is it true that Wally Backman hired as manager of Brooklyn Cyclones (AP)?
NEW YORK (AP)—Wally Backman was hired Monday as manager of the New York Mets’ Brooklyn Cyclones farm team in the New York-Penn League. A member of the Mets’ 1986 World Series championship team, Backman was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in November 2004. He was fired four days later after The New York Times reported he had been arrested twice and had financial problems. “I am thrilled and grateful to be coming back to the Mets’ organization,” he said in a statement. “Brooklyn is a major minor league team, and I know the borough’s fans are—like me—intensely passionate about baseball and about winning.” Backman, who spent nine of 14 major league seasons with the Mets, managed the South Georgia Peanuts of the independent South Coast League in 2007. But he resigned that August following run-ins with umpires and a press box argument with another team’s radio announcer. There was also a forfeited game when his team refused to return to the field after a brawl with rival Macon. He t
CONEY ISLAND (AP) — Wally Backman, a member of the World Champion 1986 Mets team, was named yesterday as manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Unofficial reports had circulated earlier that Backman would be named as a manager within the Mets’ minor-league organization, but it was thought that he would be named to the double-A Binghamton farm team. Several other members of the ’86 Mets previously managed the single-A Cyclones, including Howard Johnson, Tim Teufel and, most recently, Mookie Wilson. Backman was a second baseman for the Mets between 1980 and 1988, then played for several other teams. During the 1986 World Series, he batted .333 against the Boston Red Sox. Backman was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in November 2004. However, he was fired four days later after the New York Times reported he had been arrested twice and had financial problems. He managed the South Georgia Peanuts of the independent South Coast League in 2007, then managed the Joliet Jackhammers of the No
