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How do you look at your life? How do you look at the careers of Francisco Liriano, Edwin Jackson and Edinson Volquez? Looking at all of them in a positive way is a good way to live life.
Seeing the glass as half full on this episode of Sully Baseball.
While we are at it, enjoy the In Memoriam video.
OK, what the hell is going on with this team picture? Is it just me or does it seem like there are a LOT of people in this picture.
Most team pictures are about 30 players (the main 24 plus some that are inevitably on the disabled list) 5 or 6 coaches, a trainer, a clubhouse guy, maybe the GM and a batboy.
There would be about 40, 45 people tops.
I do not know how many there are in this pic. Honest to goodness, I am going pause a little bit of my writing and I am going to count heads right now. I wonder if it is an illusion.
OK, there are 58 people in this picture. It looked like more, but still. That is 13 more people than my absolute roided maximum was for a team pic.
So who the hell is everyone? Did they invite every top minor leaguer into this pic.
There are 4 non player or coach people in the picture. And I will estimate 5 coaches and manager Joe Torre.
So that leaves 48 players in this picture.
48!
This picture MUST have been taken in Spring Training. Either that or they had 24 people on the disabled list at the time.
There really isn’t much to say about the 1980 Mets squad except that it was the year that Frank Cashen showed up and began rebuilding the team from the ground up. Darryl Strawberry was drafted that year.
Lee Mazzilli was still the team’s biggest star and their rotation still had no dominant ace to replace Tom Seaver. They went 67-95 in 1980.
In 1981, they finished under .500 in both halves of the season. Eventual World Champion Mets Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman and Jesse Orosco were all on the squad. By the end of the season Joe Torre was gone and off to Atlanta. If you had told anyone that in a decade and a half, Joe Torre would be putting together a Hall of Fame manager as a beloved figure in New York history, you would have been thrown into an insane asylum.
The Mets would build a solid team from the ground up. And, evidently, invite everyone involved in the rebuild to the team picture.
Sully Baseball 
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