A young beat writer, Jim Corbett, was doing an interview with George Foster, who had lost his starting leftfield job to Kevin Mitchell a few weeks before. Lenny Dykstra had also briefly replaced Mookie. A Met favorite, Lee Mazzilli, had been released by the Pirates and had signed with our AAA club.

When responding to an inquiry from Corbett about Mazzilli, Foster said, "I'm not saying it's a racial thing, but that seems to be the case in sports today. When a ball club can, they replace a George Foster or a Mookie Wilson with a more popular player. The Mets would rather promote a Gary Carter or a Keith Hernandez to the fans. So parents who want to can point to them as role models for their children rather than a Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, or a George Foster. The kids don't see color."

He continued about Mazzilli specifically and said, "I know something is brewing. I don't think a guy would go to Triple A if he had major league offers and something wasn’t promised."

Frank Cashen was notably terse in a quote and said, "If in fact he said it, and he didn't say it to me, I wouldn't dignify that comment with a reply."

Davey was more pointed and was quoted widely as saying, "George is full of it. I understand his situation and I empathize with him, but he's full of it."

There were rumors that Davey had been lobbying Cashen to release Foster, but Cashen had advocated him staying. The comments hurt Davey and met with Foster about it. George told Davey that his words had been taken out of context when he was responding to a question about business. Davey had his faults, but this was not one. He had protected and supported Foster the last three seasons and was hurt by George's comments. The dye was cast for Foster's departure.

Foster addressed the team and apologized, but stood firm that his comments had been misinterpreted. George didn't have much support on the team as many were stung be his actions in Cincinnati of not coming out for the brawl with the Reds. He went back to his locker afterwards and stood there alone. Only the classy Knight, a teammate of George's in Cincinnati, followed him over and had a few quiet words with him.

Only an artist’s pencil could accurately portray the strain of the last blocks of hours on Foster’s face. A chiseled chin slowly yielded to shadows and blemishes. His once handsome face appeared fuller and puffy. George’s eyes-usually clever and mischievous- sunk and conveyed a sort of submission to an inevitable that would follow.

Bats used to be lain on the dirt in front of the Wrigley dugouts. At least that’s what the old-timers used to tell me. Renovation provided a bat rack and helmet shelf. An Omaha Beach bunker is always the thing that came to mind when I walked up the steps from the timeless tunnel built to stand a thousand years. Strange to see polyester clad men so tightly huddled together sweating, spitting and drinking coffee in the Chicago heat. Men who didn’t know each other well would never tolerate such conditions. A common band or common goal could do it and make creature comforts seem like no big deal. A championship. Team. No individualism. Foster’s inference-whether it was fair or creative license-essentially separated him from a team that had realized a common purpose of destiny. George losing his position and calling attention to the Mazzilli acquisition sliced any link he had to the 86 Mets.

Johnson - the man who made out the line-up card - lived, lost and shared glory with the great Orioles of the 60’s and 70’s. The names of Buford and Blair and Ellie Hendricks and a great one in Robinson belonged to black men. Good and bad shared with all. Baseball had become a place where team, championships and families helped transcend meaningless differences in skin color.

Always giving the greatest of respect to any man who had worn the uniform, Davey had sought to protect the quiet, proud slugger. Yet, the introduction of this raw preference wounded Davey badly. A good case existed that Foster’s words had indeed been taken out of context. However, quotes, stories, and all things that had anything to do with the Mets captured on a long reporters notepad became what is now known a fact.

George was sitting with a bat in his hand during the first game of the doubleheader at the far end end of the Wrigley Field dugout. I briefly spoke to him Davey came down himself to tell George that he was pinch hitting for Orosco in the extra inning game. He usually delegated this task to one of the coaches. George was released between games of the doubleheader, and Lee Mazzilli joined the club the next day.

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George was at the plate in a spring training game my first year in St. Petersburg, and a guy kept yelling, "Two million dollars, George. Two million dollars." It continued through the entire plate appearance.

It was his salary, and the highest at one time. Many reporters used it as adjectives when referring to Foster, often in negative connotations.

Foster probably wasn't up to the attention that went with his stature as a highly paid player. The jihad over athlete’s salaries wasn’t yet in full swing and his was one of the first big contracts. He had to carry the load in his early days for the Mets before the arrival of Hernandez. He was quietly religious and a devoted family man. George did not have many friends on the club, but was generally a likable sort with a dry sense of humor. He once turned on the dugout heaters at Shea during a 90-degree day game, and also enjoyed doing Sparky Anderson impersonations with Howard Johnson.

I really do not believe that Foster held any serious racially motivated grudges, but the timing of it all had been bad. A proud and sensitive man succumbed to the realization of a fading career and spilled his guts to a media who never embraced him and whom he was never comfortable with.

The White Sox picked him up a few days later, but then released him just before the season ended.

More from Bob Sikes at Getting Paid To Watch.