PORT ST. LUCIE — Has it been 55 years since Art Shamsky and the New York Mets performed a baseball miracle in Queens?
Yes it has, and Shamsky’s job is to make sure it feels like yesterday.
Shamsky, a snowbird living much of the year in Deerfield Beach, was at the Mets’ spring training complex at Port St. Lucie Sunday, serving his role as longtime Mets ambassador.
Shamsky signed baseballs on the field, reminiscing with fans and showing 9-year-old Noah Herndon, coming off a brain aneurysm, his 1969 World Series ring.
“I played 13 years and nobody talks about the other 12,’’ Shamsky said before the Mets hosted the Miami Marlins in a spring-training game.
It’s why Shamsky still is asked to do myriad appearances, at synagogues, rotary clubs and YMCAs in Palm Beach County. In December, Shamsky was part of a panel, along with Larry Berra and Gil Hodges Jr., who discussed the ’69 Mets and their famous dads at the Cascades Men’s Club breakfast in Boynton Beach.
I have people coming up to me and saying thank you for making our life better during that terrible time,’’ Shamsky said. “The war in Vietnam was tearing the country apart and the city was going under financially, spiritually, emotionally. This team resonates with people – some who were around, some who weren’t around.’’
The “Miracle Mets’’ stunned the universe by winning the World Series over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in October 1969. The Mets have just one other World Series title – 1986.
MLB
Meet Art Shamsky: 1969 Miracle Met living in South Florida, still bleeding orange and blue
Marc BermanSpecial to The Post
PORT ST. LUCIE — Has it been 55 years since Art Shamsky and the New York Mets performed a baseball miracle in Queens?
Yes it has, and Shamsky’s job is to make sure it feels like yesterday.
Shamsky, a snowbird living much of the year in Deerfield Beach, was at the Mets’ spring training complex at Port St. Lucie Sunday, serving his role as longtime Mets ambassador.
Shamsky signed baseballs on the field, reminiscing with fans and showing 9-year-old Noah Herndon, coming off a brain aneurysm, his 1969 World Series ring.
“I played 13 years and nobody talks about the other 12,’’ Shamsky said before the Mets hosted the Miami Marlins in a spring-training game.
Art Shamsky shows 9-year-old Noah Herndon his 1969 World Series ring Sunday at the Marlins-Mets spring training game in Port St. Lucie.
It’s why Shamsky still is asked to do myriad appearances, at synagogues, rotary clubs and YMCAs in Palm Beach County. In December, Shamsky was part of a panel, along with Larry Berra and Gil Hodges Jr., who discussed the ’69 Mets and their famous dads at the Cascades Men’s Club breakfast in Boynton Beach.
“I have people coming up to me and saying thank you for making our life better during that terrible time,’’ Shamsky said. “The war in Vietnam was tearing the country apart and the city was going under financially, spiritually, emotionally. This team resonates with people – some who were around, some who weren’t around.’’
The “Miracle Mets’’ stunned the universe by winning the World Series over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in October 1969. The Mets have just one other World Series title – 1986.
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More:Listen Now! 1969 Mets legend Art Shamsky talks spring training, Pete Rose, bulldog namesake
The fascination with the ’69 Mets is exemplified by Raymond’s dog in “Everybody Loves Raymond’’ being named “Shamsky’’ after the lefty slugger who hit .300 that season.
“One of the few teams in the history of baseball, people want to talk about now 55 years later,’’ said Shamsky. “The ‘27 Yankees, we still talk about it with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. But how many teams 55 years later do people still want to know about what happened that year? Over the years, I’ve had 100,000 people tell me they were there in the last game, Oct. 16, 1969. The ballpark (Shea Stadium) held just 53,000. But it doesn’t make a difference. Whatever they want to think is good with me.
