Doc Gooden, Willie Randolph, Mookie Wilson all appear at Hempstead High School pep rally
Hempstead students get into the spirit Friday at a pep rally led by Big Apple baseball legends Doc Gooden, Mookie Wilson and Willie Randolph. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Three New York City baseball legends, whose former teams were battling to make it to the World Series, appeared at a Hempstead High School pep rally Friday, ahead of the school's homecoming football game.
“We have Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden, Willie Randolph and Mookie Wilson!” Victor Pratt, Hempstead’s school board president, announced to the student body from the 50-yard line of the school football field.
The crowd, which appeared to number close to the school’s roughly 1,800-student enrollment, responded mildly. Their parents might have watched the 1986 Mets in Game 6 at Shea, one out from defeat, stage a four-run rally to beat the Red Sox 6-5 after Wilson’s grounder slipped under Bill Buckner’s glove, then rally again in Game 7 to take the World Series; they did not.
Pratt, who wore a Mets cap and said he’d grown up watching the team with his dad, told the students there was a lesson in that ’86 run, which occurred when he was a Hempstead High freshman. “No matter what happens before, you should always prepare for later,” he said. “The Mets are a testament to that. … They were nicknamed the Amazing Mets for a reason.”
From left, the Hempstead tiger mascot is joined by Willie Randolph, Doc Gooden and Mookie Wilson at Hempstead High School. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Gooden, the former Mets ace, said in an interview that this was not his first visit to Hempstead High School. “Many years ago I came to this school for a program that the baseball team had, so it was good for me to come [again] and give my support. I’m retired now. I’m going to try to do whatever I can to support the community, especially kids.”
The current Mets were on the cliff's edge of elimination Friday against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Gooden's advice for them: “Take it an inning at a time and make [Dodgers star Shohei] Ohtani uncomfortable, make him move his feet. Not hit him or hurt him, but take some innings, tie him up and make him uncomfortable, change his eye level” on pitches.
Randolph, a former Mets manager, played second base for the Yankees, who are taking on the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series.
The three baseball greats waved regally and chatted with a couple of Hempstead athletes. Doc high-fived the Hempstead tiger mascot.
Doc Gooden, center, and Mookie Wilson, second from right, meet student athlete Nasir Motley, 18, right. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
As the event wound down, Frariel Rosario, 15, a sophomore first baseman and outfielder who shook hands and chatted with the three, said he’d recognized them from video clips. “I really like watching the Mets and I enjoy watching baseball in general” to “learn what I can do and apply it in a game.”
Nasir Motley, 18, a senior catcher and center on the football team, said he’d talked with the three about how pitching had evolved over the years. He, too, knew the three through video highlights. “My Dad talked to me about them, how they were Mets legends,” he said.
Neither Tiger was going to the Mets game Friday night, though Rosario said he would watch it on television. He had baseball practice with his club team, and besides, “I never have money to go to games,” he said.
Motley had football practice, the last before Saturday's homecoming game against Syosset. His Hempstead Tigers, like the Mets, were up against a wall, he said.
“If we beat Syosset, Plainview and Hicksville, we’ll be able to make the playoffs,” he said. “If we lose tomorrow ... we’ll need a couple of teams to help us.”
