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Looking Back: Gene Shalit gets cheeky with the New York Mets. (March 8, 1986)

 
Gene Shalit is all smiles as he gets a behind the scenes look at  the New York Met locker room at Huggins-Stengel Field.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro
Gene Shalit is all smiles as he gets a behind the scenes look at the New York Met locker room at Huggins-Stengel Field. TIMES | Ricardo Ferro
Published May 25, 2017

This story appeared in the pages of the St. Petersburg Times on March 8, 1986. What follows is the text of the original story, interspersed with photos of the event taken by Times staff photographer Ricardo Ferro.

That 'Met' behind the mustache is Gene Shalit

By Cynthia Mayer

Times staff writer

There was definitely something odd about No. 11 at the Mets' spring training.

He had a giant mustache and glasses, seemed to be blinking and was wearing his stirrups dangling outside his shoes. He had on two watches – "one for a second opinion," he explained – and kept motioning a TV camera to follow him.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

Gene Shalit talks to (l to r) John Gibbons, Gary Carter and Howard Johnson in the Met locker room at Huggins-Stengel Field.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

Gene Shalit talks to (l to r) John Gibbons, Gary Carter and Howard Johnson in the Met locker room at Huggins-Stengel Field.

Also, he dropped the ball a lot.

Under the blue and orange cap, it was Gene Shalit of NBC's Today Show, pretending to be a ballplayer. A lifelong fan of the New York Mets, Shalit, along with his TV crew, was in St. Petersburg on Friday filming the team's spring training at Huggins-Stengel Field near Crescent Lake Park.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

The segments are on a fan's perspective of spring training, and will be broadcast next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"That we got to do the Mets at all is almost a heresy for the Today Show," said segment producer Bob Brienza. "Almost all the producers are from Chicago and are incredible Cubs fans."

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

That Shalit was doing it was another oddity. The critic (who won't say how old he is) usually stays in New York and has never covered sports. But this week Shalit, who doesn't like to fly, took Amtrak's Silver Star south. And on Friday, in the warm light of a perfect spring day, he put on a uniform, borrowed Mookie Wilson's glove and strolled out to the field with the other players.

Then he became Gene Shalit, TV personality.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

He trailed behind the players, asking questions about their mustaches, eating preferences, and how to throw a screwball. He put a bow tie on outfielder Darryl Strawberry while Strawberry was in his long underwear.

Out on the field, he jogged stiffly behind the players, taking time out every now and then to mug at the camera. "Does anyone know CPR?" he asked his crew after a wind sprint.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

In the locker room, he watched first baseman Keith Hernandez hunched over a crossword puzzle. "How do you spell lingerie?" asked Hernandez.

"Don't give us that crap – don't pretend innocence," snapped Shalit.

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"Why don't you tuck your mustache in," suggested left fielder George Foster.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

In all, Shalit stayed more than four hours. The players and coaches more than put up with it – they seemed to like it. "He asks weird questions and that's good," said pitching coach John Cumberland. "He's funny. He makes you feel loosey and goosey."

Shalit, for his part, was ecstatic.

"This is like a kid falling into a tub of whipped cream," he said. "When you walk into that locker room and see those names..."

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

Only the fans seemed confused. They couldn't figure out who he was.

"He's a sports announcer," said one.

"That's Joel Siegel," said another, referring to the ABC critic.

A third even mistook Shalit, who is 30 pounds lighter than he was last year, for Tim Teufel, the second baseman who usually wears No. 11. But the illusion came to a crashing halt after Shalit signed the man's baseball. Frank Bohun looked at the signature, looked at Shalit, and scowled. "He screwed up the baseball," he said.

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

TIMES | Ricardo Ferro

To order reprints, license or download any Times image from this gallery, or to see other Gene Shalit photos, please visit the Times image archive.

Jeremy King

Twitter: @TBTimesArchive

e-mail: jking@tampabay.com