Las Vegas missed a smash hit when Mets rotation played with 51s
If you were a rock ‘n’ roll fan, and your hometown had an old, boozy music joint, and mop-topped lads on the verge of taking America by storm played nightly sets there, you probably would check them out — even if the old, boozy music joint was in a blighted part of town, right?
Right.
It must drive 51s president Don Logan nuts that baseball fans who live within a relay throw of Cashman Field don’t think like that when it comes to top-line pitching prospects. At least not in the way music buffs who lived near the old Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, thought of the Beatles, on their way up.
The 51s recently have featured mop-topped lads named Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in their starting rotation. And now these youngsters are on the verge of taking America by storm in the World Series as New York Mets, provided the Kansas City Royals comply, which may be a big provision.
The Mets’ Jake (the Cubs also have a Jake) and Syndergaard were just here, as was Steven Matz, who does not have a mop top, but throws nearly as hard.
As was Zack Wheeler, who may or may not have a mop top, because he has been on the disabled list for a long spell and nobody has seen much of him, or his hairstyle. Most everyone agrees that should Wheeler make a successful comeback from Tommy John surgery next season, as most guys do these days, he’s going to make a fine Ringo.
These are household names, at least now that they are stitched onto the back of Mets jerseys.
But when they had an alien head patch sewn on their shirts, only a couple of thousand would show up to watch Wheeler and deGrom and Syndergaard and Matz sing “Love Me Do” and/or work on their two-seamers. The 51s usually would announce that around 4,834 had shown up, which was their average attendance in 2015 — a number that ranked 13th among the 16 Pacific Coast League clubs.
(Unless, of course, there were fireworks after the game. Pete Best could pitch on Fireworks Night, and around 10,000 people would show up, though a lot probably wouldn’t show up until around the fifth inning.)
“It’s like we always tell ’em, ‘See tomorrow’s stars today,’ ” Logan said in repeating the marketing mantra. But the truth is that fickle baseball fans here would be a lot more willing to see tomorrow’s stars today if they were passing out free schedule refrigerator magnets at the turnstiles.
Or if the 51s played in a new Cavern Club.
A lot of fickle baseball fans also say Cashman Field is starting to smell like the original one in Liverpool, especially when the toilet near the home dugout backs up. No, it wasn’t Roto Rooter Night when it happened. By then, deGrom and Syndergaard and Matz were smelling major league roses instead of backed-up minor league toilets.
“It’s obvious how good those young guys were,” Logan said of the flame-throwing neophytes. And one also should not forget that Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ bullpen ace, also pitched here.
And what about the position players?
Travis d’Arnaud and Lucas Duda and Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Tim Plawecki are former 51s, too. As was Ruben Tejada, New York’s regular shortstop, who will be watching the Series with his leg in a cast. If I had to guess, Chase Utley won’t be asked to sign it.
Hard-hitting catcher d’Arnaud played in Las Vegas for parts of four seasons, as property of the Toronto Blue Jays as well as the Mets. Just think how many former 51s would have been interviewed by Ken Rosenthal’s bowtie had Toronto managed to knock off the Royals in the ALCS?
But many of the Kansas City mainstays, such as Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer and Mike “The Moose” Moustakas, played in Omaha on their way up, and Omaha plays in Las Vegas in alternating seasons under the current scheduling setup. So it’s possible you could have seen a lot of the Kansas City ballplayers play here, too.
According to Jim Gemma, the 51s’ longtime media relations guy, there were 84 former 51s who played in the major leagues this season, and two managers, and 27 coaches. Which sounds like a lot, but probably is around average. Gemma puts out a news release on this every year, out of which which most in the media make paper airplanes.
I also read that if you want to see the former 51s who are now throwing flames and ending slumps by smacking baseballs off ivy-covered walls (Lucas Duda) in the NLCS, it’s going to cost, on average, $1,667.82 for a World Series ticket at Citi Field. Which is highway robbery, but also an all-time baseball record, according to StubHub and the other ticket resale scalpers — er, providers.
It’s too late now, but you could have seen them play for $11 at Cashman Field.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski
