Five years ago today, Omar Minaya accused Mets beat writer Adam Rubin of lobbying for a player-development position.
On July 27, 2009, Mets GM Omar Minaya held a press conference in so he could respond to reports that his VP of player development, Tony Bernazard, had taken his shirt off and threatened to fight players on the Mets' Double-A Binghamton club. The story was broken by then-Daily News beat writer Adam Rubin.
During the press conference, Minaya quickly explained that the accusations made of his lieutenant were actually retribution by Rubin for failing to land a job in player development with the Mets:
"Once the reports came out, you know, of course we had to expedite more the investigation. Early in the process, early in the process, when the reports came out, I had to kind of tell myself, "Wow, these things are coming out." And I say this because coming from Adam Rubin, okay, and Adam, you gotta understand this, Adam, for the past couple of years, has lobby [sic] for a player development position. He has lobby [sic] myself, he has lobby [sic] Tony. So when these things came out I was kind of a little bit, I had to think about it. And I was a little bit, you know, somewhat, kind of, we gotta find out about this. We really have to do a thorough investigation of this."
Minaya's use of the present-tense "lobby" instead of the past-tense "lobbied" became an Amazin' Avenue meme in very short order, but back at the presser, Rubin halted the proceedings to offer his rebuttal to the GM's claim. The following exchange ensued:
Adam Rubin: Is what you’re alleging that I tried to tear Tony down so I could take his job? Is that what you’re saying?Omar Minaya: No, no, I’m not saying that. All I’m saying was, that I know that when you wrote the reports, but I am saying, that in the past, you have, have lobby for a player, for a for a job…
Adam Rubin: If I were interested in working in player development somewhere in the major leagues at some point in my life, how did that impact this situation at all?
Omar Minaya: I said, because, when the reports came out a lot of these things were cross… I said “Who’s writing these reports?” and I said well okay who’s writing the reports and in the back of my mind, Adam, you have told me you have told other people in the front office that you want to work for player development in the front office.
Adam Rubin: So what you’re alleging is that.. the only conclusion I can draw from that is that you’re trying to allege that I tried to tear everyone down so that I could take their position. Is that what you’re saying?
Omar Minaya: Adam…
Adam Rubin: It seems pretty despicable to say that.
Omar Minaya: Look, was Tony the most-liked person in the world? No, he was not. We know that. And Marty, and you’ve been around baseball a long time, and there’s a lot of people that are not sometimes we don’t like, ahh, and, you know, and they’re, they’ve been good baseball people. But, you know, I could tell you that he may, was he the most more-liked person in the world? No. Was he a good baseball person? Yes.
In comments to other members of the local media after the press conference concluded, a visibly shocked Rubin said:
"I don't know how I'm going to cover the team now."
Thankfully, SNY captured all of this excitement on video, which footage is still available on YouTube.