Casey Stengel

At the end of the 1960 season, Casey Stengel was fired. He has been famously quoted as saying that he would never make the mistake of being too old again.
That being said, Jack McKeon's 16th major league managing season begins now. He's played with Kansas City, Oakland, Florida, Cincinnati, and San Diego. Now, he's back with Florida. Since May 27th, the Marlins have won 3 times. Since June 10th, they haven't won. Theoretically, there's no Josh Johnson, but they weren't really winning for him. There's Anibal Sanchez, but they can't win for him either. The other teams wait until he leaves, and then they pound on the relievers.
And with signing an 80-year old man to the helm (shouldn't we be worried about Florida managers in the same way we were worried about John McCain keeling over and dying if he was president?), there's nothing to lose. Florida is bad. Not Houston bad... YET, but it's going to happen. Florida sucks. The offense is anemic. The bullpen is "nicht so gut." The pitching staff is pretty much non-existent.
Mike Stanton hits home runs, but... Mike Stanton strikes out at least 1 time per game (almost once every 3 at bats).
Gaby Sanchez is .304 with 12 home runs, but what does it matter if it's for a losing cause?
Anibal Sanchez has an ERA under 3.00, but as I said, if he can't pitch complete games and get 3 runs from his team, what good does it do.
So that said, if Jack McKeon is the new Casey Stengel, who is Marv Throneberry? Who is Choo Choo Coleman? Sure, there's Don Zimmer and Richie Ashburn (that said, Ashburn hit .306, but don Zimmer made Dan Uggla seem like Rogers Hornsby with a .077 average), but this was 1962. They weren't exactly who we remember them to be today. That's why they were 40-120-1.
And it's highly probable that the Marlins will win 8 more games and best the 1962 Mets, but are they really that much better (especially in light of hospitalization)?
So if they want to give the reins to McKeon... good luck and enjoy the ride.

Choo Choo Coleman

The Mets really sucked when they first started out.
This isn't being mean. This is a fact.
If Marvelous Marv Throneberry was the symbol of futility, then Choo Choo Coleman was the symbol or purely terrible.
In 1963, he batted 178 in 277 at bats. He did hit 3 home runs, but he did little else. This was pretty much his track record with the Phillies before the the Mets picked him up, and then despite a spike in limited at bats in 1962, he went back to "nicht so gut," and well, that was it.
Throneberry wasn't much better. He hit .244 in his first Mets season and in the space of 2 hits and 1 RBI in 14 at bats, the Mets and the major leagues had seen enough of Marv, and he went on his way.
Ken Burns summed up Marv by saying that nothing he did was marvelous.
That said, we can't all be Pete Rose and Ted Williams at the plate, but we should be able to touch first and second when we actually hit a triple.
In the beginning, there was Casey Stengel to lead the team, and while that might have been for familiarity for New Yorkers who loved him as a Yankee, he really was "too old" and it just didn't play out well.
Nevertheless, there was the Miracle Mets with Seaver and Ryan and Koosman. There was the 86 Mets that benefited more from Roger Clemens, cocaine, and Dan Shaughnessey, and there was a few other good teams along the way, but the Mets of today... "nicht so gut."
It's not the fact that they're also rans since the days of 2006 and Endy Chavez saving the day only to pull defeat out in a game that they seemed fated to win. And that was it.
High priced free agents named Carlos (Beltran and Delgado) who don't do anything well (including staying healthy).
David Wright can't save the day with all those strikeouts.
Pitchers who can't stay healthy.
Jose Reyes who is REALLY over-rated.
Yeah... that's the Mets.
Lastings Milledge who didn't know his place.
And then there's this year...
Charlie Samuels being watched like a hawk eyes a mouse because he just might have profited too much on memorabilia sales.
Francisco Rodriguez and his desire and actions to smack the tar out of his main squeeze's dad.
Oliver Perez no longer a consideration for the starting rotation.
CITI Field not bringing cash in that was hoped for (guess, they should have stayed at Shea).
Bernie Madoff's victims and their lawsuit to get their $1BILLION worth of money back (can't fault them for that).
Fans that don't want to see games even with cut ticket prices (down 20% from $500 in some cases).
A $25 MILLION loan from MLB to keep the team up and running (time to cut out some unprofitable teams, eh?!!).
And perhaps New York needs 2 teams.
Perhaps there is hope in Manhattan yet.
Maybe we can return to the glory days when men on the moon coincided with great teams with dominant pitching.
Just not this year.