Bob Klapisch reports today that the Mets are interviewing Wally Backman a second time for their open managerial post.
Let me be the 100,542nd person to endorse him.
Backman is exactly what the Mets need. He doesn’t take shit. He’s hard-nosed and gritty and a big piece of the franchise’s history. He’s insanely hungry. Most important, he’ll manage the sort of team that Citi Field requires. Throughout his minor league managerial career, Backman’s specialty has been run generation. He doesn’t field teams that wait for home runs. He steals, he hits and runs, he bunts, he demands hard slides and balls-out intensity. For years, the Mets have been extremely dull. Backman is anything but. Really, he’s the ideal candidate. No question.
Sandy Alderson, the new general manager, has some other candidates. They’re mostly retreads like Bob Melvin and Terry Collins and Clint Hurdle and Don Wakamatsu. Ken Oberkfell, a manager in the Mets’ system, is also on the table. Of those men, I’d have to go with Oberkfell first, Hurdle second—then no one. The last thing this organization needs is convention.
Backman in 2011. Seriously.
