Backman Back With Mets, As Minor League Manager

November 17, 2009 9:49 a.m. EST

Brooklyn, NY (AHN) - Former New York Mets second baseman Wally Backman is back with the team as a minor league manager. Backman will manager the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Major league players like Carlos Quentin, Conor Jackson, Aaron Rowand, and Dan Uggla have been impacted by Backman's work in the minors.

Players have raved about how he is one of the few managers that knows how to maximize a solid working relationship in the clubhouse and maximize talents on the field. He's a player's coach.

Backman coached in the Met's farm system as manager of the St. Lucie Mets in Port Saint Lucie, Florida last season.

The Mets drafted him in the first round of the 1977 MLB Draft. He was a member of their 1986 World Series championship team as a second baseman.

He was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004, but fired four days later after reports of two arrests for financial problems surfaced.

"I am thrilled and grateful to be coming back to the Mets' organization," Backman said. "Brooklyn is a major minor league team, and I know the borough's fans are -- like me -- intensely passionate about baseball and about winning."

He managed the South Georgia Peanuts of the independent South Coast League in 2007. He had run-ins with umpires and a radio announcer, but led the team to the championship.

In 2008 he coached the Northern League's Joliet Jackhammers.