The catcher’s tenure in the Bronx resulted in a .273/.374/.474 batting line along with four World Series titles. Posada wasn’t the star of the team with Jeter and Rivera present along with some high priced free agents brought in along the way, but he represented what fans liked most about the team. He was a homegrown guy who was playing a position that didn’t come naturally to him. He was one of the few core players who showed any type of emotion. He may not have been the star, but Jorge Posada was certainly the heart of the New York Yankees since 1998.

To read the rest of this article and more about the Yankees, click here for a FREE DOWNLOAD of Gotham Baseball’s Winter Issue.

“I felt a little tightness here,” Santana said after the game, pointing to his upper left chest. “(Then-manager Jerry Manuel) said I was done for the night. I felt I was able to go back out, but he didn’t want to take any chances. I’ll be all right.”

He hasn’t pitched in a regular season game since.

***

Rewind back to Feb. 6, 2008, the Diamond Club at Shea had it last – and perhaps most healing – introductory Press Conference for its newest acquisition, as the team introduced Santana to the fan base.

The New York Giants had just won the Super Bowl, and Big Blue aficionado Jay Horwitz (who also happens to the Mets’ longtime PR man), was beaming as various media members congratulated him on his football team’s championship.

Everyone was upbeat, as much from relief as anything else. The Mets had gotten their guy, a player that most experts (including me), had predicted they had no chance at acquiring. That in and of itself had almost erased the terrible summer of 2007, when they blew a seven-game lead in the National League East with 17 to play.

To read the rest of this article and more about the Mets, click here for a FREE DOWNLOAD of Gotham Baseball’s Winter Issue

I chose them back in May, and last week, I chose them again.  In the latter piece, I identified three of my favorite Mets ‘net buddies with whom I disagreed with, specifically about buying tickets to see the Mets in 2012. I’ve gone back and forth a bit on Twitter with Shannon Shark from MetsPolice.com, as well as a few other fans.

Shannon responded to my post with one of his own, and I have to admit, I’m a bit confused.

I have been enjoying the various theories from folks who want to starve out “The Wilpons*” or something. (*: I want to change that phraseology to Wilpons/Katz by the way.)

As I posted in my own piece, I have no idea whether or not my not buying a ticket to the 2012 Mets will even put a microscopic dent in the Wilpon/Katz bottom line. It’s just how I am going to play out the 2012 season. Hopefully by the end of it, there will be some resolution to the ownership situation. However, as long as the Mets are being unofficially run by MLB, I choose to stay away.

Then Shannon says this:

So far I have spent like $1200 on the 2012 season: $800+ in tickets, a new $230 authentic, a $75 replica, a $50 cap and Goon picked up a blue BP jersey for me (more on that tomorrow). And I haven’t yet ordered a road replica – so tack on $75.

Yep those Katz/Wilpons (I flipped it, it flows better) sure tricked me by selling me the 15 game plan I asked for for 4 years.

Then, they brought back the jersey look I wrote about for 4 years.

They’ll even get me to spend more money by having Banner Day the way I asked.

Similarly, Steve Jobs tricked me when he added video to my iPod. I had an iPod but then he added video and tricked me into giving him $250. Then, he added a phone to it and tricked me again!

Boy those Kats/Wilpons are sure crafty the way they offer the exact product I wanted. Stop giving me what I want!!!!

Yes, Shannon put Steve Jobs and Fred Wilpon in the same sentence. Wow.

What Shannon does with his money is his own business. I also can’t blame him for bring satisfied with fighting (and winning) some specific battles. In fact, I applaud him for doing so. But…

Now, I now some of you are going to bring up the World Series thing. I get it. I too want them to win the World Series.

But I’m telling you right here and now that if you sit out a few seasons and then show up with 100 wins show up then I will call you a frontrunner. It’s OK if you want to be a frontrunner, just recognize that you’re a frontrunner. I’m a Mets fan. Sometimes being a Mets fan sucks, but it’s what makes us Mets fans.

Frontrunners, by definition, only show up when the team is in first place. Or maybe contending for the second Wild Card, I need to research that wrinkle some more. They probably do.

It doesn’t make them bad people, they just by definition only show up when the team is good. Usually they come disguised as Wall Street Bankers and sit in $350 seats, but there is a variant of the frontrunner who can be seen upstairs. He’ll have on his Pedro jersey. Maybe a Piazza if he’s in his 30′s.

I know Shannon isn’t speaking to me when he writes this, or so he said on Twitter, but I’m not sure he’s being totally fair to a certain portion of the Mets fan base that may have responded in the affirmative to my post.

I’m not sure I agree that a Mets fan that who wants his/her team to make a postseason run every year is a front runner. I’m not sure that I would classify someone who is tired of the redundancy of stupid and dishonesty from the Mets ownership group, as a frontrunner.

I have spent as many fruitless summers at Shea Stadium as Mr. Shark. I also have that man-crush on Lee Mazzilli. But my unwillingness to “support” the Wilpons/Katz ownership group disqualifies me as a “real” Mets fan?

Back to the owner. His name is Jeff. He’s around my age. He’s going to be here for a long long time.

Why would he sell the baseball team? When you own a baseball team you’re somebody. You’re The Owner Of The Mets. That’s cool.

Wouldn’t you like to be The Owner Of The Mets? Why would you give that up?

What’s Jeff going to do, sit in an office and stare out the window until a building goes up? Yawn city.

How’s it working out for fans of the Knicks and Rangers? Has Jim Dolan ran away and started a band yet?

Is Jeff supposed to live out the rest of his days in New York watching someone else own the team?

Ain’t gonna happen.

So if you think keeping $50 in your pocket will starve Jeff out, hey, it’s your money. Spend it as you wish.

I think you guys are kidding yourselves. Don’t cost yourself a summer. Enjoy baseball….

Given the cozy relationship that Fred Wilpon has with Bud Selig, it’s quite possible that Shannon is right. I have no idea if a bailed-out Mets franchise with potent revenue streams can be achieved if and when Jeff takes over the club as principal owner. But I do know that while the Wilpon / Katz group asks us to twist in the wind while they “vindicate” themselves, I will not buy any season ticket packages. They haven’t earned that type of commitment from me.

Will I attend the Lynbrook Little League postseason fundraiser at Citi Field? Yup. Of course, if the Mets decide to pass on Jose Reyes, my son, who adores the homegrown shortstop, may not want to go.  I’m hoping he chooses the Mets, too.

Other than that, win or lose, i’m staying home.

I understand that watching / listening to games is a violation of my stance, but it far the lesser of two evils. I will likely receive a Mets jersey or other Mets gear for Christmas because my love for the Amazins is well-known.  I will wear such gear proudly, as I do my Jay Payton jersey, or my 1989 / 1968 World Series jacket.

Of course, being the Online Editor for Baseball Digest, as well as the Co-Publisher of Gotham Baseball, I will have to go to work, and cover the team. But that’s easy.

As for making memories, I coach my son’s Little League team, which won the championship last summer. I didn’t need to go to Citi Field to make a baseball memory. Even if we hadn’t won, getting to coach him for the last four years is a blessing.

By choosing the Mets, I can enjoy Mets baseball without having to endorse the ownership by paying admission.

But these three great Mets fans – and others who I have chatted with on Twitter and Facebook — are not only buying tickets to see the Mets in 2012,  they don’t seem to agree with my stance on not doing so.

I don’t understand any of them. I love ‘em, but don’t understand them at all.

I understand their happiness with the Mets’ decision to celebrate their 50th anniversaty by finally “ditching the black”. I comprehend their joy at the return of Banner Day. I can also relate to their satisfaction and feelings of validation with the growing inclusion of the blogging community by the organization.

My contention with these fine people comes down to their unwillingness to understand why I believe that to continue to attend games at Citi Field while the Wilpon / Katz ownership group remains in possession of the club is counterproductive.

I don’t understand how you can demand change and fail to understand that to elicit change, you have to act. Even if it means sacrificing something.

When I wrote my “Choose The Mets” post back in May, I was angry. Now I am just determined.

The Mets? I love the Mets. My kids love the Mets. Most of my extended family loves the Mets. But the people that run the Mets have used up all of my patience, enthusiasm and trust. I can no longer support their efforts with my wallet because I don not believe that they have the interests of the New York Mets first and foremost in their minds.

Is that fair? Do I have no compassion for their financial and personal situations? Of course I do. But having empathy for their situation is one thing. Enabling their ability to cling to the New York Mets is something else.  They are a bad ownership group, it’s as simple as that. Now their past failings have not only created a serious crisis of confidence among their fanbase, tyhere is a growing number of people who are (finally) starting to realize that the Mets and MLB’s relationship is a little too cozy to be ignored.

Forbes.com:

According to ESPN.com, the Mets could be increasing their debt, currently well above $400 million, by as much as $140 million. It all depends on whether the new investors want to use their funds to buy equity stakes in the Mets or earn 3% annual interest and cash out in six years. If the investors decide to collect their interest than Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who have yet to pay back MLB for money the Mets secretly borrowed a year ago to meet their revenue-sharing obligations, would have surpassed the Los Angeles Dodgers as the most indebted team in baseball history.

Is it so hard to beleive that the Mets ability to spend money — especially when owing so much to MLB — is virtually non-existent? Is it crazy to think that this latest push to sell small minority stakes to friends and family (which first wasn’t any of our business, but now is “going well”), is yet another stall tatic from the ownership group who said that everything was fine for the last two years.

It’s bad enough that MLB has decided to allow the Mets to continue to dig themselves a hole it may soon become impossible to get out of, but I am supposed to “be a good and loyal fan” and hand over my money to “support the team”?

Megdal, who is as smart as anyone covering baseball today, insists that my ticket $ will have no impact on the Mets bottom line. He probably right. Numbers in general make my head hurt. Be that as it may, if for nothing but principal, I will stick to the vow I made on Opening Day 2011, and not attend any games at Citi Field again this year until one of the following two things happen; an outside investor buys an equal share in the Mets and gets a say in the day-to-day operations with an opportunity to buy the whole shebang if the bottom drops out, or MLB forces the sale of the team. Since neither option is plausible at the moment, it looks like I am staying home in 2012.

But Mark, you might be saying, it’s the 50th Anniversary, how can you stay away when they’ve made so many concessions to the fans? Let’s recap:

No more stupid hybrid cap.  Awesome. A long time coming.

No more stupid drop shadow.  Great. See above

Banner Day is back. To be honest, this never had any appeal to me other than watching it on TV. It’s cool that other people dig it, and I am happy that they are happy. I’d be far more happier if Oldtimer’s Day was back. But that’s too much work, we hear.  It might cost a few bucks as well, but no matter. You can always go to the Mets Hall of Fame that they had to be embarrassed to build.

Blue outfield walls, new dimensions -”Soot” is not a color.  According to David Howard, in the interview no one seems to remember or to have chronicled, told Michael Kay and Don LaGreca on ESPN 1050 that “blue and orange is kind of tacky”. (He also said that the green seats were chosen because it would allow the “pallette of the field to continue into the stands”, and NOT, like the wheezing mess of a PR machine the Mets have in place insinuated weeks later, to emulate the Polo Grounds. As for the deep outfield, seeing that they built the stupid thing in the first place without doing any real tests on how ballpark would perform, this is just rectifying harsh reality. It had the same cause and effect as former manager Jerry Manuel’s idiotic BP drill.

Lower ticket prices – Well, duh.

Are these good first steps? Sure. Am I satisfied that the ownership has had an epiphany about its fanbase? Hell, no. Not by a long shot, brother.

Shark is pushing the new jerseys hard on his website and I have NO beef with that. Sales of the new/old design should ensure that the inclusion of black to the orange and blue will die a slow and undignified death that it deserves. Plus, all of MLB shares in the profits of jerseys sales. Listening to VP David Howard calling it “the black element” for the last six years was enough of a reason to despise it. Bravo to Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch.com and Metspolice for fighting that good fight.

But Shannon also thinks its ok to buy tickets now as well. That’s where we part ways. He, Megdal, Keane and anyone else who disagrees with me are all entitled to their opinion.

Greg Prince, who is incredibly eloquent, is another awesome Mets fan with whom I sometimes disagree with. His book and blog of the name name (Faith And Fear in Flushing) wrote passionately about the changes the club has made and what it meant to him:

So not everybody’s won over or going to be won over. Media’s job is to be cynical. Fans come by it on their own dime. There’s always going to be a strain of fan who Doesn’t Care. That is, he or she Doesn’t Care about blue caps or 50th birthdays or whether there’s a museum or how good or bad the broadcasts are. That fan just wants the Mets to win and he or she Doesn’t Care about the rest. I find that partly reasonable and totally boorish. Winning trumps all, but it doesn’t overwhelm everything. A rude usher, a cold pretzel, a Tom McCarthy, a lack of appreciation by the organization for its own heritage — even in the last indisputably good regular season, I noticed those things. But they didn’t blot out the sun. When Jose Reyes led off Game Six of the 2006 NLCS with a home run while wearing the pinstripes, I didn’t think “Sure, we’re ahead 1-0, but dadburn it all to heck, that drop shadow just ruins everything.”

There’s a balance to be attained. Ideally, you have a World Series trophy on one side of the scale and everything else pleasant and thoughtful on the other side. We probably won’t get the World Series trophy in 2012, but that doesn’t take away from that which is pleasant and thoughtful.

The best brand equity possible in an endeavor like professional baseball is that of consistent winner. The next best, and not behind by much, is that of something that inspires stubborn devotion during those spells when the winning isn’t so consistent…not just by force of habit but because you can make yourself believe your devotion is somehow returned in kind.

Blue caps, broad banners and a yearlong birthday party for our franchise signifies that kind of return. It is a celebration. We are pleased to R.S.V.P. that we’ll be there for yet another season.

We can always send our regrets later.

I care, Greg. Maybe too much, especially for someone who does what I do. Itr’s not the lack of winning I am protesting, it’s the lying. It’s the bufoonery that might have been acceptable in 1962, that 50 years later is now wrapped ina corporate shell and tastes worse. It’s the complete lack of accountablity by an ownership group is now going to lose one of the greatest players it has ever produced because it has no money, no plan and a very bleak future.

I hope I am wrong. But I don’t think I am. I will always choose the Mets. I just don’t choose to enable this dysfunctioanl and desperate ownership group any longer. Neither should any of you.

The year is 1979.  The cheers from the magical summer of a decade ago have long grown silent.  The New York Mets have the worst record in the National League. A stadium, that just just 15 years ago hosted the All-Star Game and was a major attracdtion at the World’s Fair, is filthy, neglected and on most days, empty.  With the exception of homegrown matinee idol and All-Star center fielder Lee Mazzilli; the once-Amazin’ Mets are an embarrassment.

READ THE NEW GOTHAM BASEBALL – FALL 2011 ISSUE – FREE DOWNLOAD HERE

You may have seen a Baseball Digest magazine or two in your life, and in December of 2009, I became their Online Editor.  With the assistance of some great people, Baseball Digest now has a critically-acclaimed website and a national radio show on SiriusXM.

Or maybe you just New York sports. In that case, you may have checked out Gotham Baseball, whose print run is now on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and is now a online magazine that looks like this.

Well, that’s just the beginning of many projects I’ve been working on for the Fall of 2011 and beyond.

The biggest of these is FootballDigestFantasy.com,  a site dedicated to Fantasy Football players and owners of all ages. My hopes is to create a Fantasy portal that experts and casual Fantasy Sports fan can interact and access top-flight Fantasy information.

There are plans for a national radio show as well as an expanded site. Contact mhealey@baseballdigest.com for more details.

Also, I am looking for contributors, both for the sites and the broadcasts of Gotham Gridiron, Gotham Hoops and Hockey Night In Gotham, so NY sports fans of all ages can read, hear and discover the great pantheon of New York’s greatest athletes.

GOTHAM GRIDIRON

Easily the most unique online resource about New York area football. A combination of Gotham’s rich football history, commentary and features about today’s stars, and Fantasy Football advice from industry experts. The GOTHAM GRIDIRON internet radio show, scheduled to be re-launched in the fall, will be a mirror to the site.  Host Mark Healey will talk to Gotham’s gridirion heroes from the past, present and future, as well as some of the town’s top football scribes and analysts.

GOTHAM HOOPS

Basketball has long held a form hold on this great city. From Lapchick to Mullin, from Clyde to Amar’e, from Dr. J to Devin Harris, we New Yorkers love our hoops. With both of the metro area’s teams looking to rebuild, it could prove to be an exciting time to get back into GOTHAM HOOPS. Though the site is live, the internet radio show for GOTHAM HOOPS is still in redevelopment. So. if are a passionate and articulate fan, aspiring journalist with broadcast chops who loves the NBA, or a Fantasy Basketball enthusiast, GOTHAM HOOPS is looking for a co-host and online contributors. Contact Mark Healey at mhealey@baseballdigest.com for more info.

HOCKEY NIGHT IN GOTHAM

Contrary to what you might hear elsewhere, there is no greater rivalry in the NHL (or in all of sports, one might argue), than that of the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers.  On HOCKEY NIGHT IN GOTHAM, you get to experience that rivalry every day, as writers, bloggers and fans of both teams have their say. Like GOTHAM HOOPS, the internet radio show for HOCKEY NIGHT IN GOTHAM is in redevelopment, and both the site and show are looking for contributors. If interested, contact Mark Healey at mhealey@baseballdigest.com for more info.

Between the article in the New Yorker and the upcoming SI piece, Fred Wilpon has made the same mistakes over and over and over again. Since 1987, the first year Wilpon’s role changed from minority owner to full partner, the Mets have spent millions and millions of dollars on mostly inferior talent. With the exception of the NL East title 1988 ( the last gasp of Frank Cashen’s franchise rebuild), the Bobby Valentine-led back-to-back postseason appearances in 99-00 and a division title in 2006, the Wilpon Mets have been a complete and utter mess.

Vicious office politics (while the team was co-owned with Nelson Doubleday, team executives who were brought in by Wilpon after the “merger” fought bitterly with the incumbent Doubleday loyalists), a muddled chain of command that is nearly always blamed on COO Jeff Wilpon (which is less true than you think, but still a problem), and a public relations department that continues to be unable (or unwilling) to convince the ownership group to avoid looking like buffoons.

When Erin Arvedlund first talked about the effects of the Bernie Madoff scandal as it pertained to Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and Sterling Equities, Mets fans took sides. Why? Unless you are related to Fred Wilpon or work for him, why would anyone care? The Mets might be owned by Fred Wilpon, but they are not his team, they are your team.

Your team is in trouble, Mets fans. Your shortstop and your third baseman, whom you followed through the minor leagues all the way to All-Star status (and who still have plenty of All-Star left in them) may have to be traded to help the owner of the team recover from mountains of debt created by either ignorance, stupidity or culpability in the biggest financial scandal in history. And yet, there are some of you who think that “rebuilding” is a good idea. Maybe it is. But with this owner? Again? Hasn’t it been proven time and time again that whoever the GM is, the Mets keep having the same problems over and over and over again?

In a story, comically titled “Mets Prepared to Give McIlvaine Blank Check” in June of 1993, Fred Wilpon shareds another one of his visions:

“To concentrate on development — that’s exactly what we need,” said Wilpon. “Joe (has a great feel for recognizing talent, both young talent and talent at the major league level. Sure, he hasn’t been 100 percent correct. If he had been 100 percent correct, he’d be the owner here.”

Love that last part, don’t you?

Ten years later, this gem:

A big payroll “doesn’t ensure that you’re going to win,” Wilpon said. “We’ve learned that painfully.” – SI.com, 2003

Before Mike Lupica and the NY Daily News became Wilpon-apologists, he wrote this in 1996:

Wilpon never gets hit in New York because he comes across as the anti-Steinbrenner. But more and more Wilpon is involved in the running of the Mets, even as the Mets give their fans less and less of a show on the field. Wilpon is the one who told his fans all winter and all spring that Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher were ready to take the Mets to the “next level,” whatever that means. Then Wilpon set a cap of $26 million for this Mets team. It is pin money in baseball these days, and Wilpon knows it.

One better hope that MLB is covertly running the Mets until they get their money back, because then, a full transition to new ownership will run smoother than having to wait another two season for Fred Wilpon to “vindicate” himself. I don’t happen to think Sandy Alderson is here for the long haul, because I think that once MLB handed over 25 million over to Fred Wilpon, MLB wanted their own guy making sure it would not turn into a $50 million IOU. Even if Alderson is here for real, should he be subjected to Fred Wilpon? Wouldn’t a new ownership be the best to use Sandy and his Amazing Friends to rebuild the Mets?

I may be a biased idiot, but I think I”d rather have a guy who sold a beverage company for 4 billion running my team than a guy who spent half that much on his “shitty team”.

It isn’t what Fred Wilpon said yesterday or a month ago or after the Madoff scandal broke. It isn’t how he verbally threw John O. Pickett out the door once the former Islanders owner convinced his friend Nelson Doubleday to buy the team so Fred could be in on the sale, despite putting up less than a million of the 21.1 million dollar purchase price he “negotiated” with Charles Shipman Payson in 1979 with no investors other than he and brother in law Saul “I Got Balls” Katz.

It’s for the endless cycle of limited success and sustained bumbling at a ridiculously high level that you should choose the Mets and not Fred Wilpon, my friends. Every ticket you don’t buy, every game you don’t watch on SNY, every impulse to blame the media for the endless stream of asinine commentary that rolls off the lips of this ownership group, puts this man and his ship of fools closer to having to sell the team. Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution.

Choose the Mets.

Jose Reyes (Photo By Bill Menzel)

I’ve had two very jarring conversations about Jose Reyes lately with people I consider extremely intelligent baseball fans, both of whom are devout followers of the New York Mets. (I’ll pause for the snark. Finished?  Ok.)

Each conversation was about my questioning the likelihood of Jose Reyes remaining in a Mets uniform, either beyond the non-waiver trade deadline or following this season.  The responses I received, and have also gotten on Twitter and from various emails, etc, have me really puzzled about what reality some of my fellow Mets fans are living in.

A few things on Jose Reyes, and my opinion of his Mets career, to give this post some perspective:

Outside of the silly hairdo, some of his defensive lapses over the years (inexcusable for a player of his stature), and the incredibly bad decision to join the Carlos Delagdo-led and Tony Bernazard-endorsed sandbagging of Willie Randolph ( a managerial hiring I did not support), Jose Reyes is the best shortstop in Mets history.

I would not, given his current value, deal him at the deadline.  I don’t think the Mets will either, because the return for a All-Star, Gold Glove-caliber shortstop in his walk year, playing for a team desperate to move cash (and unwilling and moreso, unable to do so), cannot be Single-A prospects with upside, or 24-year old AA players who represent organizational depth for talent-rich clubs like the Boston Red Sox.  That’s all that will be offered for Reyes, in my opinion. I heard one person say to me on the phone this mornng, “Well, what if the Red Sox offered Ellsbury and Jed Lawrie?” My affection for this person prevented me from hanging up.

“Jose Reyes loves playing for the Mets, he loves living in New York, he’s not going anywhere.” said one huge Mets fan to me this past weekend, a fan who just happens to have pretty good ties to the current front office. “Mets are going to re-sign him to a 3-year, $30 million contract.”

“With what money?” I countered.

I would re-sign Jose Reyes for four years and $40-45 million. He might not get that on the open market, but it’s possible he might. Oakland’s Billy Beane offered $70 million for Adrian Beltre, for God’s sake. Reyes isn’t the offenseive player Beltre was in 2010, but the risk, in my opinion, is relatively the same. Reyes is far more of a hardcore player in my mind, but perhaps that is just my NY bias.

But again, with what money?

Look, Sandy Alderson is not here to make the Mets a World Series winner. He was not sent here by MLB to run a $140 million-plus franchise and make it a perennial postseason contender. He was sent here to make a bloated, underachieving club, less so. He was brought here to help increase the value of the club across the board so that if and when the Wilpons settle with Irving Pickard, they can either regroup or the franchise can be sold for a higher price.

It’s that simple. So you can continue to live in the fairyland of “Mets dealing Reyes for prospects is good” or “Reyes isn’t worth a mega-deal” or “Mets are In Good Hands With Sandy” all you wish. It doesn’t change the fact that dealing or failing to re-sign a All-Star caliber shortstop in his prime for a team that plays in New York, in a multi-million dollar stadium, and will charge you New York prices to watch Ruben Tejada play shortstop next year is comical.

Also equally humorous is any argument or debate that this cost-saving is all part of the Sandy Alderson / Moneyball / The Mets Now Embrace Logic / Mets Have A New Game Plan. Do you remember the immediate post Steve Phillips era? Do you remember the idiotic free agent offer to Vladimir Guerrerro. The Mets have been in the “It’s time to reboot and move in a new direction and spend less money.” mode before, but this time it’s being forced on them for several reasons, not the least of which is they don’t know what their own future is.

In all likelihood, barring a last-minute miracle (and yes, I am rooting for my fellow 1986 Holy Cross High School alum and Mets fan Michael Repole to buy this team outright), Reyes will be wearing a different uniform in 2012.

But don’t celebrate it like it’s a move made for anything but money, and utter stupidity of the highest form.

Mark Healey, the founder of Gotham Baseball magazine, and Joseph M. Lara, the owner of JML Media, have announced that they have agreed to work together to produce a new digital version of Gotham Baseball magazine.

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE MAGAZINE HERE

“Gotham Baseball is renewing its commitment to fully cover New York baseball’s past, present and future by teaming with JML Media to create a brand new digital magazine experience,” Healey said.  “Technology is fundamentally changing the media, and our readership has been ready for this for a long time.  Now with Joseph M. Lara and JML Media, we can finally give our loyal readership a multi-platform product they can all enjoy.”

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE MAGAZINE HERE

Once a print publication, the entire print run of Gotham Baseball Magazine is part of the permanent archive at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center in Cooperstown, NY. The new Gotham Baseball will be a digital product, available for download on all mobile devices.

“I am thrilled to be working with Mark Healey on Gotham Baseball,” said Lara, whose company publishes Forest Hills Celebrity and Astoria Celebrity magazines. “It’s no secret that New York is one of the largest sports markets in the world, with one of the greatest and most passionate fan bases.  We’re using our decades of experience and resources across multiple industries including entertainment technology, automotive, film, and the local New York business market to truly blaze trails in sports publishing with Gotham Baseball,” He added. “I’m also a huge baseball fan, so this is as much fun as it is work.”

Stacy Lavender of Ballyhoo Central led the design team, which re-imagined the original design of the print magazine.

“We wanted to retain the main design elements of Gotham Baseball‘s brand, and at the same time, find a more accessible design that would translate to an online audience,” Lavender said.  “I am very pleased with the final product, and Gotham Baseball fans, new and old, will love it too.”

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE MAGAZINE HERE

The magazine’s digital version will feature several writers from the print edition, providing comprehensive coverage of all facets of the New York game from college to the minors to the majors. Highlights of the 2011 season preview issue include:

The Leadoff Spot – Joe McDonald (NYSportsday.com) and Gary Armida (FullCountPitch.com), provide in-depth season previews of the New York Mets and New York Yankees.

On Deck – Chip Armonaitis profiles the selections for the 2011 Preseason All-Gotham Team.

Cheat Sheet – The best Fantasy Baseballs picks from the New York teams? That’s easy, just ask expert Rob Shaw (Bloomberg Sports).

Cooperstown Archive – The 2010 World Series championship San Francisco Giants used to be New York’s oldest ballclub, so Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing) takes a look at “Manhattan’s Last Championship”;

Meal Money — Robert Pimpsner (BaseballDigest.com) and John Mackin Ade (Mack On Baseball) size up “The Top 10 Mets and Yankees Prospects”;

Collector’s Corner – Joseph M. Lara looks back at the history and nostalgia of baseball cards in “The Stuff that Childhoods are Made Of: When Baseball Cards Were Simple”;

Pastime – Ed Shakespeare (When Baseball Returned to Brooklyn) looks at the connection between The Queen City and the American pastime in “Buffalo and Baseball: A Love Affair”;

Going Nine – Mark Healey’s critically-acclaimed column returns to the pages of Gotham Baseball, this time taking a look at the tragic story of the man who replaced Lou Gehrig; Babe Dahlgren.

Other articles include features on Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson (“Rising to a “Granderson” Scale”), Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran (“Being Carlos Beltran”) by Paul Francis Sullivan (Sully Baseball) and a profile of pitcher Sal Maglie in “The Barber of Gotham”.

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About JML Media Group, LLC

JML Media Group, LLC is a multi-faceted Queens, NY based media corporation specializing in re-shaping the way people view local media.  Since 2006, JML Media has changed the face of local publishing with its two marquee products Forest Hills and Astoria Celebrity Magazines, producing the quality of major national titles on a municipal and localized level, as well as garnering a reputation for accessibility and social responsibility.

About Gotham Baseball

Gotham Baseball was founded and first published in 2005. Its mission is to fully cover the past, present and future of the New York baseball. Gotham Baseball, first recognized by Amazon.com as one of the Top 10 New magazines of 2005 (and the only sports magazine on the list), reports the latest news, photos and features on the New York game, from the big leagues, the minor leagues and independent leagues, from the Old Time game to the college game. For more information, visit Gotham Baseball online at GothamBaseball.com

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For more information or to schedule an interview with Mark Healey or Joseph M. Lara, please contact Faith Ballantine-Armonaitis at (201) 288-6312 or email, faithpr@optonline.net.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Faith Ballantine-Armonaitis

Tel. 201.288.6312

Email: faithpr@optonline.net