After years of waiting to fill the position, the Mets finally have a president of baseball operations. Team owner Steve Cohen recently hired David Stearns to take the reigns of the Amazins in the front office.
Stearns’ contract is rumored to be five years long and will pay him $10 million annually. That’s a huge chunk of change, and the former Milwaukee Brewers general manager is coming in with very specific tasks: win a World Series while building a consistent contender.
The best part, though? This is an opportunity Stearns has been dreaming about since he was a kid. He’s a New York City native and literally grew up a Mets fan. So now, this fan base has a lifelong fan as its owner and someone else who once dreamed of landing the exact job he’s about to start.
That’s pretty cool. What’s interesting to me is how relatable some of the things are that these guys say. Case in point, check out this clip Jomboy’s Jolly Olive uncovered of Stearns making an appearance in the TV booth during a Brewers game:
David Stearns talks about meeting Mike Piazza as a kid and growing up as a Mets fan in the late 90's pic.twitter.com/vbxs7PUMtB
— jack (@Jolly_Olive) September 18, 2023
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We don’t have an exact date of when this interview happened. However, Chris Carter was at the dish, and he only played for the Brewers in 2016. So, there’s that.
I was also a ’90s kid who grew up following the Mets. What Stearns said couldn’t have been more accurate.
If I met Mike Piazza outside Shea Stadium as a kid, I also would’ve been so starstruck that words and complete sentences might’ve failed me. Stearns also described the plight of being a Mets fan during this period perfectly.
I grew up in Orange County, New York, and was in eighth grade during the 2000 Subway Series. I could count fellow Mets fans in my entire grade on one hand. And, I probably had a couple of fingers left to spare. Heading to school after the Yankees beat the Mets in five games was not an enjoyable experience.
But seriously, in a day and age where it can be just about impossible to relate to pro athletes and front-office executives, it’s incredibly easy for millennial Mets fans to relate to Stearns. He’s quite literally one of us. And now, he has the power to end the near-constant pain of losing baseball in Queens.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
