A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from July 10, 2016
“He’s 20. In 10 years, he’ll have a chance to be 30” (a bad young player)

Casey Stengel (1945-2011) was departing as baseball manager of the New York Mets, and spoke in April 1966 of a young player he liked (first baseman Ed Kranepool) and one he didn’t like (catcher Greg Goossen):
   
“But now, we’ve got more guys who can play 10 years in the big league. Kranepool will be a 12-year man when he’s 30. And (Greg—ed.) Goossen is only 20, and in 10 years has a chance to be 30.”
 
Kranepool played in the league from 1962 to 1979, but Goossen played only from 1965 to 1970. Stengel’s remark is often recalled when talking about a young player without promise.
 
   
Wikipedia: Casey Stengel
Charles Dillon “Casey” Stengel (/ˈstɛŋɡəl/; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975), nicknamed “The Old Perfessor”, was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
(...)
Referring to the rookies Ed Kranepool and Greg Goossen in 1965, Stengel observed, “See that fellow over there? He’s 20 years old. In 10 years he has a chance to be a star. Now, that fellow over there, he’s 20, too. In 10 years he has a chance to be 30.” Kranepool never quite became a star, but he did have an 18-year major league career, retiring in 1979 after playing his entire career with the Mets and becoming their all-time hits leader, before it was broken by David Wright in 2012. Goossen left the majors 5 years before his 30th birthday.
 
Wikipedia: Greg Goossen
Gregory Bryant Goossen (December 14, 1945 – February 26, 2011) was an American catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball, playing from 1965 through 1970 for four different clubs in the American and National leagues. Listed at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 210 lb, he batted and threw right-handed. He is the brother of Goossen-Tutor founders Dan and Joe Goossen.
 
5 April 1966, New York (NY) Times, “Stengel Bids Farewell to Mets And Says They’ve ‘Done Good’: Westrum, Swoboda, Lewis, Goosen and Hunt Draw Ex-Manager’s Praise” by Joseph Durso, pg. 32, col. 7:
“But now, we’ve got more guys who can play 10 years in the big league. Kranepool will be a 12-year man when he’s 30. And (Greg—ed.) Goossen is only 20, and in 10 years has a chance to be 30.”
(Spoken by New York Mets departing manager Casey Stengel.—ed.)
 
19 October 1973, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON), “By Dick Beddoes,” pg. 32, col. 1:
He did banish a tangle-footed 20-year-old Met prospect named Greg Gossen, with a blunt flourish.
 
“In 10 year,” Stengel said, “Gossen has a chance to be 30.”
 
Google Books
Baseball…a Laughing Matter!
By Warner Fusselle with Rick Wolff and Brian Zevnik
St. Louis, MO: Sporting News Publishing Company
1987
Pg. 204:
Casey Stengel, manager, Mets (about two of his younger players):
“In 10 years, Ed Kranepool has a chance to be a star. In 10 years, Greg Goossen has a chance to be 30.”
 
Google Books
Kiner’s Korner: a
A bat and on the air—my 40 years in baseball

By Ralph Kiner with Joe Gergen
New York, NY: Arbor House
1987
Pg. 91:
It was Casey Stengel who had made the hard evaluation of Goossen’s talents. “He’s 20 years old,” Casey once said in describing the catcher, “and in 10 years, he’s got a chance to be 30.”
 
Twitter
Dan Jenkins
‏@danjenkinsgd
Spieth today reminds me of Casey Stengel talking about Greg Goossen: “Goossen is only 20, and in 10 years he has a chance to be 30.”
5:25 PM - 13 Apr 2014

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CitySports/Games • Sunday, July 10, 2016 • Permalink


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