The other day I was talking to my friend Bart, who is excited about the start of the Minor League Baseball season. He was telling me about how he did getting autographs at the Trenton Thunder’s annual meet & greet event on Tuesday, and about some of the teams that are coming in to Arm & Hammer Field in April.
First on the slate are the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. “Guess who’s their manager?,” Bart asked.
I had no idea. (I think I’m doing pretty well to know Jay Bell is managing the Trenton squad.)
“Oh, yeah, I remember him with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals,” I said.
“I’ve got a photo to try to get signed,” Bart said. “In fact, it was one you took when he was one of your guys.”
“Are you sure you don’t mean Lenny Harris?,” I ask.
“You wrote Willie Harris, 2011 on the back,” he said.
“But Willie Harris never played for the Mets,” I say, even though I’m not sure any more.
A quick consultation with Baseball-Reference.com reveals that Harris played in 126 games for the 2011 New York Mets. A check of my photo archive showed that I attended at least one of those 126 games.
And I still have no memory of anything that he did as a Met.
I wonder how many other Mets I’ve completely forgotten about since I started following baseball.
Don’t get old.
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