Happy 50th Birthday, Jamie Moyer!

At Studious Metsimus, we tend to make fun of Jamie Moyer.  We've written posts about him such as "Senior Citizens Appreciation Day" and "Rip Van Winkle Not Coming Back To The Phillies".  Our fav'rit AARP member has been attacked because of his age quite a bit on this site, but today we'd like to be serious for a change and wish him a happy birthday.

You see, Jamie Moyer was born on November 18, 1962, meaning that today he is celebrating his 50th birthday.

Most middle-aged men spend their time watching reruns of Matlock.  Jamie Moyer spends his time trying to hook up with a major league team.  That has to commended.  He also runs wild while raising the 12th Man flag for this blogger's fav'rit football team in the Pacific Northwest.  Pretty cool for a non-Matlock watcher.

So even though it would be easy to make fun of a man who was the elder statesman of a team Mets fans love to hate (the Phillies when they were actually good a few years ago), today is the day to celebrate him on his birthday.

From this Mets fan, I'd like to wish Jamie Moyer a happy 50th birthday.  I just hope he remembers to put his dentures in before he eats his cake.

Gettin' Iggy With It: The Iggy Beartran Experience

Hi!  This is Iggy Beartran.  You may know me as the younger sister of Joey Beartran, who recently wrote a recap of our tours of Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field in Seattle.  (If you didn’t read it yet, shame on you!  You’re either way behind in your Studious Metsimus reading or you’re a relative of the Safeco Field tour guide that Joey trashed because of her inability to share accurate Seattle Mariner facts.)   In today’s edition of Gettin’ Iggy With It, I’d like to share my thoughts on the Seattle trip.  In particular, I’d like to discuss why I couldn’t help but think of the Mets and a certain other “fishy” division rival while I was touring the stadiums and the city in which they were located.

As far as the tours went, I actually didn’t have a problem with the Safeco Field tour.  I’m not into the history of the Seattle Mariners so I didn’t mind the mistakes made by our tour guide.  The Safeco Field tour reminded me of the Mets tour at Citi Field, where I spent an hour visiting things I didn’t care about (suites I can’t afford to sit in, the press box I’ll never write stories from because bloggers such as myself don’t get the love we deserve, etc.) and a minute or two on the field.  As with the tour at Citi Field, I was told that security wouldn’t be very pleased with me if I touched the grass because apparently, billionaire owners can’t spend a few bucks on replacing a blade of grass that might have been damaged by my eight-ounce furry body.  Then again, what would you expect from the Mariners and the Mets?  They need to spend their money on better things, like Oliver Perez.

The CenturyLink Field tour guide actually allowed us to stand on the turf, albeit just one corner of it, but at least she had a good reason not to let us frolic on the field.  The Washington Huskies were going to play a game on that same field just four hours after we placed our paws on it, so they couldn’t let us claim it for ourselves.  No worries.  We found other places to frolic!

The city itself was lots of fun!  We went to many places in Seattle, such as the Public Market (where guys throw expensive fish around like the Marlins toss around their high-priced players –  I mean, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson to Toronto?  Great googly moogly!) and the iconic Space Needle, which looks quite a bit like the big syringe Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria must be using on himself before making these head-scratching trades.

The food in Seattle was even better than the food at Citi Field.  I never got to try the Ichi-roll (apparently, the Mariners don’t open their food courts during the off-season – bad business move in my opinion), but in downtown Seattle, I had the tastiest New England Clam Chowder ever made!!  Unfortunately, I ate it so fast that I don’t have photographic proof of this tasty meal so all I can give you is this photo from my breakfast trip to Denny’s.

So to recap this … uh … recap, I had great food in places other than Denny’s, the Marlins are selling off their players faster than you can say “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire”, CenturyLink Field is pretty cool and bear-friendly, and Safeco Field wasn’t as bad as my brother described it, even if the team that plays there gladly employs Oliver Perez.  At least they’re not proud of the fact that they once had Rip Van Winkle himself on the team.  Oh wait, never mind.

That’s all for now, Mets fans.  I hope you enjoyed this edition of Gettin’ Iggy With It.  Till next time, keep your feet on the bases and keep an eye out for flying fish.  After all, you don’t want to get hit by a former Miami Marlin.

Senior Citizen Appreciation Day (Starring Jamie Moyer)

Today, the Mets will close out their three-game series with the Colorado Rockies.  Johan Santana will take the mound trying to secure his first win of the season and hoping the Mets will finally score a run for him, as he has become the first Mets pitcher to receive a big fat zero in the run support department over his first four starts since Kaz Ishii in 2005.

Opposing Santana will be Jamie Moyer, the soon-to-be AARP member who is making a comeback with the Rockies after not having pitched in the major leagues since July 20, 2010 prior to this season.  Moyer was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1984 and made his major league debut on June 16, 1986, or a time when the Mets still had only won one World Series championship.

So would you like to know more interesting things about Jamie Moyer, considering he's older than history itself?  Here goes.

No, that's not Jamie Moyer in the photo above.  We would never stoop so low to make that claim at his expense.  That's actually his son, Jimmy Moyer, on the day his father signed his first pro contract.

Jamie Moyer won his major league debut for the Chicago Cubs on June 16, 1986, defeating the Phillies, 7-5.  Who took the loss in that game?  None other than Steve Carlton, a pitcher who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994 - 18 years ago!

The first time he faced the Mets, on July 29, 1986, Jamie Moyer got the win in a 2-1 Cubs victory.  The only run scored by the Mets was driven in by George Foster.  It was Foster's last RBI as a Met.  A week later, Moyer faced the Mets again and got a no-decision in the Cubs' 8-5 victory, a game won on pinch-hitter Jerry Mumphrey's three-run homer.  (Mumphrey has been out of baseball for 24 years now.)  That loss would become Foster's last start as a Met.

Jamie Moyer has started 27 games against the Mets over his never-ending career, going 10-6 with a 3.94 ERA.  The only National League team he has defeated more is the Florida/Miami Marlins, with 13 wins against them.  The Marlins did not exist until Moyer's eighth season in the major leagues.  By the time the Florida Marlins played their first game in 1993, Moyer had already pitched in 141 games (111 starts) for three teams (Cubs, Rangers, Cardinals) and had compiled a 34-54 won-loss record.

In 2007, when Tom Glavine was finished not being devastated over his one-third of an inning performance against the Florida Marlins in the Mets' season finale, it was Jamie Moyer who pitched the Phillies to victory and their first of five consecutive division titles.  Moyer got the win against the Washington Nationals in Game No. 162, allowing an unearned run in 5⅓ innings of work.

Seven players currently on the Mets' 25-man roster had not been born when Jamie Moyer made his major league debut.  By the time the youngest Met on the roster, Ruben Tejada, was born, Moyer had already won 32 games in the major leagues.  He had already surpassed 150 wins before Tejada's 12th birthday.  Today, Tejada will bat second, trying to prevent Moyer from getting his 269th career victory.

We've poked fun at Jamie Moyer on this site may times in the past, but we can't help but respect his drive and commitment to the game.  We'd say "break a leg" to wish him luck in today's start against the Mets, but at his age, he might take it literally.

Good luck to Jamie Moyer for the rest of career, however long it may last.  We now leave you with a video of Moyer, a die-hard Seattle Seahawks fan (as is yours truly), raising the 12th man flag at a recent Seahawks playoff game.  You can watch the video by clicking here. 

Should the Rockies' get 12th man insurance for their starting pitcher?

Rip Van Winkle Not Coming Back To The Phillies

According to several published reports, including this one, 85-year-old Jamie Moyer will not be returning to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011. Despite the news, the octogenarian will not be retiring from baseball even though he is already collecting money from Social Security.

In what some might consider a surprise, Moyer will be pitching in the Dominican League this winter, as he attempts to come back from shoulder surgery that ended his final season with the Phillies in July.

Although pitching in winter ball might be a good way to attract attention from scouts in an attempt to continue his quest for 300 wins (Moyer has 267), there may be another reason for his choice of country to showcase himself.

Is it possible that Moyer is going to the Dominican Republic to obtain a falsified birth certificate? Adrian Beltre did it. So did Miguel Tejada and former Little League "legend" Danny Almonte.

If Moyer can convince scouts that the reason he's been able to pitch effectively for so long is because he's really 37 and not 47, he'll stand a better chance to be signed and continue to approach 300 wins. Of course, since he made his major league debut in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs, he'd have to explain how a 14-year-old was able to get a job in the big leagues.

That's simple enough. All he'd have to do is say that he used to be known as Henry Rowengartner before legally changing his name to Jamie Moyer when he turned 21. Here's a photo of Jamie Moyer when he was known as Henry Rowengartner as a Cubs rookie.

Assuming Jamie Moyer remembers to wear his adult diaper under his jock strap, perhaps he can make a successful return to the major leagues. Teams are always on the lookout for southpaws to stymie left-handed hitters.

However, if Jamie Moyer fails to hook up with another team, he might still be able to have a job in baseball. The Florida Senior Leagues are always looking for a few good men.