Hosted by Chris Caputo, this show features a fun and memorable conversation with former New York Mets catcher Ed Hearn, a member of the legendary 1986 World Series championship team. Hearn talks about the upcoming 40th anniversary reunion, sharing stories about the close bond between teammates and the unforgettable personalities that made the ’86 Mets so special. He also reflects on his journey from the minor leagues to the majors, dealing with injuries, and what it was like playing alongside some of baseball’s biggest stars. From his first major league home run to memories from the World Series, Hearn gives listeners an inside look at one of the most iconic teams in baseball history. It’s a great listen for Mets fans and anyone who enjoys classic baseball stories.

Takeaways:

• In this episode, Ed Hearn shares poignant reflections on his time with the 1986 New York Mets, emphasizing the camaraderie that defined their championship season.
• Hearn recounts the emotional experience of receiving a commemorative ring for the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Mets, highlighting the significance of team unity.
• The discussion touches on Hearn's personal health challenges, which have shaped his perspective on resilience and the importance of support from loved ones.
• Chris Caputo and Ed Hearn delve into the cultural impact of the 1986 Mets, exploring how their persona as 'bad guys' contributed to their legendary status in baseball history.
• Hearn's narrative reveals the challenges of being a backup catcher behind Gary Carter, illustrating the pressure and expectations placed on players in high-stakes moments.
• The podcast culminates in a heartfelt message from Hearn about the importance of perspective in overcoming life's adversities, resonating with listeners beyond the realm of sports.

The views expressed in the following program do not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgbb.

Live from the WGB studios in Merrick, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.

Good evening, everyone and welcome to WGBB Sports Talk New York.

We are live here in Merrick, Long Island, New York.

My name is Chris Caputo.

I'm going to bring you for the next hour.

My co host Mike Gordone is away enjoying hopefully some nicer weather than what we're experiencing here in New York.

But we do take time this weekend to remember why we get an extra day off on this Memorial Day and thank everyone for all their sacrifices that they made and remember those that we have lost.

Well, we do have sports to talk and here in New York it's kind of an up and down time depending on what sport and what team you're rooting for.

The New York Mets have gone into a huge downfall, but the New York Knicks have won three straight in their Eastern Conference final and the Yankees have started to put some runs on the board as well.

But the rain comes down here in New York.

But we still continue on.

We got a big night for you.

We hope you can sit back, relax.

Our shows are played back for you on Sports Talk NY so you can find us there.

Again, my name is Chris Caputo.

Tonight we got at least one guest and possibly some extra for the second half hour.

The Mets are getting back together for the 40th anniversary and then later we'll take your call.

So we're going to get right into it.

So we're going to welcome in our first guest.

We're happy to join in Ed Hearn.

Ed, thanks for joining me.

It's Chris Caputo here in New York.

You betcha, Chris.

Sorry about the bad weather this weekend.

You know, it's been tough.

We've had a lot of rain here and you know, sometimes you have to make adjustments.

But we do what we can and hopefully when you come here on August 1st, we'll have nice bright sunshine and a beautiful weekend for you.

Boy, I hope so.

That's going to be a wonderful Time, couple days there, you know, with all the fellows, the 85th guys.

And you know, they're even.

They're even making new rings for us.

Really?

Yeah.

I was shocked at that.

They're nice.

They look like the World Series ring.

They have the NY on the top of the ring in diamonds instead of the one single diamond.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah.

So, you know, this.

This whole reunion, the 40th.

When's the last time that you were back with most of these guys for a reunion?

Well, I was.

I was in an autograph show.

Lucky's right.

Autograph events.

I was out there at.

Oh, is that Hofstra?

Yeah, Hofstra.

Yep.

Yep.

Just a few weeks ago.

We had a great turnout and I saw a video somebody took and there was a heck of a line there out for me.

And the reason for that, you know, not because I'm a big superstar.

I'm just Ed.

You know, I'm not a big name guy.

I only got two gutters in my name.

I'm not strong, rare.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

There was a.

There was a line going out to Jazzoo when I went out for public loan signing.

And that's mainly because, you know, you have to.

I've been back with guys lately and I really haven't because the last three or four years have been really tough, health wise and just, you know, I just haven't been back.

I used to.

I went down to Mets Nancy camps and coached down there up until the last three years.

And so I've been kind of out of, out of sight, out of mind a little bit.

And so everybody was trying to get their, you know, 86 World Series team photo sign with all the guys.

You know, that's a very hot item.

I was one of the last one or two remaining because I hadn't been around.

People want that last one.

Yeah.

That's interesting.

And people want to get that extra signature on an item that maybe has a lot of signatures.

Ed, you were drafted by the Phillies in the fourth round.

1978, You were from Florida.

And, you know, what did you decide to do from there?

You had an opportunity to play at West Point?

Yeah, I had opportunities at several colleges for football and baseball.

And definitely the nomination appointment to West Point is a very big honor.

And I had some Ivy League schools that I could have went to.

But ultimately I decided that it was time to pursue my dream and I signed with The Phillies and had a great rookie season in Helena, Montana.

I tell you, I fell in love with Montana then Ryan Sandberg and I were clearly feed on that team and it was just a fabulous first year in the minor leagues.

And it got a little rough after that with some injuries.

But you know, I was in the Phillies for about five years in my leagues and with the injuries I had, they didn't think I'd ever catch again.

They said I went out walk normal again.

So I said look, I'm not going to make the Pacific leagues as a, you know, gig power hitting first racer V8 so do my release and if anybody wants to give me a shot at catching again, then that's what I want.

If not, you know, I got some marbles to go back and do something in the real world.

So I, they gave me my release and I signed with the Mets.

And you know things van gong in 83, 84, 85 and 86 World Series.

So you know, not many people realize what who told me that there's very few if any other people that have a championship ring four consecutive years.

One each level of minor league and regular baseball for the same organization.

Lynchburg, Jackson, Tidewater and then, and then New York at 86.

Yep, a bunch of those Mets came came up through the system with you as well that made it to the team in 86.

So you guys had a lot of strong players down in the minor league system.

Oh, it was a loaded group of guys.

Man.

It was a lot of fun that first year at Lynchburg with Gooden and Lenny Guy Show.

We won a hundred and some games.

It was just phenomenal.

We dominated that league and you know, we won every league, Texas League in AAA Norfolk, Virginia and then up to the league league and then you know, Chris, you know, here's the ironic thing.

The Mets traded me away to Kansas City next year and you know what poor folks there in Long island, they haven't gotten a World Series right now the rest since I was traded.

That's right.

That was the, it's the turning point.

We got to get you back on the team for a one day contract.

Maybe we could start making things good in New York again.

Yeah, if I can make it make it to first place, that would be good.

Ed, you made the team in 86.

What was your welcome to the majors moment when you realized that, you know, this is totally different now?

Roy, I tell you, I tell you what my welcome moment was.

I think you have a copy of my book or picture and the front covers of Me in uniform and I got my finger up in the air, number one looking thing.

But what that was was that was my first measure league home run.

It happened, you know, Father's Day.

And the guys, you know in New York fans demanded curtain calls that year out of us guys, the Mets.

Right.

And I, I was raised to be humble and stuff, you know, Southern boy.

And I, I was, I was not into that.

But you know Gary Carter, he was up there fist pumping and all that stuff.

But Carter and Hernandez literally pushed me up the steps and I step up and I just pointed up with a finger and that turned out to be the COVID shot for my, my book Conquering Life's Curves.

And you know that was quite the moment, really just incredible.

And then after the game really became even more special when one of the grounds crew guys had retrieved the ball.

Wow.

From fans and traded some stuff for it.

And I was able to present that to my dad who was there in the stands.

Mom and dad were there and I was able to give that ball to them that, that evening.

And it was just, I mean that was my, I think that was the best moment of all.

Yeah, you, you obviously you played on a championship team.

Talk to us a little bit what it was like to be on that team.

To have to be ready every day but also to be around some major superstars.

Yeah.

Well, being backup to get Carter first of all is, is a tough job because he's going to play as often as he, you know, as he wants to.

And gratefully that was all the time.

But he had to have a break and you know, he had to stay ready and you know it turned out I think myself and Larry Lyons were supposed to squat back and forth between tide worst week he gets about match but you know, very right there on the spring training.

And then after a month or so they called me up and you know it didn't change.

I was hitting over.300 most of the year.

And then of course you know the best part I guess for me and the team and was when Gary heard his thumb, you know playing first chase against, in the second game, double headed there against Cardinals.

All the newspapers were, oh boy, worst thing that could happen to Mets Carter goes down and all the reporters were right there in front of me locker.

What are you going to do Ed Hearn?

You know what, I was real honest when I said, you know what?

There ain't nobody around that can full of shoes of Jerry Carter.

Correct.

But I'm going to be Ed Hearn.

And that's all I can do.

And I remember.

Yep.

I remember a lot of those games going out to the west coast, too.

Yeah, we went to the west coast and all.

We went 11 and three in that two weeks.

So actually, Gary was a little chapped about that because he felt like that those two weeks cost him the MVP that year.

Yeah, probably.

And yourself and Barry Lyons and even a little bit of John Gibbons had to give some depth to the team.

That year.

You played in 49 games.

What was the.

What was the season like for you?

You know, I know as you go on to the postseason, there's a lot that you, you know, you always have to be ready, but there was a lot going on with that team.

It wasn't a team that was just there to, you know, take in whatever was going on.

They wanted to be in the spotlight.

So what was it like being around that team?

Do you think so, Chris?

There's only a couple of books written about them.

Just one or two, I think.

Yeah, the Bad Guys.

One was probably the most prolific book written about the Apex Nets.

And, you know, we were called Bad Guys for a reason.

It was a very cocky group.

You know, when we left spring training, Davey said to the team, we're not going to just win, we're going to dominate.

And that quote has carried on that was retained the legend of the 86 nuts.

But, you know, we were.

We were good.

We were cocky.

The guys were ready to fight at the drop of a hat, and guys wanted to featureless because we were cocky.

We walk in there and just say, hey, let's go.

And, you know, so we were in several brawls that year.

Yep.

And, you know, it was.

It was a.

Interesting season for a rookie.

You know, I think, like, they'll.

Clarice, tell the kid, all right, it's okay for you to be seen but not heard.

You know, I think.

I think that's kind of the generalization for a rookie.

Some guys, you know, go up and make a lot of noise, but, you know, I thought my job was to do my job and, you know, I didn't get involved in a lot of stuff that was going on, and good thing I did.

Yeah.

I tell you, Chris, later on, I don't know, a year or two later, whatever it was, my.

My mom, I sent her a copy of Perlman's book the Bad Guys one, and she called me up a few weeks later.

She goes, oh, my God, Eddie, if I had known that, I would have come up and got your butt out of there.

Yeah, interesting.

I mean, some People see the stories of you guys flying back from Houston and trashing the plane and Davey Johnson taking the receipt and just ripping it up.

Is that a true story now that he's gone?

Is that a true story that he basically said, forget this.

We're not paying for it?

I can see him right now coming out of his office and standing there in front of us and having that receipt.

And he absolutely tore that thing up and said, you know, we ain't doing this.

We're going to go out and kick some butt.

Forget about this, guys.

It wasn't our fault anyway.

The wives did it, fired everybody up.

To win a World Series, which was very dramatic.

I'm going to go back to July 22nd.

Ray Knight and Eric Davis decide to get into a little collision at third base.

You take over as catcher, and Gary Carter moves to third base.

Jesse Orozco and Roger McDowell start playing flip, flopping right, left pitch, all that stuff.

Did that just become the norm for this team or was that night just pretty crazy?

Well, I don't think it was the norm, but it was, you know, I mean, the Ischis did their job.

And I'll tell you what, Gary played a heck of a game at third once.

He had to go over there.

Hernandez.

Hernandez turned a double play.

Hernandez, the pitcher tried to bunt.

Yeah.

On the blunt play and back to tuffled for double play.

And that play is never made, but you had two superb athletes and ball players playing.

One was out of position, but nevertheless, it didn't bother him.

Hernandez was down that batter's throat.

And when he.

When that guy blunted, Hernandez was on that ball like, boy, he was on like, doo doo.

And he fired it to Gary.

And I was actually shocked that Gary just caught it and was going for two.

I'm like, oh, my goodness.

And he threw a strike to tumble, and that was it.

Don't play.

That's crazy.

You know, that was a heck of a game.

It was great to play in that game because it was, you know, it was a little out of character.

I mean, you don't see that happening all the time, especially with two pitchers.

You know, first the flopper in the outfield.

You know, we.

We also want to get into some of the.

The comical stuff.

Who was the funniest teammate you think you had in the clubhouse that year or was.

Had to be Roger McDowell.

Yeah, I'll plug Roger's book.

I read it, call it Hot Foot.

And Roger was just always into, you know, creating mischief.

And I got involved with him and some Stuff, and Howard Johnson was in there.

You know, it was just a good group of guys.

But you talked about the crazy guy.

The lead character was Roger McDowell.

Catchers see everything on the field.

What was the funniest thing you've ever heard from a batter while squatting behind home plate?

I cannot tell you that.

Okay.

It sounds good, but I'm guess there's.

That.

There's definitely a lot of them, especially some of those mound visits.

Sometimes you got to go out and calm somebody down.

You got to have something up your sleeve, correct?

Oh, absolutely.

That's.

You know, as a catcher, you have to be a psychologist.

You know, that's as important as, you know, physical tools.

And, you know, you go out there, you know, saying something to picture friends on what the guy's like, you know.

You know, his personality is as big as anything.

And, you know, I tell people I've spoken all the time through the last 30 years, and they want me to talk about teamwork and communication.

And, you know, when it comes to communication, I love to tell them about, you know, what.

What is said when he goes around.

And it's.

It's kind of funny.

I. I make it funny, but it is funny.

You know, some guys, you go out there and you paddle on the butt, you just.

You can't get them riled up because they're so fired up.

They just need to calm down.

You need to relax them as you can.

And then the next guy, he needs, you kicked in the butt, right?

And that's.

That's the guy.

You're.

You're sitting back in the face, and you're.

You're saying things in silence that aren't very nice.

And you.

And you want him to see blood when you leave.

You want him fired up and mad at you if you have to.

And then there's that guy who's.

Oh, he's all wired up and everything, but he's got.

You got to get his mind off of what he's doing right then.

So more than one time, I just went to this kind of cell, and third time, and I say, hey, young man, listen here.

Hey, buddy, you see that chick over there?

Right there, blonde.

You see what she's got in the front there?

And, you know, the guy's looking like, what the hell?

And he looks so.

He's going, oh, my God.

Yeah.

Oh, she's hot.

Oh.

And all of a sudden, the guys, you know, broke his pattern of thinking.

Distract them a little bit.

You got to do what you got to do.

And that's just Part of it.

Also, he has a book called Conquering Life's Curves, Baseball Battles and Beyond.

Ed, you want to plug it a little bit how maybe people can get an autographed copy.

I, I really not.

But I'd be glad to find somebody.

I'll tell you what, it's, I'll put that book up against any book that's been written about domestic.

The book is not a baseball book, though.

It's about life, baseball life and mostly life lessons.

You know, I wrote that when our only child was a year too old.

And I, with all the health stuff that hit me right after my shoulder injury, I didn't know if I was going to be alive when, you know, Cody was going to be a teenager.

And so the biggest motivator for writing that book was to leave stuff for Cody, stuff that I had learned.

So it's a solid book for, you know, any teenager or young people.

And you know what, in today's world, adults need this stuff.

You know, it's a tough world out there.

Yes.

And there's a lot of good things here.

I say that all, I'm very humble about it.

But you know, I tell you what, people have said so many things after reading that.

The one person, one lady said, I can't, I can't read that again.

I, I started and I couldn't go to sleep.

I was up till 4 o', clock, I had to finish it.

And then one person, the guy, he said, I went to the hospital and I took two books.

I put your book in the Bible.

I took it off and your book saved my life.

And I just want to thank you.

Well, you've had a lot of, you survived multiple life threatening health crisis.

You also, unfortunately, after getting traded to the Royals, where maybe you thought you'd be a starting catcher, your career ended based on injuries, including I believe, rotator cuff surgery.

Correct.

Or rotator cuff problems.

Yeah, that was the only thing really there.

It just, you know, bad timing, very bad timing because, you know, the Royals traded for me to be their starting catcher.

And that's what every player plays a game for, to not to be a backup, but to be a starting player.

And you know, the Royals had a great pitching staff, probably even better than the 86 reps that he said because they were that 85 pitching staff was young Orange Saber, Buddy Black and Dan Qusenberry.

They were loaded.

And here I was doing the, doing the starting job there.

And they traded away a pretty good darn player to get me in.

David Co, who went and did some good things.

Unfortunately, I, I, my shoulders moved and just barely couldn't get back.

You know, we had a strike in, in the last spring training, and that hurt me a lot.

But, you know, that hasn't been the biggest part of my life.

I mean, it was tough losing that career, but, you know, I was on dialysis a year later.

I've had four kidney transplants now.

I lost my ear and, pardon, my left side of my head, to cancer.

I had three cardiac arrests a year and a half ago.

It's just nuts.

I sleep with a breathing machine every night, and it's crazy.

But you know what?

It's given me a platform that I just, this reputation grew when I first had the opportunity to start speaking, which I had no thoughts about it when I came to Kansas City.

But all of a sudden I spoke at a Rotary Club, and next thing you know, it was amazing.

Just started going to corporate events, associations all over the country.

And I used to do an 80 to 90 single daytons a year up until Covid a few years back.

And I'll tell you, I think I sent you a message and said the speaking I've done the last 35 years has been better than being a major league baseball player.

And that is the truth.

Well, you've used up a couple of your nine lives and hopefully you have a bunch left.

But, you know, you, you obviously you had to go through some stuff.

You battled cancer yourself, you're taking pills, you're trying to keep your life going, but you, but then you had to become a caregiver for your own child.

And, you know, you talk a little bit in the book about like that bottom of the ninth mentality where you have to have eyes on a bigger prize and you kind of have to get through those stresses.

To use that terminology, was that harder to deal with some of the stuff with your own son than it is for some of the battles that you went through?

You know, it is harder when it's your child.

It's definitely hard.

Fortunately, he is in remission.

You know, he got in remission very quickly.

The problem with my stuff is it's just been constant over the last 35 years.

I've been taking.

You mentioned the pills, as you said that.

I'm thinking, well, he doesn't mean those.

I take about 50 pills a day, and I have for almost 35 years.

It's absolutely nuts.

But like you said, you know, how do you rattle this stuff?

And that's one of the greatest seeds and messages that I share with people is what you have to do.

You know, you can say, well, I gotta get it out.

I gotta be tough.

You know what you gotta do?

You have to get perspective.

That's what you have to do when you're battling stuff.

You're facing nice curve, you got to get perspective.

Just like when you're hitting.

You know, the problem with hitting curveball is, you know, guys that can't hit curveball don't recognize and they don't have the perspective.

It's just like in life, if you can't get a good perspective when you're going through life's curves, you know, it's a tough battle.

You can be as tough as you want, but it takes a good perspective.

And everybody wants to know, how do you get a good perspective?

You know, what's the right perspective?

Well, if it's not tough, what is it?

Well, I tell people, you do one thing, you think outside.

And you know, when I say that to an audience, they go vox, think outside the box.

I'm like, oh, my God.

I think like I'm throwing up.

It's not about a box.

You stop thinking outside yourself.

That's how you get perceptive to help you to battle almost anything in life.

And, you know, fortunately I learned that and it's, it's allowed me to stay alive.

That and the wonderful lady, woman, young gal that I left New York with and just down the street from where you're at, she's from Lyndenhurst, Long Island.

There you go.

And 38 years we've been married and she's a nurse, and she has kept me alive.

She said she's an absolute angel.

Angel sent from God, I mean, to tell you.

And I would not be here if it weren't for her.

No, no chance.

That's good.

You say that.

You know, we are happy to have you back here in August.

Is there somebody through the Mets organization either that you came up with or that you played with in 86 solely that you became the closest with during your time with the Mets?

You know, we had a rookie.

You know, you're kind of, like I said earlier, you kind of like, hey, you vc, do your job and keep your mouth shut.

But, you know, I, you know, Gary was a great mentor to me, Gary Carter.

I just felt like he was a good family man.

He was a good ball player.

He was solid all around.

Guy had good faith.

And you Know, we even named our son Cody Carter after him instructor.

This wasn't even before he passed away.

And you know, besides that, it was, you know, Ray, Ray.

Ray Knight and I were, were pretty tight.

We had a good relationship.

It was kind of fun.

He.

He's a fun guy.

I got along with everybody.

I'll tell you who else was great and a lot.

And he got traded away that next year too.

Kevin Mitchell.

We had some time in the migrants and Kevin and I got close.

I'll tell you how it happened.

We were in Tidewater and his grandma and grandpa came to visit him.

My grandparents came to visit me and they, they just like hooked up like Oreo cookies.

Might get in trouble saying that.

No, I said they just, they just gelled.

And because of that, Kevin and I became extremely close.

And, and Kevin and I went through some things together.

You know, when he was inside of there in 85, his brother got shot.

And I'll tell you, you talk about a guy you'd want to mess with.

I saw that guy that was a bad dude from the, from the ghettos in San Diego.

And he was, he was mad at all get up.

And I was the only guy he would talk to only time.

And because we had built this relationship.

Funny guy too.

Oh, we had a good time.

Good time together.

Good people.

Where were you at Game 6 when the Mets are down by two runs in the bottom of the extra innings and making a comeback as Gary, you know, leads it off with a two out base hit.

What were you doing?

Well, I'll tell you, I wasn't in the clubhouse.

Okay, let's get that straight.

Like a few of our guys were, which was very, very disappointing to find out later.

Yeah, well, I knew that Keith was in, was in Davey's chair.

Keith was in Davies chair.

Yep.

Strawberry and Kevin, I think Mitch was making.

Making plans for a flight.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

He had to put his pants back on to, to pitch it.

Very disappointing to hear Chris.

And it was, it was very uncharacteristic of our team.

Right.

You know, I mean, fortunately we fold together and we battled and you know, the rest is history.

But where was I?

I was right there trying to find the lucky seat.

You know, I mean, that space software is real superstitious, you know, if you don't, if you're on the branch and you're sitting in one spot and it ain't working, especially with the, you know, game six and you're behind by two, you know, you're searching for that right splitter to get in your butt, you can win the ball game.

If you're not in there, you got to do something.

Sports club.

Yeah.

Find the right spot.

One more serious question.

You know Davey Johnson, we lost him recently and what was it like?

You know, what was he like as a manager?

How did he handle everybody In a way to get you guys to meet your maximum potential?

I'd say Davey was a player's manager, which means, you know, he didn't have a lot of rules.

I mean, he just said you show up, you do your job and then that's it.

I mean, guys just did what they wanted.

Now, unfortunately, with the Mets or ESIP team, guys did a lot of things they should have been doing.

And you know, I often tell when I'm speaking to organizations, I talk about the importance of having character.

And I don't, I say not characters like we are on that 86 team.

You can have short term success.

I mean, we were, we were solid, great, but we had a lot of character just for that short time.

But look, we have.

You guys have one in 40 years.

I'm going to tell you one reason is because they haven't built the kind of organization that is built for long term success.

Well, you know, as you said, this summer you're going to be back out at this time now it's Citi Field.

It was, you know, Shea Stadium.

You're going to be meeting up with your team 40th anniversary again.

The book is called Conquering Life's Baseball Battles and Beyond.

If you find Ed Hearn, you can message him at 89.

Excuse me, Hearn 49.

And you can even get a copy of that book.

Last question for you.

When people look back at Ed Hearn's career in life, what do you hope that they remember the most?

Oh, that's absolutely easy.

I hope they remember me as a guy who happened to play baseball but battled to come back in life and made a difference in multitude of lives.

And that's what I heard about.

Well, it's been a pleasure for, you know, a little while.

Just kind of catching up and reliving some of our days, you know, obviously, health wise.

We wish you all the best.

I know you've been through a lot, but we hope we can get you out to New York here again.

I know you were here recently, but get you out just to get back with your boys, you know, you now, as you know, ed, you got 18 up in the rafters, you got 16 up in the rafters, you Got 17 up in the rafters.

A Lot of these guys that were on your team are now up in the rafters.

And I know the Mets recently gave out number eight for one game and I hope eventually that number is up there in the rafters as well.

Yes, sir, I totally agree with that.

And.

And Chris, you know, I want to correct you as far as people reaching out to me or.

Or the book, what you were saying there was the Venmo account.

If they want to get a book, it's real easy, just go at and her dash 49 and they can send me messages through that too, or whatever.

I sign cards and people send me stuff and.

Right.

They could order books and the message, tell it where said, mail it and all that stuff.

I'd be glad to get one out here.

Don't cost no shipping.

20 Bucks.

Nice easy deal.

Awesome.

We appreciate it, Ed, and all the best.

And we hope to see you this summer.

You have somebody else to throw on the show now?

Not really.

We got a couple of people.

We're just going to chat it up.

We'll take a break and just, you know, finish it up.

Is there anything else you wanted to plug?

Oh, man, I can talk for everybody.

I'm a speaker, buddy.

Well, I want to tell you, man.

Go ahead.

I want folks from New York, especially in Long island, to hang in there with the Mets.

And I hope to see everybody out the park on August 1st.

It's been 40 stinking years.

It's unbelievable that it's been that long.

So all of us guys want to see that place act like it was in 86.

And I tell you, most of us are very, very open, just hanging out, signing stuff, just being there with you folks.

We love our fans and so I'd love to see you guys and I know every other team would like to see that City Fields act in.

Yeah, even, you know, guys like Dykstra coming back.

I know Straw's been talking with him.

You know, it's going to be nice to see all you guys back together again.

And, you know, this team needs a little life and maybe, you know, putting some fans in the stands will help with that because it's been.

It's been hard.

And, you know, they have a new owner in the last few years.

That's been promising a lot.

It's just the team hasn't been able to pull through.

So I'm hoping it gives a little life at the end of July, beginning of August.

Absolutely.

Chris, I think the new ownership.

I like the guy.

I think he's.

He's given a.

He's all in.

And I look for him to be dominating with the Mets and the ownership, but I think there's some people between him and the field that are dragging down that club right now.

So I think he's going to turn that around eventually.

Fortunately, he's left with the funds to be able to do it, and it's just a matter of figuring out how to use those funds wisely, bring in the right people, quality people, care school, not just ball players, but ball players with character.

And I'll tell you, that'll make long term success and Long island will be happy as can be then.

All right.

Well, we appreciate your time, Ed.

Thank you very much.

We'll be in touch.

All right.

God bless you guys.

Okay, thank you again.

We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back right after.

You're listening to sports talk new york.

You're listening to sports talk new york on long island's wgpb.

And now back to the show.

Foreign.

Welcome back.

I think he would have stayed on even longer.

We had a nice chat and he'll be around this summer to have a 40th anniversary with his former teammates.

We're going to get into a little bit of the Knicks at some point in this half hour.

Unbelievable run they've had.

They can't lose.

The block parties have been canceled on the home games because the people are partying too much outside of Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks just keep knocking off win after win after win.

And as I said, the Mets have not had such a good run.

And I think things are starting to turn towards the negative for the entire season.

But you know, at some point we wanted to discuss some of the NFL draft and especially the Giants and some of the moves they made and the jets and some of the moves they made.

And if you want to call in and talk about the NFL draft or the Knicks, Mets, whatever it is, you can call in.

We have our first call tonight and that is Colin.

Colin is calling in to talk about the NFL draft.

How you doing, Colin?

Pretty good.

So you, you had some eyes on the NFL draft this year.

What did you first notice?

What's, what's like a team that, that maybe you thought had a good draft.

I think the Giants had a really good draft.

The Cowboys, they traded up and got a very good defensive player that fell pretty far.

So Caleb Downs, what dropped to 10?

11, I think.

11.

OK. And they also got Malachi Lawrence as an edge runner.

So they gave themselves a couple of players, so that probably was good for them.

Giants went after a linebacker and an offensive tackle.

What does that give them?

Which guys do you think will help there?

Oh, I think all about.

Reese will be a good, like defensive key player for the Giants.

Another Ohio State guy?

Yeah, I think he'll be pretty good.

He'll get in there, play good defense.

And I think Francis.

Now we know I didn't like the pick Effers, but it grew on me and I think I like it now.

Okay.

An offensive tackle out of Miami.

They also grabbed themselves a cornerback, Colton Hood out of Tennessee, so.

And they did get another wide receiver, Malachi Fields.

So it looks like the Giants are trying to be careful about, you know, maybe Malik neighbors not being ready right away.

You know, as sort of a Giants fan there, are you excited about what they have coming back?

Yeah, I'm real excited about Malacoque Field.

He had a good minicamp so far and he's looking really good out there.

They did trade away Dexter Lawrence.

You think that was something they needed to do?

Yeah, I like that trade.

He didn't have a good 20, 25 and we got another top 10 pick and we got a good tackle and we needed a line help.

So Giants have to protect, protect Jackson dart and maybe you think Cam Scatterboo might give him a decent year this year?

Yeah, I think Cam Scatter will have a really good year.

He said he was going for 2,000 yards, so I'm not quite sure that will happen.

But be more careful.

Any other team you thought had a good draft?

I think the Bucks had a good draft.

Getting Ruben Bain at 15.

I think he fell really far and I think he's going to be a very good player.

Okay.

The Browns seem to get themselves an offensive tackle and a wide receiver.

They got themselves Spencer Fano and then Casey Concepcion, so that was good for them.

What do you also think about Fernando Mendoza?

You think he's a good fit for the Raiders?

Yeah.

And I think.

I think they got.

They got Kirk Cousins in the off season, so I think they might have him sit a year, watch Kirk Cousins and learn from him because he's a veteran.

All right.

And then the jets decided at 2 to take David Bailey.

They also had two other picks in the first round.

Where should jets fans feel about their team this year?

I want to get their hopes up.

I think they had a very good draft.

Got the tight end at 16 and then Omar Cooper Jr. At 30.

It's.

I think he's very good and he'll be very good.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, for the Jets, I think they're trying to, you know, just try and get through this year and see where they're at.

Obviously, they made some.

Some big selections this year, starting out with some defense, but I think it's going to be pretty obvious early whether or not they're going to be competitive or not.

Any other teams you wanted to discuss?

I think that's it.

All right.

Any questions from me?

I don't think so.

All right.

Well, I appreciate the phone call.

We had our NFL draft from Colony kind of called in, basically said the Dallas Cowboys did a nice job moving up.

So appreciate the phone call, Colin.

Have a good night.

All right, so we got some.

Some NFL draft there as Colin calls in and gives us a little bit of an idea of what teams were thinking and what teams did moving up.

You know, maybe we'll call on him the next time we have a team that maybe is looking to make a trade or move up in the standings.

So NFL draft, I think, is a big thing for people.

And, you know, they're moving the Super Bowls all around.

They're making a lot of different things are going to be in Nashville now.

So the NFL loves to make a highlight of everything when they have to reveal their schedule.

They have to drop little, you know, crumbs as to what's going to be the big game here or what's going to be the first game of the year.

The NFL is moving overseas way too much as far as I'm concerned, but I think it's just a way of growing the sport, and they like to make sure that people know where they're going to be on a certain day.

But as I said, we were talking a little bit about the New York Knicks and some of the things that they have done to put themselves out there.

Now, the knicks have won 10 games in a row.

They haven't lost the game in 32 days.

I mean, they were an underdog last night and they hadn't lost in 32 days.

They're up three nothing in a series against the Cavs that I thought would probably go six.

Where that series turned game one, a 44 to 11 comeback in the fourth quarter and overtime to try to win that.

The knicks have been a plus 234 points over this 12 game span.

Okay?

You're not going to lose games when you're beating teams by 20 points.

The only two games they've lost in this offseason have been by a combined two points.

You know, this has been absolutely everything that the Knicks needed.

Again.

If you want to call in, we talked a little bit about the NFL draft.

We'll talk about Mets, jets, we'll talk whatever sport you want to talk about.

But my thing with the New York Knicks, you have an absolute superstar.

This could go down as the best Knicks team of all time whether or not they win the NBA championship.

Because you're going to be going up against either the San Antonio spurs or the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Okay?

Both teams have many weapons that you could win an NBA championship with.

So it's going to be a tall task no matter how they go about it.

I'm not saying the Knicks are in the finals yet, but up 3.

Oh, it's going to be hard for them to lose this series.

Are they going to win it in 4, 5, 6, whatever it might be.

Spurs down 21 in the series.

Playing tonight, trying to make that.

The longer that series goes, the the more the Knicks have to look at ways to beat the other team.

Jalen Brunson 27.8 points per game, 6.7 assists per game.

Karl Anthony Towns 10.3 rebounds per game.

The team is shooting 40% from three point range.

You have guys like Landry Shamut stepping up.

This is a team that is finding ways to win.

And every time I seem to find little flaws, it seems like they find a way to come back 52% overall from the field.

Again, you're not going to lose games when you're making the two pointers and you're knocking down 40% of your shots from three point range.

This team seems to be destined right now for something big.

You know, sometimes people look out there and they say, oh, this is a six seed and eventually when they get to the finals, they're going to have no shot.

Sometimes there are teams of destiny.

Teams that find a way to win even when they're not supposed to win.

This Team could be it.

New York City is in for a rude awakening.

If the Knicks make the NBA Finals, they will play a bunch of games at home.

A bunch of games.

If the Knicks happen to in any way shape or form win the NBA Championship, New York will be an absolute massacre of people just running around, rioting, looting.

It will be insane.

Here is a stat for you.

Mikhail Bridges.

Mikhail Bridges playing for the Knicks again, not the biggest superstar, but knows his role, knows how to play defense, knows how to move around, knows how to make a shot when he's open.

Josh Hart is the man, as far as, you know, putting up 27, 29 points a game when he needs to.

But I think the key to this team is Mikhail Bridges.

Mikhail Bridges just joined LeBron James as one of only two players shooting 50% from the floor while helping their team win 10 consecutive playoff games.

Mikhail Bridges shooting 50% from the floor.

And that's what you need, a guy who's going to the basket, a guy who's shooting the three, a guy who knocks down a little jumper in the lane.

More importantly, his defense.

He's got to be able to play defense again.

Mike Godone out vacationing here on this Memorial Day weekend.

Okay, going to change gears a little bit.

The phone lines are open.

Going to change gears a little bit because at this point, we know where the knicks are at.

Up 3, 0.

I would say either four or come back home and win it in game five.

The.

You know, the.

At this point, the Knicks have shown superiority over their opponents in the East.

I don't think there was another team that was going to catch them.

Even if it wasn't the Cavaliers.

Okay.

Even if the Detroit Pistons had gotten in, gotten through game seven, I think the Knicks on the road would have taken care of business because they were down this year.

And I think it's just a team of destiny.

You know, I'll give one more thing on that.

You got to stay healthy.

And the Knicks at this point have found a way to stay healthy.

The numbers work out good for them.

The minutes for the bench players.

The bench players have spent more time playing together.

And I think that's a key.

You know, the, the fact that last year they weren't healthy year before, people getting hurt.

So I think this year with people staying healthy OG Ananubi did, you know, go out for a small period of time.

But they got them back and just at this point other guys have stepped up and it's nice to see Mitchell Robinson's got to work on his free throws.

I don't know if that will become an issue, but they are going to go to Hackamich at some point to try to slow up the game a little bit and maybe get a couple of free throw misses from him.

But I think he's done a serviceable job.

Guys off the bench like Alvarado have done a decent job.

Everybody knows their role, but this Jalen Brunson's team and the guys that need to be behind him.

Karl Anthony Towns knows he's got to play big inside.

Mikhail Bridges knows he's got to defend one of the best players.

Josh Hart knows that he has to make sure he does the little things to get it done as well.

But this is a good team and I'm not going to count them out.

If they make it to the NBA Finals, I think the Knicks can win the NBA Championship.

Now did I think they were going to win all of these in sweeps?

No.

But that is another reason why I think you got to give them a shot.

You got to give them a shot and we'll see what happens.

You know, points per game.

I don't know what it's going to be, not going to be winning every game by 20 points.

But they're a darn good team and you got to give them some credit.

Lot of teams subpar.

He'll be on the the trading block soon.

Playoff teams Kansas City Royals 22 and 31 Los Angeles Angels 19 and 34 Houston Astros 23 and 31 Mariners are in the playoffs.

They're sub 500.

Miami Marlins tried to stick around for a little while.

Pittsburgh Pirates are 27 and 26.

The entire NL Central is above.500, so if you're looking for games to win, it's not going to be playing them and the NL West.

Obviously the Rockies are down, but we didn't expect the Giants to be as low as they Are.

So where does that leave us?

The New York Mets are 22 and 31.

22 And 31.

We talked about this two weeks ago.

They're bad.

They're really, really bad.

And they were a couple of maybe four weeks ago.

Dead last in almost every offensive category.

They can't put the ball in play.

They can't score runs.

They have a minus 21 run differential.

But as far as being in games late, they have no shot.

If you look at this team, there's not one player on this team who's playing above their capacity.

Juan Soto got sick today, couldn't play.

You know what?

He got sick from all the losing that's been going on.

Not one player on this team knows how to step up and win a game for them.

They've got young players out there.

They've got pitchers that are putting up decent numbers.

Doesn't matter.

Player with the most RBIs, Bo Bichette batting.218.

But he's got 27 RBIs.

Most home runs, Juan Solo.

Excuse me, Juan Soto Solo.

Homers.

He's got 10 up.

He's got 10 homers, 21 RBIs.

Not good.

Carson Benj has the best average and he hasn't even been here that long.246 put his on base percentage is.305.

You can't be a leadoff hitter and get on base 30% of the time.

It's not your job is to get on base even more.

Mets today losing in a walk off fashion.

But what I'm going to tell you is it's expected now the Mets come to the field and you expect them to lose in a different way every day.

And it's not fun.

Met fans are not having fun and somebody has to go.

Something has to change.

All we keep hearing is the same thing, hey, listen, something's got to change.

We got to roll the same lineup out there, but somebody's got to do something different and that has to stop.

There have to be trades, there have to be cuts and there have to be people that unfortunately are going to lose their job.

And David Stearns needs to step up and say something.

Okay.

He actually said that the manager wasn't going anywhere, but that was through one of the Mets beat reporters, Anthony Decomo.

What needed to happen was he needed to say something to everyone.

And the first time he got asked it by the media, which was two weeks later, he said, I'm not going to answer this every two weeks.

Well, you need to step up and say whether or not this Manager is going to be there.

You need to step up and say whether or not there's going to be changes in the front office or on the bench.

And I think it's up to Steve Cohen at this point.

Steve Cohen needs to step in.

Realize this is not working.

Put somebody below David Stearns in a position where they make some moves.

The Mets don't even have a general manager right now.

David Stearns is the president of baseball operations.

Basically he is the end all and be all of what happens.

Someone else needs to step in and change it because as you heard from Ed heard Tonight, it's been 40 years and nothing has changed.

The way to change thing is to change the character.

You need to change the clubhouse, you need to change what's out there.

Who knows when Francisco Lindor is coming back.

He's not going to be a savior.

Who knows who's going to be pitching in a bullpen for the Mets.

That's not going to save them.

Right now the Mets can't put the ball in play.

Their runs in games that are not blowouts are so low that you can't win a game by by giving up zero runs.

They're going to lose, they're going to lose one, nothing.

You saw it today, 0, 0, almost the entire game and they give up a walk off grand slam.

At no point in that game did you have any confidence that that team was going to win.

And it's really sad to see you're losing to a Marlins team that has absolutely dominated you.

And now you have to come home, play the Reds, try and you know, get yourself back.

The mets will not hit.500 this year.

It's just not going to happen.

At 22 and 31, you go out and maybe win five out of seven and next thing you know you go back to getting swept.

It's no good.

And that's why this town, whether you're a Yankee fan or a Met fan, you need to put all your chips in the middle and you need to go out there and support the New York Knicks.

Now if you like the Brooklyn Nets, that's fine.

But no matter who the Knicks wind up going up against in the NBA Finals, you have to put your support in them.

Now I'm not saying go out there, spend $140,000 like somebody did today on courtside seats.

The game one of of the Knicks hosting a game, not looking for that.

But you got to put yourself in front of the TV and you got to support this team because this could be the one chance you get you.

Nothing is guaranteed after this.

The Knicks give up five number one draft picks to get Mikhail Bridges.

He's finding a way to come through.

The Knicks went out and fired their coach even though they had made it to the Eastern Conference finals and brought in Mike Brown.

Mike Brown is pushing the right buttons.

Mike Brown is finding a way to use his assistant coaches to make sure that his bench is ready to play.

The New York Knicks are for real.

And you got to find a way to support this team.

They can do it.

And that's going to be the talk of the town.

The New York Knicks, as I mentioned before, were having watch parties inside and then during the home games they were having watch parties outside.

The NYPD doesn't want them to have it because it's getting out of control.

If the New York Knicks start, let's say two weeks from now, start the NBA Finals, it's going to be the month of the Knicks in the month of June.

People are going to be all over that and I think it's great.

The stats that they have put out there are just enormous.

I can't believe some of the things that they have done as far as shooting the ball.

And playoff basketball here in New York is becoming unbelievable.

121 To 108.

Knicks lead the series 3 0.

That game, to be honest with you, wasn't really that close.

After the second quarter you thought maybe the other team would make a run.

No.

Kenny Atkinson, coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, lost Right now.

No.

No clue as to how to beat the Knicks.

Okay.

Analytically he thinks they've won two out of three on paper, 03.

Okay, let's go through this.

Who won the NBA cup this year?

The Knicks.

They didn't want to put a banner up, but they have beaten the San Antonio Spurs.

They beat him in the NBA Cup.

Okay.

This is a team that can do a lot with og, with Mikhail Bridges, with Jalen Brunson, with Karl Anthony Towns, with Josh Hart and with a bench.

And let me say this again,.

There.

Really is a lot behind the fact that three of these players played together or at least played at the same college for Villanova.

These guys love each other.

The night that Josh Hart got traded to the New York Knicks, someone showed a phone to Jalen Brunson and he jumped for joy.

These guys are roommates.

They love it.

They love being around each other.

Now Jalen Brunson, only an all NBA second team could be the NBA Finals MVP if he comes out there and does his job.

Carl Anthony Towns did not make an all NBA team.

OG Ananubi should have been a first team all defense.

Okay, didn't do it.

Didn't, didn't put them on there.

The New York Knicks doing great.

And.

I think this is the time for them.

Okay, at this point I'm going to wrap things up.

I wanted to thank Mike Codone for letting me take this show by myself tonight.

Had a long week.

I announced some games for flag football for Nassau County.

Wish all those teams luck as they move on to the Long Island Championships.

A lot of high school teams out there doing a lot.

Adelphi lacrosse fell one goal short.

They lost in overtime.

Otherwise they would have had a three peat in Division 2.

Finally, I'd like to thank Brian Graves on the other side of the glass, Ed Hearn for being a phone call as well as having Colin on the show.

And we'll see you guys in two weeks.

This is Chris Caputo signing off for WGBB Sports Talk New York.

The views expressed in the previous program did not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgb.