Jimmy Plummer The Real Mr. Met

By Jay Horwitz

It was impossible to keep track of the myriad of jobs he did for the team during his four decades of service to t he organization.

Jimmy Plummer, who was the team’s director of promotions for over 20 years, died of heart failure in the summer of 2008 at the age of 57. He never made it to Citi but we have a room here in his honor called “The Plum Room”.

One of Plum’s jobs was to secure anthem singers and first ball throwers and they now gather in his spot before each home game. The room features photos from Plum’s career and examples from his famous bottle head collection.

Some of the other things Jimmy did through the years included the following:

· Run Tommie’s Agee’s charity golf tournament

· Securing baseball equipment for area little league teams

· Coaching as many of those youth teams as he possibly could

· Obtaining tickets for various charities

· Finding places to live for newly arriving Mets players

· Setting up appearances for players and staff during the winter months

· Serving as a liaison between the organization and various sponsors

Jimmy started as a bat boy with the Mets Marion A team in the Appalachian League when he was 12. Future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan was on the Marion Mets. He rose up to become the team’s general manager before coming to the Mets.

“There wasn’t anything Jimmy Plummer wouldn’t do for any of us,” said Bobby Valentine, who was a coach and player when during Jimmy’s time with the Mets.

“He literally had a heart of gold.”

Plummer was close to the 1969 Mets, especially Agee, Cleon Jones, Ron Swoboda, Jerry Koosman and Ed Kranepool.

“Jimmy Plummer bled orange and blue,” said Kranepool. “He did so many things for us, but he really loved helping the kids in the community. That’s what its was all about for him, the kids.”

On a personal level, Jimmy was a dear, dear friend. He was the premier practical joker of all time.

He used to take me to Knick games at MSG, but he never would give me the tickets. One time he went for popcorn and the usher came over to my seat asking for my stub. I told him my friend had the tickets and he would be back. Just as the usher was about to kick me out, Jimmy appeared laughing his head off.

I can’t tell you how many times he used to steal the wallet from my desk. He never stopped having fun.

When he died that summer, I spoke at his the ceremony before his funeral. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. There was only one Plum, and as I said before he was the real Mr. Met.