OPINION: Bring back Wally!: Time is now for Mets to give Backman his shot
Former Brooklyn Cyclones manager Wally Backman has certainly paid his penance over the past eight years. And now it’s time to pay him back.
You may recall that the sparkplug second baseman of the Mets’ 1986 World Series championship team climbed the Minor League ranks en route to his first shot as a big league skipper in 2004, when the Arizona Diamondbacks hired him to guide their franchise after he had led their Class A Advanced affiliate in Lancaster, Calif., to an 86-54 record, earning Backman “The Sporting News” Minor League Manager of the Year Award.
All but four days later, Backman stepped down from the job in shame as media reports began circulating that the Mets’ former No. 1 pick in the 1977 MLB Draft had not reported some serious legal and financial indiscretions to his new employers.