The catcher spent spent years in Major League Baseball hitting .233 with 34 homers and 203 RBIs.
Landrith was the first player chosen by the Mets in the 1961 expansion draft and the starting catcher in their first game. He spent 14 years in the majors, hitting .233 with 34 homers and 203 RBIs.
Within minutes, though, Landrith was laughing and telling stories and showing off the rocking chair he was given by the Mets at the 1972 Old Timers’ Day. Landrith is old school. He is going to tell it like it is, then let it go. “Why did you do that?” Landrith asked, but Mays just laughed and sat down at his stall. He kept cackling. Landrith grabbed a bat by the barrel, sneaked up on Mays and whacked him — hard — on the shin. Mays let out a howl.Now, how many career .233 hitters would have done that?
Mays never had a chance. After his career, Landrith spent 30 years working for Volkswagen, most of that time as an ombudsman between the parent corporation and the dealers. He was a born negotiator. But that didn’t help him with the Mets. When he was selected No. 1 — manager Casey Stengel had told reporters “without a catcher, you’re going to have a lot of passed balls — he had to leave his wife and six kids in San Francisco and relocate.
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