Wally Backman has gone from fan favorite to just another Mets fan, asking the same questions as countless others who have suffered through the team’s 40-year championship drought.
“It really bothers the heck out of us,” Backman told SNY on Saturday, as the 1986 title team was honored at Citi Field. “We’ve all been talking about it: How can it be this long? How can it be this bad?”
Bob Ojeda places the blame for this season’s half-billion failure on David Stearns, the team president who whiffed on nearly every offseason move — moving on from franchise fixtures such as Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Edwin Diaz to acquire the likes of Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams, Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr.
“I try not to even think about it because it’s so frustrating,” Ojeda told SNY. “I really think it’s on Stearns. He built this thing and I don’t think he believes in intangibles, which I believe are so important to a winning ballclub. I don’t feel like he’s taken enough accountability either.
“See, you got me talking about this and now I’m sweating because it makes me mad.“
For one day, this season wasn’t the focus, with franchise icons — including Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Mookie Wilson, Ray Knight, Lenny Dykstra — taking the field.
But today is a new day.
“It’s great to be celebrated after all these years, but fans don’t live in the past,” Ojeda said. “It’s about today’s team. And I don’t blame fans if they don’t want to spend their money on this team.
“But it’s also hard to believe it’s been forty years and we’re still the last team to win. I think for the fans, and even us as players, a celebration like this reminds you about how long it’s been for this franchise, and how bad it is this year.”
