Mets' Mourn the Passing of a Truly Good Man

On Tuesday, long-time Mets' staffer Jim Plummer passed away from a heart attack after undergoing kidney and liver transplants a few days prior. As regular readers of this blog know, my own father died this past January, after complications from a kidney transplant, and I know how difficult this is for his family, wife Tee and son Jonathan. Although I never met Plummer, someone very close to me worked with him and knew him for over 15 years, and described him as "the kind of guy who always made you laugh." He was beloved by a huge spectrum of ex-Mets and current Mets, from Dwight Gooden to Billy Wagner. His most recent position was Director of Corporate Sales, and his first role in the company was as Nolan Ryan's bat boy in 1965 in his home state of Virginia where he knew various members of Wagner's family.

From the Mets website, by Marty Noble:

The passing of a man who had been affiliated with the club since 1965 and in its employ since '76 unsettled the organization, because Plummer essentially was beloved by all he touched, as suggested by the words Joe Torre once used to introduce him.

Borrowing a line from an old Sara Lee marketing campaign, Torre said, "Everybody doesn't like somebody, but nobody doesn't like Plum."

Plummer began his tenure with the Mets as a batboy for the club's Class A Marion affiliate in Virginia when Nolan Ryan was in his first season as a professional. He became the team's general manager at age 18 and moved to New York and Shea Stadium in 1976. Plummer had served in a number of roles for the club. He was director of corporate sales at the time of his death.

People who we lose are never replaced in our lives the way a player is replaced on a roster, and when someone of Plummer's magnitude, who obviously touched the lives of so many over the years, is no longer in our daily lives, his loss looms that much larger and the hole we feel that much deeper. We don't hear about the Plummer's of the world, because they don't make for controversial copy or sell papers, as the old saying goes; but people like Plummer are the backbones of organizations, the heart and soul of a family and define the definition of a "good person."

Our prayers and thoughts go out to Jim Plummer's family, his Mets' family and all who knew him. Your lives are that much better for knowing him, and his memory will remain strong inside of each of you, therefore keeping a part of him alive, for many, many years to come...