Remembering Jimmy Plummer

By Jay Horwitz

It couldn’t be more apropos that Jimmy Plummer was born on Christmas Day. No one deserved to get more than one present in a day than the great “Plum.”

Jimmy died 12 years ago at the all too age of 57. It still saddens me that he never was able to make it to Citi Field but we have a place here for him called “The Plum Room.”

For more than three decades, he was the heart and soul of the Mets organization. He was a teenage minor league GM, director of promotions, leader in the community relations department and was also charged with the duty of finding housing for newly acquired players.

Plum had a heart as big as Shea Stadium. All the players loved him. He was buddies with Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter, John Franco and David Wright.

He was also the greatest practical joker of all time. He often played the same joke on me 10 times a year. If you tried to joke him back that only made it worse.

So for me Christmas time is always Plum time, too. I kind of half expect him to come riding down for the North Pole on his sled with reindeer handing out presents to kids. He was one of a kind.