I’ve actively rooted hard for five people in the Mets organization since I became a fan in 2006: R.A Dickey, for being a great family guy trying to figure out a lifelong mission. Daniel Murphy, for being one of my favorite players that I wanted to see play day in and day out. David Wright, for being the last renaming guy from my younger childhood (until Reyes came along), Jacob deGrom, for being a guy that has similar hair to me, and for being a nice down to earth guy. And finally, Wally Backman, for being a guy I’ve wanted to see manage the team since I saw him carry the Brooklyn Cyclones to the NYPL Finals back in 2010.
However, any chances of seeing Wally Backman actually manage the Amazin’s has officially dropped to 0% overnight, as Backman, “resigned” from the organization, after a dispute with Sandy Alderson.
While there are no “teams”, and we know little to nothing about what actually happened, I stand behind Wally. I interviewed Wally back in 2015, after a huge win over Sacramento, and I could see his dedication to his craft, and I saw in person the relationships he had with players, and how much he helped the Mets farm system over the years.
If you asked me what happened, I think Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com summed it up perfectly:
This is just another mistake the Mets front office has made over the years. While I don’t think letting Backman go will be as big of a mistake as not re-signing Murphy was, it might come awfully close, we shall see.