The Star-Ledger has an interesting story on my cousin (not sure how many times removed) Hobie Landrith – the very first Met:
The handshake grip was meaty enough, but Hobie Landrith wanted to make sure he delivered the message as he greeted us on his doorstep at 3:42 p.m. The sturdy 76-year-old looked me in the eye.
"You're late. You said 3 o'clock."
"Sorry, but we ran into some problems with my laptop, and…"
"You're late."
"Sorry, Hobie. Like I said, we had some trouble…"
"You could have called."
He turned and headed for the family room, expecting us to follow. Still on the doorstep, photographer John Munson shot me one of those I-just-remembered-I-have-a-molar-extraction-appointment-so-I'm-out-of-here look. This was not going to be pleasant. Hobie Landrith, the original Met, is a hard(butt).
But, even though we had driven five hours, we weren't going to take it personally. After all, this guy was the first Met, selected in the expansion draft in 1961. In the team's Book of Genesis, he is Adam. So, he has heard the jokes, and maybe he was dreading the interview. Plus, if you spent 14 years of your life squatting and it led to an artificial knee and hip, you might be a bit ornery, too.
Read the rest here:
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1160544783143700.xml&coll=1