Even MORE Amazing Mets Trivia

On Monday, I was excited to receive in the mail an advance copy of a great new book called More Amazing Mets Trivia, put together by my dear friend Ken Samelson and his co-author David Russell. I’m delighted to reveal that I did a little reconnaissance on the manuscript last summer, as Ken knew I know a few things about Mets trivia.

Who am I kidding? I know more Mets trivia than could possibly fit in one volume, which is why I’m sharing some bonus questions and answers that might work well in any revised edition Ken and David are planning. Test your knowledge below and see if you’re as much of a stickler for Met facts as I am.

This book is the real deal.

Where did Pedro Alfonso get his very familiar nickname?
Pedro, whose fifth-inning grand slam to right-center field at leavemealoneDope Park effectively rescued the Mets’ floundering campaign on Monday night, was already given the benefit of the doubt by Mets fans due to his being the nephew of beloved infielder Edgardo Alfonso, the most chronically misspelled Met Hall of Famer in franchise history. It would have been easy to refer to Pedro as Potsie — the way fans labeled his uncle — but in Spring Training of his rookie year, family-friendly manager Nicky Caraway Seed suggested Alfonso played his original position, third base, like “he’s [bleeping] naked on a [bleeping] horse,” and thus the nickname “Polo Bare” stuck, and all resulting Polo Power emanated from across the diamond. Alfonso now sits 25 strawberries away from the all-time Met record for most individual pieces of fruit consumed in the state of Florida.

With what celebrity did starting pitcher Pete Daverdson “trade” spouses?
Daverdson gave the 2-2 Mets six innings of two-run ball, the club’s first qualitative start of the young, crumbling season. The southpaw was no doubt energized by the presence of his temporary lifemate Scarlett Johannson, obtained in a cash considerations swap with his good friend, SNY sideline reporter Fritz Gelbs. Longtime observers will remember the last time such a controversial transaction rocked baseball was in 1976, when commissioner Bowie Kuhn vetoed Oakland owner Charlie Finley’s sale of Rollie Fingers to Mrs. Mike Kekich (this was before the reserve clause was completely eliminated).

What stands as Louie Torrent’s signature moment as a Met?
The Mets’ backup catcher contributed a two-run home run to the team’s desperately needed 10-4 victory in Miami, ensuring Louie won’t be known merely for that one time he “made it rain,” bringing a torrent of dollar-bill showers on a notable swing through the Midwest’s most high-end gentlemen’s clubs. Interestingly, the Mets were in London that week, but, as Torrent likes to say through a translator, “the Lou wants what the Lou wants, so you better bring a [bleeping] umbrella, fella. Besides, whaddaya think our meal money is for — dinner?” Torrent will continue to fill in as the Mets’ starting catcher until primary backstop Alvy Franklin leaves the unable list and resumes proving that the 2020s are indeed “the Alvy Franklin decade”.

Brendan Nebbish is the senior Met in terms of service time. When was his first game?
The Mets’ first-round draft choice in 1965, Brendan made his debut on April 10, 1968, Gil Hodges’s maiden outing as Mets manager. It was the first rung on a very long ladder Nebbish needed to scale to achieve his current level of renown. Just one year later, as the Mets cruised to an easy win over the Astros at Shea Stadium, Hodges made a point of marching out to left field to remove young Brendan for “growing facial scruff that indicates a lack of character”. The skipper feared kids in what was then called the Midget Mets program would look to Nebbish as a role model and resist shaving. “Next thing you know,” Gil elaborated to reporters, “youngsters will take a pass on personal grooming products and he’ll be messing with my Vitalis checks.” Properly chastened, Nebbish returned to the minors until the following April. His sixth-inning home run Monday night, which came as the Mets nurtured a precarious seven-run lead, was the first of his fifty-eighth major league season.

Marty Sterling batted leadoff Monday night in place of which Met mainstay?
Marty, scion of the silver-tongued Sterling family, found himself in an unfamiliar lineup position, thanks to Francoeur Lindor’s better half Frenchy giving birth to the couple’s third child and first son, Homer. Homer was conceived in the aftermath of last season’s delirious clubhouse celebration when Mr. Lindor went deep in Atlanta. With the Mets’ usual leadoff batter otherwise occupied, Sterling put the heretofore doomed Mets on the board in the third inning with a homer of his own. When he returned to the dugout, he warned the Lindors not to name their next child after what he’d just hit. Francoeur, who has never recorded a base hit in any calendar year prior to Mother’s Day, reportedly looked at his teammate in confusion and asked, “what the [bleep] is going on today?”

Hope you got ’em all right! But don’t fret if you don’t have as much clearly accurate Mets knowledge at your disposal as I’m obviously packing. The important thing is the Mets won, and Ken and David have a real fun book you should definitely check out.