I am so lucky.  I still have three of my grandparents who are alive, all over 90 years old.  Recently I went with my family to visit my Grandma and Grandpa in West Virginia over Memorial Day Weekend.  First off, not a good idea to drive across the state of PA, it took 7 hours to get from New York City to Wheeling, West Virginia. 

Albert Iannuzzi is my 94 year old Grandpa who is a life-long Yankees fan and huge follower of baseball.  Over the years he has told me many stories of the amazing games he saw and the experiences he had as a New Yorker.  It is amazing, because even at the age of 94 he still remember all of the highlights of his youth.  My brother and I were determined to find out everything we could about my Grandpa and baseball.  Here are just some of the highlights:

- "The Catch"- In 1954 my Grandpa was sitting in the center field seats at the Polo Grounds during Game 1 when Cleveland's Vic Wertz hit a bomb.  In what my Grandpa describes as the greatest catch ever that he never saw, it is amazing to hear his description of the play.  No way did he think he would make it under the ball.  Unfortunately, he actually didn't witness "The Catch", as everyone in his section stood up and blocked his view.  He knew it was caught by the roar of the crowd.  If you watch the You Tube video above, he was sitting in the section to the right of the center field wall.

- "The Perfect Game"- In over 100 years of World Series games there has only ever been one perfect game, and that would be Don Larsen's 1956 Game 5 performance.  My Grandpa had box seats and saw this amazing event, live and in color.  To hear him explain what this looked like in color, to see Yogi jump into Larsen's arms after the 27th batter just brings chills to your body. After watching the You Tube video above, imagine siting in box seats with you suit and gentleman's hat watching this piece of baseball history in living color.

- "The Dodgers"- In all of my Grandpa's years as a New York baseball fan, he only went to see the Dodgers play at Ebbets Field once.  He didn't like the Dodgers at all, in fact, he also said that their fans were quite rowdy and obnoxious. 

- "Bleacher Days"- When my Grandpa was 21 years old in 1935 he would pay 55 cents to watch the Yankees from the bleachers every home day game.  He had just finished school and would catch every day game during the summer he could.  Imagine that, for 55 cents watching Lou Gehrig play every day.

- "Gehrig and Ruth"- In 1934, Babe Ruth's last year with the Yankees, my Grandpa tells an amazing story that I wish I had the opportunity to witness.  Yankees are down by a run in the 9th, Gehrig comes up and hits an absolute bomb to tie the game, next batter up, Babe Ruth, and hits a walk-off home run.  Back-to-back, Gehrig and Ruth.  Amazing.  Grandpa also tells some funny stories of seeing Ruth showing his age in 1934, falling as he tries to run out of the box. 

I hope you enjoyed these stories as much as I did.  Oh, and my Grandpa, can't stand the Mets!

I had to take five minutes from my Memorial Day Weekend to say this team is officially terrible.  Go back and re-read my post after the collapse from last year.  You can basically copy and paste and insert here.  This Mets team plays boring, uninspired, sloppy, stupid, gutless, emotionless baseball.  Fire Willie.  Fire Omar.  Clean house, because this gang of clowns makes me sick!  The last inning the NY Mets played with any emotion was Game 6 in 2006 against the Cardinals.  This moment marks when the Mets started to take fall from the ugly tree. 

Boy do I wish it was days like this at Shea again.  Please Mr. Wilpon, do something to make us makes fans believe you are sick of this brand of baseball, too.

What is going on with the Mets!  Okay, so let me get this straight, the below average Reds and Nats come into town and the Mets take 3 of 7!?!?  I mean, what is going on.  In my mind the corporate manager (see Joe Torre), will not work with this Mets club.  For over a year now they have been playing emotionless, gutless, pathetically boring baseball.  The responsibility of the manager is to pick your team up and get them to perform.  Willie is just not doing the job. 

Wednesday I went to the game with my friend Julie, and she was nice enough to provide the game review.....

"Wednesday night, Mets vs. Nationals, coming off of Tuesday’s nights’ 6-3 victory Claudio Vargas is on the mound for the 1^st time after being called up from New Orleans. Let’s just say that Vargas’ first start was probably only memorable to him. The Nats scored 2 runs on 3 hits and Vargas recorded 4 walks and 6 strikeouts in. Vargas had a lackluster 6 1/3 innings and was pulled for, of all people, Aaron Heilman.

Willie’s decision to bring in Heilman was met with boos of disapproval from the crowd and started a rant by Scott on Willie’s managerial skills. I would love to add some of his thoughts here but I’ll admit, I was too busy staring at David Wright to catch all of it. Come on, guys admit it, D. Wright is one good looking guy. You really can’t fault me for taking a few minutes to admire him. I know Scott won’t be casting judgment here since he admitted to having man crushes on both Wright and Ryan Church. Wait, was I not supposed to mention that? Oops, sorry!

Well, the fans turned out to be right about Heilman as he proceeded to let up a home run and 3 base hits before making his one and only out of the game. Good call Willie; way to manage the game. Although I agree that Heilman stinks, I don’t know that I agree with Scott’s claim that he could go 3 for 4 against him in a game. I’m sure you have mad skills Scott, but fantasy camp isn’t quite the big leagues. If you ever get a chance to face him for real, let me know I’m taking the under on hits.

All in all, it was a goodnight out, despite the outcome of the game. Always good to hit up Shea, down a corndog (which are highly underrated, by the way) , a few beers and watch America’s pastime. And if the game stinks, you can always watch David Wright (bonus if he’s wearing eye black. Side note: eye black should be a staple of the baseball uniform. It is wildly attractive and makes any guy look that much hotter.)

Next up for the Metropolitans…the Yankees. They have the beginning of the rotation up Friday with Santana. Let’s hope the Mets can go across town and take 3 from the Yanks to gain some ground in the NL East. I’m off to Vegas tonight for the weekend, so I’ll be watching the subway series from a sportsbook somewhere on the strip. M-e-t-s!"

Doubleheader, nothing better than this on a beautiful day.  I with they still planned twilight doubleheaders.  I remember going to one back in the early 1992 when the Mets played the Dodgers.  Ramon Hernandez faced Dwight Gooden in game 1, and Eddie Murray had a huge game.  Boy, those were the days.....

Anyway, I was very excited about seeing Johan pitch for the first time live this year.  My friend Rick and I went to the game, took a quick LIRR trip to the game.  I had gone for a run early in the morning and had not eaten all day until we got to Shea.  Rick and I ended up stuffing our faces with dirty Shea food for the entire game, and washed all that crap down with about 6 over priced beers.  Inning one, hotdog.  Inning three, sausage.  Inning four, peanuts.  Inning five, hotdog.  Inning seven, Mama's of Corona hot turkey sandwich.  I think I would have not eaten so much if the game and atmosphere was so bad.  First of all, not selling out on a Saturday afternoon game when Johan is pitching is crazy.  You know why.....because the Mets play boring, uninspired baseball.  Rick and I both noticed this, the Mets simply don't have that killer instinct. 

Well, Johan pitched well.  Beltran had an absolute fantasy stud day with five RBI's, I hope this is the start of him hitting a long hot streak.  The other Carlos (Delgado that is), also homered, so let's hope this is him picking it up. 

We didn't stay for the night game.  It just seemed so strange to me that the cleaning crew had to wait for everyone to leave the stadium to clean it up, just so a new round of fans could come in and dirty it up again.  Must have been a long day for those guys, props to them.

No, not the Major League Baseball World Series (I have a whole other blog ready for why Willie should be fired and how this team hasn't played with any fire, balls or enthusiasm since Endy Chavez catch), but the World Series of Flip Cup in Baltimore this weekend.  My Zog Sports football team is taking on the rest of the USA at this amazing event. We have dominated the rest of NYC at flip cup over the past few months, and it is time to show who the real champion is.  It is all for a good cause, Cystic Fibrosis, but also very competitive.  This You Tube video shows highlights from last years WSoFC.  Teams are already talking smack, here is a great press release that came out recently.  The only Mets link will be the guys on my team who are also big fans, and the Mets hat that I will be wearing all weekend long. Let the domination begin.