You may have heard that this is the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Mets. Well this month marks 50 years since the Mets raised the flag high and Fans for the Cure is holding a celebration for the Miracle Mets on Monday, October 21, at the SVA Theater at 333 W. 23rd Street in New York.
On hand will be 1969 Mets Cleon Jones, Art Shamsky, Ron Swoboda, and Ed Kranepool to help raise money to help raise awareness of prostate cancer. Mets great and manager of the league champion Brooklyn Cyclones Edgardo Alfonzo—why isn’t he in the Mets Hall of Fame?—will be a special guest. It is organized by Ed Randall of Talkin’ Baseball on the FAN and Sirius XM. He is the founder of Fans for the Cure.
Ed has always been generous with his time and done interviews of me and for me, providing some great insight in what it was like in press row during the 1986 World Series and his story of flying over Shea during an ’86 postseason game was included in Shea Stadium Remembered. I met Ron Swoboda at a Mets-Marlins game on the last homestand and he was awesome. Ed Kranepool is a true gentleman and an original Met who invited me to his house and whose photos decorate my book and my office. Cleon Jones and Art Shamsky nailed down the outfield corners at Shea—with Rocky Swoboda taking over against lefties.
Here is a link to how you can take part. I also donated a book for the auction and will try to be there. There is a reception at 6 p.m., an hour before the event. It is the night before this year’s World Series, but regardless of this year’s matchup it can’t touch the magic of the ’69 World Series. Fifty years flies by in a snap!