by Flashes of brillance, followed by much longer periods of darkness. It’s a cycle that the New York Mets have experienced throughout their existence. Since the turn of century, it’s never been more evident that the way this team is built, operated and maintained on a daily basis, is flawed. Founding Editor of Gotham Baseball Magazine Mark Healey (who’s also the Online Editor for Baseball Digest), has covered the Mets since 1998, and tries to explain why.
“…(Fred) Wilpon wants to own 100% of the New York Mets. It would be the best thing. Wilpon is the one who has been running the day-to-day operations of the team for a long time. He wants to keep running it and then he wants to turn it over to his son, Jeff, someday, make sure the Mets are always a family business … Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday were in as equal partners on a team that owned New York once … They are better off without each other. The Mets will just be better off.” – Mike Lupica, NY Daily News, June 22, 2001.
When the Payson family ownership group finally let go of the New York Mets in 1980, there were very few – if any – Mets fans that were sorry to see that era end. Since the passing of Mrs. Joan Whitney Payson in 1975, her advisor and team chairman M. Donald Grant had become the most hated man in New York Mets’ history.
