The Yankees held famous ballpark celebrations to recognize the careers of two of their all-time greats, first for Lou Gehrig on J(several weeks after he was forced to retire young because of ALS), and Babe Ruth in April 1948. Through the 2022 event, the New York Yankees have held 74 Old-Timers' Days. The New York Yankees are currently the only MLB team to host an Old-Timers' Day consistently year after year however, many other teams have hosted games in the past, and a few continue to do so on a non-regular basis. The retired players play in an exhibition game, usually lasting about three innings. Old-Timers' Day (or Old-Timers' Game) refers to a tradition in Major League Baseball where a team devotes the early afternoon preceding a weekend game to honor retired players who played for the organization during their careers. In reality, Reyes has no business being at Citi Field for Old Timers Day even if he bought his own ticket.Participants of an old-timers' game held in Cleveland on July 29, 1921 Seriously? This is Wilpon level garbage and has no place in the Steve Cohen era. And now, he’s going to be rewarded by being brought back for Old Timers’ Day like he didn’t beat his wife and wasn’t a completely selfish jerk on his way out? He showed a complete lack of gratitude to this organization. He deserved none of this.Īfter he beat his wife, the Mets had kept throwing him olive branch after olive branch. He got to retire as the Mets leadoff hitter and shortstop. Instead, he was rewarded with more playing time.ĭespite the beating of his wife and acting bigger than the organization, he was given a big send-off as part of the Wright festivities. This came at a time when the baseball world was wondering if he was done and would soon be ticketed for being designated for assignment. Then, the sham of the narrative he was going to mentor Rosario was exposed when he whined to the media about it. He was terrible, and he stopped playing there. Reyes didn’t really put the time in to succeed in the outfield.

Amed Rosariowas called up at the end of the year to be the shortstop of the future, and in the offeseason, they had to sign Todd Frazier to play the third base Reyes no longer wanted to play. It was a bad year for Reyes, and it was apparent to the Mets, they needed to pivot. With Asdrubal Cabrera‘s thumb injury, Reyes pushed his way to short.

Well, third base wasn’t good enough anymore for Reyes. Everyone was so happy the Mets brought Reyes back. The media acquiesced with the Mets demands and wrote the necessary articles (yes, they are 100% complicit) to support the Mets bold move to cheap out and take bad a wife beater. Reyes was decent enough, and he had a big homer against the Philadelphia Phillies. Instead of looking to make a trade, they opted to do the whole dog-and-pony show of trying to rehabilitate Reyes’ image. After that, the Mets were trying to figure it out on the fly. Well, frankly, the Mets were cheap morons, and their third base plan for 2016 was David Wright. It is a whole other to proactively go out and sign that player (or acquire him if you are the New York Yankees and Aroldis Chapman). After all, who in the world would want someone like that on their team? It’s one thing to deal with someone on your roster. There was a debate whether Reyes would ever play a game again. The Colorado Rockies (who also had Trevor Story ready) were so appalled they released Reyes. The altercation was so violent, the hotel would need to call the police, and his wife would need to be taken by ambulance to a local hospital to be treated for her injuries. While the Mets were blowing Game 4 of the 2015 World Series, Reyes was in Hawaii grabbing his wife by the neck and throwing her into glass doors. Then, the Mets announced Jose Reyes was returning. With every name came more excitement and more fond memories. Really, Mets players are coming out of the woodwork to try to attend this event. Already on the docket are a who’s who of Mets greats including Mike Piazza, Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Howard Johnson, John Franco, Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Daniel Murphy, Mookie Wilson, and many, many more. We have seen a number of players eager to return. Apparently, fans aren’t the only ones eager to celebrate it. The New York Mets now have their own history, and we now get the opportunity to celebrate it. One of the best things Steve Cohen has done in terms of fan engagement is Old Timers’ Day.

Mets old timers day roster