From the Magazine Rack of Bill Diehl
This long suffering Mets fan hopes they fare well in LA. Perhaps we’ll see another Subway Series.
Catch the Mets
From the Magazine Rack of Bill Diehl
This long suffering Mets fan hopes they fare well in LA. Perhaps we’ll see another Subway Series.
Adding the Mets to a play-by-play lineup that already included the Giants, Knicks and Rangers was a long-standing dream of General Manager Bob Duncan.
I was the morning sportscaster when the station added the Mets, and I got to meet Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy, who had been the play-by-play team since the Mets came into existence in 1962. My picture is on the media page of the Mets yearbooks of 1975 and 1976.
My one regret was that the station’s (and maybe New York’s) greatest Mets fan — Edward Brown — was no longer with WNEW.
Problems surfaced immediately. The station refused to air the Mets’ day games because they would have interrupted the music shows. “WNEW Day” at Shea Stadium was broadcast on WNYC!
A general manager who shall remain nameless refused to increase the compensation when the Mets wanted to renew their contract for 1978, and that was it for the Mets on WNEW, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted. I am so proud of what they have been able to accomplish this season.
[Footnote: I got to cover the 1986 World Series for NBC Radio Sports].
I love this memory. Thanks for sharing!