Beltran And Francoeur To Receive Awards

The Mets might not have been inspirational on the field in 2009, but off the field, they remain inspirational to many of their fans. According to Marty Noble, two-thirds of the Mets' outfield will be honored with well-deserved awards in January at a dinner held by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Carlos Beltran will receive the Joan Payson Award for his community service. His philanthropical efforts, which include his contributions to the Harlem RBI Foundation and his own Carlos Beltran Foundation will be rewarded with this prestigious award, which was named after the Mets' first owner.


Jeff Francoeur will be presented with the Ben Epstein-Dan Castellano Good Guy Award at the Dinner. The award, which is named after two former sportswriters for the Yankees and Mets, respectively, is given to the player who's...well...a good guy. Or in this case, it goes to the best good guy of all the good guys who are qualified to be the best at being good. Is that good enough?

Members of the Yankees will also be presented with three awards at the Dinner, but that's not important right now. They've gotten enough attention recently. We wouldn't want all that attention to go to their overpaid heads, would we?

Congratulations to Carlos Beltran and Jeff Francoeur for their great play on and off the field. Enjoy your awards. They are well-deserved. Hopefully next year, you can both share one, perhaps in the shape of a World Series trophy!