Former NY Met R.A. Dickey says goodbye to Mets fans

Image source: slgckgc

Well, after so much jubilation for R.A. Dickey’s Cy Young Award win, there is much sadness among many fans about his departure to Toronto. Some Mets fans simply don’t understand why the Mets let him go; a number of talking heads believe that what they got in return through the trade (Dickey, Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas for two young prospects) is totally worth it. What do you think about the trade?

Dickey has written an open goodbye letter to Mets fans (and face it, if you’re a fan of baseball, you probably have respect for him even if you don’t follow the Mets), which has appeared in the NY Daily News. Here’s an excerpt:

I never expected to be writing a farewell “holiday card” to Mets fans. I never expected to be doing anything but celebrating the joy of the season with my wife and kids and looking toward the spring, and the start of my fourth season with an organization that gave me maybe the greatest gift an athlete can get:

A chance.

A chance for a fresh start. A chance to prove that maybe I could be somebody on a big league mound, an authentic and trustworthy pitcher, not just a retread with a weird name and an even weirder pitch — a man who was so in need of financial stability that he had to get talked out of taking a guaranteed contract to go pitch in Korea.

The Mets gave me that chance almost exactly three years ago, and I will always be grateful to them for that. Only God could’ve written the narrative that has played out in the three years since. That is what I want to focus on, and what I want to hold in my heart.

Aw, man. We’ll miss you and your knuckleballing goodness. And thanks to Gothamist for linking to this amazing slo-mo animated gif of one of Dickey’s pitches, clearly illustrating just how wacky and dangerous the knuckleball is.

R.A. Dickey pens bittersweet farewell to the team and city that gave him a ‘chance’ [NYDN]
NY Mets knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey wins 2012 NL Cy Young Award [QNYC]