![]() History of legal troubleīackman has prior arrests for DUI and domestic assault involving his second wife in 2001, according to the Post. 320 with 27 RBIs, 67 runs scored and 13 stolen bases. Perhaps his best season came during the Mets iconic 1986 championship run that saw them beat the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.īackman played in 124 games that season, hitting. Backman a key player on ‘86 Metsīackman played 14 MLB seasons, nine of them with the Mets. Police told the Post he was released without bail. In 2014, Backman was drinking a beer at a hotel bar in Salt Lake City when he got word from the Mets around midnight that Eric Campbell, who had spent half a dozen years in the minors, was finally being called up.This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. “That’s the best part of being a big leaguer,” he said. As the previous day’s starter, Syndergaard was required to shag balls during batting practice, a chore called “the buckets.” So once Syndergaard had made a few calls, he went to roam the outfield, still dazed. Then, Syndergaard said, “everything went blank after that.”īut as far as Backman was concerned, that didn’t mean Syndergaard’s minor league duties were over. He heard the key words, that he was going to the major leagues for the first time. Syndergaard doesn’t remember exactly what Backman said. When the Mets’ Dillon Gee was injured in May, Backman called Noah Syndergaard into the office one day in El Paso. They all know that when Backman calls a player who is doing well into his office, he is usually heading to the big leagues. Many 51s players pay close attention to news reports about the Mets, and when an injury occurs, they have an inkling that someone may be promoted. Not every call-up takes a player by surprise. Once Backman told Ceciliani, he took his appetizers to go, rushed to the clubhouse to collect his gear, swung by the team hotel, drove to the closest major airport, in Seattle, and got his first major league hit the next day. ![]() ![]() Backman told Ceciliani’s father, also named Darrell, that the Mets were calling up his son, then asked the elder Ceciliani to return the phone to his son without giving away the surprise. This was not an unusual request, because Backman lives about 30 minutes from the Cecilianis in Oregon and has gotten to know various family members. As a result, Backman can receive word about a player’s being promoted at unexpected moments, sometimes during Las Vegas games, and the news must be delivered immediately, without any formal meeting, because the player must rush to collect his belongings and hop the next flight to wherever the Mets might be.ĭarrell Ceciliani was out to dinner with his family after a 51s game in Tacoma, Wash., when Backman called, asking to speak with his father about a hunting trip. The 51s are based in Las Vegas, three time zones from New York, which is a somewhat unusual arrangement for a major league team and its top farm team. The comedic timing is practically built in for him. He smokes cigarettes in the dugout, uses expletives as adjectives, preaches playing the game the right way and takes losses personally - which makes him just about the last person they expect to pull pranks. Those who have recently played for him describe Backman, a member of the 1986 World Series champion Mets, as a players’ manager who also has an old-school mentality. And Backman, as the deliverer of the good news, has used the moment to play practical jokes on some of the players, to “have some fun,” as he put it in a telephone interview, and to make all of it more memorable. But for the players, being promoted to the majors, no matter the circumstances, is a life-changing experience. “People joke about it being the New York 51s,” said Kevin Plawecki, the Mets’ rookie catcher.įor the Mets, playing so many rookies has been challenging and, at times, frustrating.
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