Hobie Landrith, the First New York Met, Dies at 93

Landrith was an outstanding catcher at Northwestern High School in Detroit and with Michigan State. The Cincinnati Reds’ organization signed him out of college before the 1949 season. He played for the Reds from 1950 to 1955 and then had stints with the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals and the Giants before joining the Mets.

After leaving baseball, he was a public relations executive with Volkswagen for many years.

Landrith is survived by his wife, Peggy; their sons David, Gary, and Randy; their daughters Carol Landrith, Beth Smith and Linda Warner; his brother Dale; 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Although Casey Stengel, 71 when the Mets played their first game, was reputed to have fallen asleep in the Mets’ dugout at times, Landrith recalled how “Casey had an immense knowledge of baseball.”

In a 2003 interview with the Society for American Baseball Research, Landrith remembered how Stengel greeted the 1962 Mets players on the first day of spring training with “one pant leg up, one down, his shirttail hanging out and his hat cocked.”

“He looked like a character out of Norman Rockwell,” Landrith said.

He noted that Stengel led the players on a tour of the bases, tutoring them on what they should be alert for at each stop if various situations arose and finally asking, “What do you do when you get to third base?”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/sports/baseball/hobie-landrith-dead.html