Art Rust's Weekly Round Up

My Greatest Baseball Thrills
By Art Rust, Jr.

1. The 1937 Newark Bears won the International League pennant by 25.5 games.

2. The 1942 St. Louis Cardinals won 43 of their last 51 games, thereby winning the National League pennant and went on to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers by 2 games.

3. 1947: Jackie Roosevelt Robinson – Speaks for itself. He did what he had to do. How did he do it? I’ll never know.

4. The 1951 Bobby Thompson Home Run. I was sitting in section 21 at the Polo Grounds and Bobby Thompson, playing for the N.Y. Giants, hit one out of the park against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

5. 2004: Willie Randolph becoming manager of the N.Y. Mets. The naming of Willie Randolph to the N.Y. Mets now outshines any event that I have witnessed, baseball-wise. It is an event that had to happen.

It was a month ago that I suddenly realized that the signing of Omar Minaya, a Dominican, would surely lead to the signing of Willie Randolph. And it did. The combination of these 2 talented minority gentlemen reflects positively on the Mets. Even though they are considered the 2nd team in New York, I believe the Mets reflect a more “New York State of Mind.”