© 2008 Ron Swoboda

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XM Fan: How about your road to the majors, beginning in high school?

Ron: I played on a pretty decent high school team in Baltimore County, at Sparrows Point High School. I believe we won the Baltimore County Championship my senior year, which involved only playing maybe eight or twelve games.

The way I developed any ability to attract professional scouts was by playing for two people. The first was an amateur team in Baltimore named Gordon Stores, which was a cleaning company that...               

XM Fan: Many people believe the Mets started to turn the corner right around '67, with the addition of Tom Seaver to the roster.

Ron: When Tom Seaver came to the Mets I don't remember there being any transition from a young, inexperienced pitcher to the guy people quickly recognized as being on track to the Hall of Fame. It seemed like he came out of the box fully formed and was able to pitch and compete at a very high level. Incredible. And he was able to maintain that level - I believe his ERA was over 3.00 just once during his first ten years in the big leagues. That level of consistency and success was just incredible.

Kellia Ramares:  Happy 62nd!!

Former Mets right fielder Ron Swoboda is 62 today. But as my friend and fellow Mets fan Lucy said after she saw him at Shea several ...            

XM Fan: How about a young twenty-year-old's impression of Casey Stengel?

Ron: Probably what's most amazing to me is when I first met him in 1964. He was already in his early seventies and it was my first Spring Training. You know, there is something so amazing... I may end up using the word "amazing" more often when talking about Casey Stengel, because he was truly amazing... The fact that he was still in the game. He was bent over, had a big knot in his leg where he'd gotten hit by a taxicab, walked bowlegged and a bit stooped over. He had this face that looked like it came off of Mount Rushmore. But with all the wrinkles and crinkles of age, his eyes were very blue and very young. His face was prone to all kinds of expressions - mostly he was smiling.

He was an incredible character to be around. I suspect he was more of a character with the New York Mets than he...