NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 29: Former New York Met Ed Kranepool speaks to the crowd during the 50th Anniversary of the Mets winning the World Series in 1969 at Citi Field on June 29, 2019 in New York City.
Saturday’s Mets loss was somewhat blunted by a ceremony honoring the 1969 World Series winners that everyone agreed was tasteful and well done; legendary Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen said it “brought a tear” to his eye.
But it turns out that the Mets screwed that up, too, listing Jim Gosger and Jesse Hudson as dead. Both are alive.
Ed Kranepool, Art Shamsky, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, Ron Swoboda, Jim McAndrew, J.C. Martin, Dr. Ron Taylor, Jack DiLauro, Duffy Dyer, Wayne Garrett, Rod Gaspar and Bobby Pfeil were at the ceremony, and many of them spoke wistfully about the teammates that were missing because of death or illness. Gosger and Hudson do not fall in that category.
A large videoboard displayed “WE REMEMBER” next to a rotating cast of names and photos, including Gosger and Hudson.
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A few Twitter users caught the error in real time, but no one else did until Gosger posted about his inclusion in a “dearly departed” video on Facebook, writing “WOW LOOK AT ME I MADE THE BIG BOARD …THANK YOU N.Y. METS FOR BRINGING ME BACK.” Gosger later wrote that the Mets contacted him to apologize, saying “i just received a call from the n.y. Mets they apologize for the mistake today i guess a couple of my friends got through to their office.”
Gosger, 76, was an outfielder who played on both the 1969 and ’73 Mets World Series teams in an extremely limited role, while Hudson, 70, was a pitcher whose only major-league appearance came in one September game for the Miracle Mets. Neither, again, is dead.
Justin Timberlake (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
But it gets better. On Sunday, in an attempt to apologize for Saturday night’s faux pas, the Mets posted a correction on their video display, only to misspell the name of Jesse Hudson.
We’ve reached out to the Mets for comment and will update this story if they respond.
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