NEW YORK, NY — The New York Mets made a massive announcement last week regarding an iconic orange and blue trio set to be inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2026.
Mets CEO Steve Cohen has made it his mission for the Mets to honor their history, as evidenced by a pair of old-timers’ games, numerous uniform retirement ceremonies, and several inductions for the Mets Hall of Fame during his five-year tenure as Mets owner. That will continue in 2026 as last Wednesday the Mets announced their newest Hall of Fame inductees will be Bobby Valentine, Lee Mazzilli, and Carlos Beltrán.
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Bobby Valentine was the Mets manager in one of the team’s most fertile times, the late 1990s and early 2000s. He always enjoyed the give-and-take with reporters and was not reticent to poke fun at them in a good-natured way. He still does that with me all these years later.
When I saw him at January’s Amazin’ Day, I asked him if he thought the Mets would honor the 2000 team which came up short to the Yankees in the World Series that year on its 25th anniversary. I then asked if he thought he would be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. “The answer to both questions is ‘No!’” he said with a hearty laugh. He was right on the former, but happily wrong on the latter.
Bobby Valentine deserves to be in the Mets Hall of Fame solely based on his work in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Shea Stadium was transformed from a baseball facility to a staging area for supplies and food for first responders at the World Trade Center. Valentine worked night and day in the Shea Stadium parking lot, leading an assembly line of Mets players and other employees packing boxes at incredible speed.
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Brooklyn-born Lee Mazzilli had the misfortune playing for the Mets at one of the worst periods in their history, the late 1970s. Shea Stadium was a virtual ghost town, but the fans who did show up cheered for their local matinee idol who provided a glimmer of hope for the future.
1979 was a particularly bleak season for the Mets. They drew under one million fans for the first time since leaving the Polo Grounds sixteen years earlier. The brightest moment of that season was when Mazzilli hit the first homer in an All-Star Game by a Mets player which tied the game in the eighth inning and won it for the National League in the ninth by walking with the bases loaded.
Carlos Beltrán may wind up getting his plaque in Cooperstown before getting one at Citi Field in 2026.
As great a player as he was, he has not been as revered as he should be by Mets fans because he struck out against the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Game 7 to end the 2006 National League Championship Series. After twenty years, it’s time to move past that.
Speaking before of that terrible late 1970s period, the Mets owner at the time was Lorinda de Roulet who was the daughter of the Mets founder, Joan Payson. It was de Roulet who sold the Mets to the consortium led by Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon in 1980. She passed away last month at the age of 95. It is surprising how little fanfare her death received. The New York Times did not run her obituary until last Saturday.
Edwin Díaz and Bartolo Colón in the building for RD vs. PR Showdown at Citi Field
Many Mets fans took to social media to express their concerns about Edwin Diaz’s comments last week about the probabilities of his returning to the Mets were 50-50. Diaz, who is the best closer in baseball, said what he should have, given that he is now a free agent. If you are looking for a reason to exhale, Edwin Díaz watched Saturday’s baseball game between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic from a Citi Field suite. If he were pessimistic about contract negotiations, he would have found something else to do.
Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
Former Mets pitcher Bartolo Colón served as the pitching coach for the Dominican Republic for Saturday’s “showdown” with Team Puerto Rico. He was almost unrecognizable as he had lost a lot of weight. “I have been walking more than ever,” he told me.
Paley Museum celebrates 50th anniversary
The Paley Museum located in midtown Manhattan, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Last Wednesday, the Paley hosted a panel on coverage of the National Football League with Eli Manning and ESPN reporters Kimberly Martin, Dan Graziano, and Adam Schefter.
Image Credit: Paley Center
I asked Eli before PaleyFest if he is working harder now in retirement than when he was the Giants quarterback as he has been busy with Omaha Productions, a full-service media company founded by his brother, fellow NFL legendary QB Peyton Manning. “No, being the Giants quarterback was far more demanding, but I do keep busy.”
Eli’s nephew, Arch Manning, is the starting QB for the University of Texas Longhorns. He, and his father, (Eli’s oldest brother, Cooper Manning, have been starring in a fun television commercial for Warby Parker eyeglasses. Eli told me Omaha Productions did not produce the ad. He laughed and shook his head “no” when I asked him if he was angry about Cooper and Arch going outside of family business.
Manning was asked about the firing of Giants head coach Brian Daboll two days earlier. “Pro football is a great game and a brutal business,” he replied.
More from the NFL’s panel at the Paley Museum
Adam Schefter told the Paley Museum audience breaking NFL news has become a 24/7 business.
Image Credit: Paley Center
He recalled how he was attending his mother-in-law’s 75th birthday party when he had to start working on his contacts about the rumor, which proved true, of the imminent retirement of Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck.
Schefter then added his night was ruined when after he issued his tweet about Luck hanging up his cleats, the Colts backup signal caller, Matt Hasselback, responded that he had just spent the afternoon with Luck, and he said nothing about retiring. Schefter did not say whether Hasselback was pranking him or being sincere.
From Jamaica, Queens to Lexington, Kentucky: Mouhamed Dioubate looking forward to State Farm Champion Classic at MSG
University of Kentucky Wildcats forward Mouhamed Dioubate grew up in South Jamaica and attended John Bowne High School before transferring to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut where he graduated. I spoke with him on the telephone last Thursday in advance of his team taking part in the State Farm Champions Classic held this week at Madison Square Garden.
Image Credit: Madison Square Garden
Dioubate is a junior and is studying communications at the U of K, but his goal, like every men’s college hoops player, is to get to the NBA, When I pointed out the limited number of available roster spots on NBA teams, he demurred when I asked him if would consider the G-League or playing overseas as options.
He laughed when I asked him as a New Yorker if it was a culture shock to go from Lexington Avenue to Lexington, Kentucky. He said he likes the Bluegrass State and was doing all right when it came to endorsement opportunities there.
He was excited to be playing in the Garden but said it was draining trying to produce tickets for all his friends and family.
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One advantage of modern technology is that everyone can watch his games on the ESPN Unlimited streaming service. They can also listen to his games on old school AM radio as the Wildcats games are broadcast over 50,000-watt powerhouses WHAS in Louisville, and Cincinnati’s WCKY, which can be heard in 38 states at night.
An Update in the Sports and Streaming Industry
The NBC Sports Network was NBC’s attempt to be a competitor to ESPN. While NBC held the broadcast rights to the Olympics, it did not have the broadcast rights inventory for most major sports to be profitable. NBCSN went dark on all cable systems at the end of 2021. Comcast, the parent corporation of NBC Sports Network, decided to shift all its sports programming to the USA Network and the Golf Channel.
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This past Monday, NBC revived the NBC Sports Network. With Comcast spinning off many of its cable properties, it no longer owned the USA Network and the Golf Channel. Despite all the gloomy predictions about linear cable channels in the age of streaming services, Comcast, which now has NBA rights, the upcoming Winter Olympics, and is rumored to be getting a Major League Baseball package, wanted a cable home for overflow sports programming.
AMC Networks set to debut two part documentary “Rise of the 49ers” in February of 2026
AMC Networks, which is best known for buzz-creating series such as “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” is broaching sports for the first time. In early February, it will debut a two-part documentary, “Rise of the 49ers.”
Remembering and Paying Tribute to Larry Brooks
The death of longtime New York Post sportswriter, and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, Larry Brooks deservedly unleashed a plethora of tributes.
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I remember being in the Rangers locker room several years ago after they endured a tough loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had not had a game off in a while, so I asked cantankerous head coach John Tortorella if Lundqvist was showing signs of fatigue, which he clearly was. “You’re an idiot!” he snapped. Larry then asked him a question about the Rangers goalie, and Torts called him an idiot as well. I knew I was in good company at that moment, but it meant the world to me when Larry complimented me both on my question and on having the temerity to ask it to a guy who made his reputation being a bully to the media.
November Baseball: Over 20,000 fans attend RD vs. PR Showdown at Citi Field
The Mets may have finished their disappointing season nearly two months ago, but Citi Field was hopping last weekend. Over 20,000 fans showed up Saturday to watch the Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico by a score of 6-2.
The game marked Robinson Canó’s final game on US soil.
Image Credit: Ernesto Diaz/Latino Sports
Great Turnout in Queens for Second Annual BagelFest
The following day, gourmands descended on Citi Field for the second annual BagelFest held there. While New York’s leading bagel retailer, Zucker’s, was not participating, Sunnyside’s Curley’s Bagels and Whitestone’s Utopia Bagels represented Queens. While the bagel is considered synonymous with New York, purveyors from New Orleans, Washington, DC, Knoxville, Seattle, and even Denmark were eager to display their wares.
BagelFest was more than bagels. Joyva, the Brooklyn confectioner which began operations in 1907, happily gave out samples of its timeless Jell-Rings and Halvah. The Brooklyn Seltzer Company was dispensing a sadly disappearing New York delicacy, the egg cream. BagelFest’s natural counterpart, Seltzer Fest (seltzerfest.org), will be taking place in Brooklyn’s Industry City on March 15, 2026.
You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.
