Dinner’s On Me

By Jay Horwitz

In my years with the Mets, I have experienced quite a few work stoppages. The first was during my second season with the club in 1981. We stopped playing in June and I suggested to GM Frank Cashen that I tour our minor leagues to get to know our top prospects.

My first stop was Jackson, Mississippi where I would meet up with manager, Davey Johnson and his top pitcher, Rick Ownbey who would later be involved in a trade for Keith Hernandez. I called Davey to introduce myself and said “I want take you, your staff and team officials out for a nice steak dinner. Pick out the best steak place in Jackson. It’s on me.”

We were about 20 people that night. Great steak, lots of wine, great apple pie and lots of fun. The check came to about $500. Playing the role of Mr. Big Man, I yelled out “Thanks for coming, I got this.”

One problem. My wallet was gone. When I told Davey, he thought I was kidding. When I told him I wasn’t, he grabbed the check and laughed saying “Typical New Yorker.”

We laughed about our dinner again when Davey was named our manager in October, 1983. I finally made amends during our first road trip to Chicago in 1984. I took Davey and the staff out for a nice steak dinner . This time I had my wallet.

For more stories like this be sure to check out my book, Mr. Met. You can preorder the book right on Amazon: https://amzn.to/38QVRWE