Monday Morning — March 3rd, 2003
The days are getting longer, spring training games have begun, and the regular season is less than a month away. While it's no substitute for games that count in the standings, it was still a thrill to turn on the television last weekend and see the Mets playing ball!
Ready For His Close-up - Last week Mike Piazza shot a commercial for the MLB Authentic Collection at the Thomas J. White Stadium complex in Port St. Lucie. Assistant equipment manager Vinny Greco also appears in the commercial, which is produced by Major League Baseball Productions. When the commercial airs, pay attention to the extras, who are wearing uniforms with names like Horwitz and Samuels to honor to members of the Mets family like equipment manager Charlie Samuels and vice president of media relations Jay Horwitz.
Meanwhile, Piazza missed the first few spring training games due to soreness in his hip. Piazza had an inflammation in a bursa sac in his right hip that he hurt during a baserunning drill last week. Fortunately, Piazza was feeling well enough to catch Sunday's game.
Celebrity Corner - Actress Sigourney Weaver was in camp during Monday's intersquad game in order to promote her new movie, The Guys, which is about firefighters who responded to the call on September 11. On the field, team captain John Franco presented Weaver with an orange batting practice jersey with number 8, which is Weaver's favorite number. The film premiered that night in Port St. Lucie, and many Mets were in attendance. Meanwhile, the team collected $2,500 during that intersquad game to benefit Fire Squad 288 in Maspeth, Queens.
On Sunday, the Mets hosted approximately 1,000 Kennedy Space Center employees and their families at the Mets/Orioles game in Port St. Lucie. Astronauts Mark Polansky and Mark Massimino took a moment to pose for a photo with manager Art Howe. If you recall, it was just over a year ago that Massimino brought one of John Franco's jerseys into space on a Space Shuttle Columbia mission.
Get Well Wishes - To Lynn Cone, the wife of pitcher David Cone. Cone left Port St. Lucie last week to be with his wife in Connecticut while she underwent minor surgery last Monday, but was back in camp by mid-week.
To bullpen coach Rick Waits, who was hospitalized in Celebration, Florida prior to Saturday's split squad game in Orlando after complaining of tightness in his chest and lightheadedness after running on the treadmill. On Sunday Waits was transferred to Florida Hospital in Orlando, and he will undergo heart surgery later this week. kcmets.com wishes Waits the best of luck on his operation, as well as a full and speedy recovery!
Getting a Foot in the Door - If you dream of working in the Mets' front office and you are a college student between the ages of 18 and 25, check out www.mastercard.com and click the tab that says Internship '03. 50 students will be selected for a five-week course, and the top twelve will receive an intensive two-week internship with either the Mets or the St. Louis Cardinals!
Quote of the Week - Vance Wilson, after hitting a huge home run off of Atlanta rookie Jun-Keun Bong on Saturday -- "I can see the headline, 'Wilson Smokes Bong!' Make sure they use his first name or it'll be our first controversy of the year."
Special Feature: Baseball as America
Special Feature: Talkin' Baseball with Terry Cashman
Unless otherwise stated, these stories have been extracted from reports on www.nydailynews.com, www.nypost.com, www.nytimes.com, www.njo.com, www.newsday.com, www.bergenrecord.com, AP , and www.mets.com reports.
