Popular Ex-Met Back In Charge In a New York Dugout

Many New York Mets fans wanted to see him in the Citi Field dugout as their team skipper. However, if those enthusiasts want to see former Amazin's star Edgardo Alfonzo manage a team, they'll have to travel to Staten Island. Mets fans will soon get to see 'Fonzie' in the dugout again.

Edgardo Alfonzo, a popular infielder with the team from 1995-2002, was introduced as the manager of the Staten Island Ferry Hawks, a new team in the independent Atlantic League. As the skipper, Alfonzo will "oversee player recruitment, training, development and in-game strategy.

According to Justin Tuscano, a frequent guest of The Drive with Charlie & Dan, Fonzie is looking to bring a championship to Staton Island, "We're going to create a championship team in the community," Alfonzo said during a live-streamed introductory event. Alfonzo used to manage the Brooklyn Cyclones — the Class A short-season affiliate of the Mets at the time — and even won a New York-Penn League championship in 2019. But after that season, the Mets reassigned him to be a club ambassador.

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As noted by Tuscano, "Alfonzo collected 1,532 hits, 146 home runs and 744 RBI. He hit .284 with a .782 OPS over his career. Alfonzo, a key piece on the 2000 Mets team that went to the World Series, remains one of Mets fans' favorite former players. Now he's back in a uniform, this time as baseball is brought back to Staten Island via the Atlantic League, which is a MLB partner league. "I think we're going to create a new team, new organization, a winning organization and an organization that's going to help Staten Island," Alfonzo said.

I always liked Edgardo Alfonso. He was a hard-nosed player that worked at winning. Fans loved him. I talked with him several times when he was the manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones and he was always friendly and pretty funny. Best of luck to Fonzie and the Staten Island Ferry Hawks!