More dirt from the increasingly fascinating case of Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels. The Daily News reports that Samuels was essentially a clubhouse mole for the Wilpons for years, with both Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel believing that he was reporting on them — and passing along players’ gripes — to the front office. He was able to do this, they report, because he became closely involved with certain players, who came to rely on him for housing and the handling of all manner of personal matters. The best quote in the article reflects this:
“One thing you have to realize is no matter how much money you have or how big of a star you are, you need help to manage your life if you are a player,” one source says. “These guys wake up at 11, spend some time with their family, and then they are off to the park. They can’t take batting practice and say, ‘Skip, I gotta run some errands, I’ll be back in an hour.’ The smart ones hire a personal assistant who does this stuff for them. The dumb ones rely on equipment guys. The equipment guys get deeply involved in their lives.”
And Samuels, it seems, got deeper than most. Really, even if the guy wasn’t accused of stealing from the team and being involved in illegal gambling, this is a guy who would have needed to be canned anyway for the sake of an organization ruled by sanity as opposed to palace intrigue.
There’s also some fun stuff in there about how Samuels’ alleged pilfering of game-used equipment to sell on the memorabilia market had a severely depressing effect on that market. I used to represent some clients in that world. They’re a fun, colorful, and on occasion, scary bunch. I can just imagine what they’re saying about Samuels.