Schoeneweis: as for the No. 60, he’s been stuck with it ever since his rookie year with the Angels in 1999. The Mets tried to finally correct the injustice this spring — issuing him No. 36 — but Schoeneweis chose instead to stay with his old jersey. “My first five minutes as a Met, I was high maintenance,” Schoeneweis joked.

New Roster Posted

Thanks to Matt for the tip — Mets.com has posted a new roster page, assigning numerals to the 40 men on the 40-man. Though these lists have proven unreliable in the past, they’re usually fun and sometimes surprising. Right off the bat, we’re surprised to see Damion Easley be assigned No. 3 when he’s more often associated with No. 2 (even though the latter belongs to Sandy Alomar); and Scott Schoeneweis listed in 36 rather than his customary 60. We wouldn’t be surprised to see either change before the bell rings on the new season.

Other new guys and their alleged numbers:

Jon Adkins 39
Adam Bostick 72
Ambiorix Burgos 40
Jorge Sosa 29 (goodbye, Steve Trachsel)
Jason Vargas 43
Ruben Gotay 6 (poifict!)
Carlos Gomez 61
Ben Johnson 4
David Newhan 17

Points of interest in Nonroster Inviteeland:
Aaron Sele 35
Mike DiFelice 30 (this would be his 3rd number in 3 calls for the Mets)
Ruben Sierra 19 (yes, Ruben Sierra)

Catching Up

With Cliff Floyd’s departure to Chicago, it may be interesting to see whether Willie Randolph alights in the now-vacant No. 30 or stays with the 12 he’s worn as a Met player and manager (in his playing days, 30 belonged to Mel Stottlemeyer; Willie was 30 with the MF Yankees most of his career).

Alert MBTN reader Richard informs us that Mets.com is offering the Jose Valentin jersey in No. 22 — the switch from 18 we expected following the Moises Alou signing earlier this off-season.

Hello to new arrivals and/or spring auditionees Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Sele, Jorge Sosa and David Newhan.

While Schoeneweis falls one letter short of the all-time Met record for characters on a name plate (ISRINGHAUSEN, with 12 still leads the pack), if his form holds true the veteran loogy would become the first player in Met history to wear No. 60. We’re kind of shocked to see him get a three-year contract.

The well traveled Sele, who signed a minor-league deal, has worn 30, 34, and last year with Los Angeles, 41. Sosa, who was pretty good for the Braves in ’05 and horrendous with them last year, is yet another former No. 34. We last saw the 34 jersey on Mike Pelfrey, who just might make the starting rotation.

Newhan, often described as a Joe McEwing type,  wore No. 11 with the Orioles, as McEwing had in his last years as a Met. Eleven currently belongs to reserve catcher Ramon Castro, who was re-signed recently along with Endy Chavez 10; Duaner Sanchez 50; and, to another minor-league deal, the immortal Mike DiFelice.

Hojo Returns, Bannister Traded

For the second winter in a row, the Mets traded a soft-tossing starter who wore No. 40 for a hard-throwing young reliever who wears No. 50. While last year it was Jae Seo to Los Angeles for Duaner Sanchez, this time it’s Brian Bannister  to Kansas City in exchange for Ambiorix Burgos.(Yes, we know Seo’s turn in No. 40 was a few changes ago, but we couldn’t resist all the spooky parallels). We’ll wish good luck to Bannister, who showed a lot of heart in an unexpected rookie campaign with the Mets, and hope that Burgos can cut down on those home runs allowed and wild pitches.

The Winter Meetings also brought word that ex-Met Howard Johnson would serve as the first-base coach next season, with Sandy Alomar crossing the diamond to third base to take the place of the departed Manny Acta. We’ll be watching to see which jersey Hojo turns up in, noting that his former No. 20 belongs today to outfielder Shawn Green.

More Numbers Confirmed: Thanks again to Gordon, who mailed along a scan of a scorecard from the opening series of the 1977 season including the listing of Ray Sadecki wearing No. 33. While this number wasn’t especially difficult to remember (that Sadecki wore 33 is in fact about the only thing we can recall of the guy) finding independent confirmation was a bit ornery and so we’re thankful to have it.