A few years before he died, in 2015, he signed an autograph for me through the mail in just 23 days.

He hit two dingers with the Mets in his sole year with the club, 1991, both off of pitchers named Roger. The first was off former Mets hurler Roger McDowell (who at that point was a Phillie) and the other was off of the Pirates' Roger Mason.

Cerone was a really solid here-then-gone one-year guy, as he hit .273 with a .360 OBP in 227 ABs with NY. He began his Mets career with a ten-game hitting streak and carried a .378 average through his first 37 ABs (and a .300 or better average through his first 56). The lowest his average got was .250 and from that nadir forward, he batted .288. They let him go following that one campaign, only to replace him with the illustrious Charlie O'Brien and Mackey Sasser.

Shoulda given him another year.

He's also signed two autographs for me through the mail, the first in 2021 and the second in 2022.

I was looking at his batting logs with NY and he actually had a pretty hot stretch at one point. From May 30 to September 13, he hit .300 over 32 games, and in a strange statistical twist, he hit two triples and just one double in that span.

It's intriguing that in 67 games and 80 at-bats with the club, he managed just 4 RBI total.

Also, in 2015, he signed an autograph for me in 10 days through his home address.

RIP.

So I wasn't hopeful.

But, he was good enough for me! And I actually LOVED the glove tossing incident. It showed actual fire, actual passion. It encapsulated just how frustrating the whole team had been up to that point.

Was that one of the moments that helped the Mets turn the corner? Maybe. After that game, they went 67-40. Before the game, they were 22-33.

And after he leaves the Mets, he posts a 2.03 ERA the rest of the way. It's not like we haven't seen that play out a million times before.

Also, I've written him two autograph requests in my day, with no success.

In three years with the Mets, he hit .315/.425/.501, while averaging 36 doubles, 21 homers, 96 runs, 97 RBI, 102 walks and just 69 Ks per year.

And of course, how can you forget the helmet he wore on the field?

Not sure if I agree with it, but some say he should be in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. In the Mets Hall of Fame project I ran on another website, he was elected with 75% of the vote on his first try.

He's always been a good signer through the mail, as well, signing two autographs for me in recent years.

In 2003, he founded The Jordan Fund, an organization that helps special needs children. It was named after his daughter Jordan, who unfortunately died in 2020.

Well, Cowgill had a name doppelganger, too, and I sometimes got them confused. There was our man Collin Cowgill and in the minors at about the same time there was a guy named Collin CARGILL. Both surnames rank super low in popularity in the USA (think ~11,000th for the former and ~7,000th for the latter), yet they both played at the same time. What are the odds?

Also, less interestingly, Cowgill didn't sign the autograph request I sent him in 2015.

Despite our gripes about him, however, he did make the Hall of Fame ballot in 2021, though he didn't get any votes.

Also, I've sent him a couple autograph requests in my day. He didn't sign the first time, but he did the second time, in 2020.

I primarily recall that time he was playing in indy ball and attacked the pitcher with his bat after being hit by a pitch.

He is currently the manager of the Conspiradores de Querétaro in Mexico.

His daughter later became famous as a professional wrestler.

Also, I've sent him six autograph requests in my day, with no luck.

I fell in love with Byrd in the early part of the 2013 season. I was a six year old I wanted to see some serious power and as lucky I was to see the latter half of David Wright's prime with him hitting many memorable homers, his power numbers fell after 2005-2011ish. This was before I really started watching every game late in the 2012 season. At the beginning of 2013 Byrd was the first true slugger I watched on the Mets every single day. I saw Marlon club numerous clutch home runs both on TV and at a number of games I went to.

I still very clearly remember where I was when I heard the news he was traded to Pittsburgh (Weird to think of them as a playoff team) I was in my grandparents basement in Brampton, Ontario. My dad calmed me down after I was done crying saying how the Mets got a future star in Dilson Herrera whom I thought was the real deal his entire time with the org because we gave up such a good player in my eyes to get him.

Byrd's time in Queens is overall very nostalgic to be and is connected to a bunch of completely random tidbits of that era of Mets baseball from late 2012 to 2014, basically everything from when I started watching to when we won the 2015 NL Pennant. For example when I think of Byrd I imagine the 2013 ASG, the bright orange Los Mets jersey and last but not least the short but very fun peak of Jenrry Mejia.

Marlon is very much a random player to associate with all of this but he was without a doubt my favorite player when all of the things I mentioned above were happening. His 2013 season is still one of the reasons why I have loved the Mets all these years later.