CAN’T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME? May 29, 2026

The 1962 New York Mets, 2026 San Francisco Giants and current White House administration share a lot in common.

Incompetence.

On May 28, 1957, the National League gave permission to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to leave Gotham for Los Angeles and San Francisco. I was a Yankees fan but felt the loss. The Big Apple dropping from three big-league teams to one? Unthinkable.

In October 1960, the NL awarded an expansion franchise to New York. I became an instant Mets fan. On April 14, 1962, during the Mets’ inaugural season, I was at the Polo Grounds—long demolished—for their second home game. They lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2. A rainy day, as I recall. That season, the Mets won 40 games and lost 120. 

The beloved but beleaguered Mets (and former Yankees) manager Casey Stengel asked, “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

The same question might be asked of this year’s Giants. I was at Oracle Park on Wednesday when they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2. A pitcher’s error in the 7th inning led to the D’backs’ winning run. Two baserunning errors in the bottom of the 7th kept the Giants from tying the game, possibly going ahead.

“Can’t anybody here play this game” currently pertains to this year’s Giants with a record of 22–34.

Sadly, Casey Stengel’s lament also applies to things even more important than baseball. The “Ol’ Perfessor’s” quote also references the White House where incompetence reigns and has infected the entire government.

Last February 28, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. For Donald Trump, this represented not a war but an “excursion.” A few weeks and Iran (whose government I detest) would come to heel. 

Yesterday marked three months of violence and a ceasefire about which fire remains the operative word. And where are we after losing up to fifteen military lives, spending tens of billions of dollars and decimating our stockpile of bombs, missiles and drones?

New York Times columnist David French put it succinctly with his lede in yesterday’s column, “The President Is Giving a Master Class in What Not to Do.” “At the moment, the United States is negotiating with a regime that President Trump claimed we had already changed, to open a strait that was supposed to be open last month, and to end a nuclear program that we said we had obliterated.”

As French and so many others have noted, Trump turns a deaf ear to any advisor who tells him what he doesn’t want to hear. Fantasy replaces reality. Thus Trump has issued a steady stream of remarks about Iran begging to accept America’s terms for peace. Some time ago demanded “unconditional surrender.” Iran hasn’t cooperated.

An extension of the ceasefire and opening of the Strait may—or may not be—at hand. Which will take us where? Back where we began when the Strait was open?

The Miracle Mets won the World Series in 1969. The Giants by the Bay won the Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Both teams are on the downcycle now.

So is our nation. We will regain our championship form only if Americans determine that the right way to play the political game is to insist on competence supported by integrity—qualities we now sorely lack.

To understand the background of today’s far-right, authoritarian descent, read my new novel, RIDE THE TYGER. Order from Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, iuniverse.com, or your favorite bookstore.