In its longstanding relationship with baseball, New York City has been home to four Major League teams: the Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, and Mets. But only one man wore all four uniforms: Casey Stengel. Dubbed by sportswriters “The Professor” for his expansive knowledge of all things baseball and named “The Greatest Character of the Game” by the MLB Network, Stengel was one of the sport’s most prominent fixtures. Still, his career was not without controversy, most notably when the Mets finished last in their league for all four years he managed the team.

Join Steve Steinberg, baseball historian and co-author with Lyle Spatz of 1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York (University of Nebraska Press, 2010); Marty Appel, former public relations director and television producer for the New York Yankees and author of Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain (Anchor Books, 2009); Toni Mollett, Casey Stengel’s grand-niece and founder of the Casey Stengel Baseball Center; Steven Goldman, author of Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel (Potomac Books, 2006); Jim Kaplan, co-author of The Gospel According to Casey (St. Martin’s Press, 1992) and The Greatest Game Ever Pitched (Triumph Books, 2011) for a discussion moderated by Dan Fost, journalist and author of Giants Past & Present (MVP Books, 2010), for an intimate look at the career and legacy of this icon of America’s pastime.

Reservations required: 917-492-3395 or e-mail programs@mcny.org.
$6 museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 non-members
$6 when you mention Empire Sports Now

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
New York, NY 10029
www.mcny.org
212-534-1672

One member of the Mets’ organization said that the team is ready to shut down the rehabilitation schedule for Santana if he does not feel comfortable after what is expected to be a simple session of playing catch.

According to the source, Santana has not been progressing in his return to light throwing and the team is concerned enough to halt this section of his rehabilitation. By doing so, the Mets’ timetable of a possible late-June, early-July return to the team would likely be wiped out.

Internally, the Mets believe they’ll be “lucky” if Santana pitches this year.

Mike Puma of the NY Post says Johan Santana refutes this report. Puma tweeted:

Whatever the case may be, not having Santana for any significant period of time hurts the team. If it’s the entire season, 2011 will be a rocky one for the Mets.

Beltran told ESPN New York, “In order for me to play center field, I need more time. I want to be on the same page with everyone here. I want Terry to have his time and to come to the ballpark ready to play the lineup without thinking where he is going to play Pagan, where he’s going to play me. At the same time I’m thinking about Pagan coming to the ballpark and preparing himself and focused to play baseball. I don’t want to create any distractions here. Like I said, I want to play right. I think it’s best for the team. I think it’s going to be best for me also, best for my knee. It’s going to be less active than playing center field.”

Beltran left his ego at the door and is being a team-player. He could have stayed in center field, but he knows he can extend his career by moving to right field.

Donald Trump, according to the NY Times, is uninterested in buying 25% of the Mets but would buy a majority stake in the team.

“The Wilpons are friends of mine, and I really hope it works out great for them,” Trump told the NY Times. “But if anything doesn’t work out for them, I’d be interested in the team.”

Mike Repole (co-founder of Vitaminwater), Martin Silver (owner of Georgi vodka and Long Island businessman), and a group including Martin Luther King III and former Met Ed Kranepool have all been linked to the Mets’ minority stake for sale.

In the months after the Picard team’s prison interviews, the trustee’s law firm, Baker & Hostetler, filed hundreds of civil lawsuits seeking approximately $90 billion in damages and fictional profits withdrawn from Mr. Madoff’s scheme over the years. The defendants in those cases included the Wilpon family, the owners of the New York Mets; JPMorgan Chase, which served for decades as Mr. Madoff’s primary banker; and Sonja Kohn, the Viennese financier at the hub of a network of hedge funds that invested heavily with Mr. Madoff.

Mr. Madoff said about Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, Mr. Wilpon’s brother-in-law and business partner: “They knew nothing. They knew nothing.”

The Wilpons are being sued by trustee Irving Picard who is seeking to recover money from Madoff’s enormous Ponzi scheme. For the Wilpon’s sake, I hope they really didn’t know anything about the scheme, but I won’t lie to you and act like I’m familiar with exactly what took place and what is happening in full detail right now.

The Wilpons are looking to sell up to 25% of the Mets. They also say their finances will not impact the team.

“For any baseball team, I’m not going to be the one to chase after it,” the Dallas Mavericks ‘ owner said before his team’s game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden . “If someone sees me as a potential owner, I will take their call and discuss the deal.”

[...] “From my perspective, it would be very unlikely that I would choose to participate if they came to me with a minority stake unless there was a right to buy [the majority ownership] in the event of that opportunity.”

Cuban also said, “If they want to sit down and sell me on it, I can be a willing buyer and willing customer.”

Maybe the Mets need to make a phone call to Cuban to gauge his interest. The Wilpons would probably have to be willing to sell a higher percent of the team to get Cuban’s attention though. They are currently willing to sell about 25% of the team, according to reports.

Cuban previously has tried to buy the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs.