April 28, 2004

Mets: MOGUL IN THE MAKING

BY DAVID WALDSTEIN

Star-Ledger Staff

LOS ANGELES -- For the past few days, Todd Zeile has been getting strange looks from teammates. They have noticed a pronounced stubble on his face and tousled hair, wondering if he is growing a beard or trying to cultivate a good-luck charm to get the Mets out of their hitting slump.

But Zeile's whiskers have nothing to do with hitting or changing luck. He's just trying to look like a homeless man.

For the past few years, Zeile has played the role of father, baseball player, airline executive, jet-fuel distributor and building developer. Now he is playing a role for what could become his most high-profile pursuit, long after he retires from baseball at the end of this year -- Hollywood mogul.

While in Los Angeles with the Mets this week, Zeile is acting in a movie to be released in late summer for his newly formed production company, Green Diamond Entertainment. Zeile has no real acting experience to speak of and has never had acting lessons. But he partnered up with Jason Giambi, his former teammate with the Yankees, and Zeile's friend, longtime talent manager Bill Civitella, to create the production company about five months ago.

This is only one of several off-field endeavors that have people close to Zeile wondering whether he has lost his marbles or whether they are the crazy ones not to get in on the ground floor on some of the business projects he is juggling.

"He likes to do different things," said Dodgers third baseman Robin Ventura, one of Zeile's closest friends in baseball. "He's not one to relax. He more likes to run himself ragged. He's not in it to make money, he just likes to have fun. I think the movie business is a natural progression for him, being from here."

The film is already in production and Zeile, who was given a small but important role, shot his first scene yesterday on a hot day in L.A. He has two shoots to go.

"I play a mullet-toting street bum," Zeile said of his movie hairdo. "It's classic typecasting. I would say that at this point in my life being an actor is more nerve-racking and difficult than being a player. And let me clarify that by saying that being a player is not easy."

That's okay, because Zeile isn't in the film production business to be an actor. In fact, he has kept this and his other business ventures quiet, and his days in the public eye are coming to a close.

At 38 and in his 17th major-league season, Zeile's baseball skills may be on the decline, but he's definitely in the ascendancy of his business life -- a top prospect with a high ceiling as a future captain of industry. He will soon become something rare, a former player whose income will go up after he retires.

When Zeile does retire, he will concentrate on running Green Diamond, as well as his fleet of chartered jets, a real estate development company and one other venture he says is more financially lucrative than all the rest, but which he won't reveal at the moment.

Zeile's first foray into the world of business happened almost by accident. In spring training of 2002, after he was traded by the Mets to the Colorado Rockies, Zeile wanted to figure out a way to have his wife, Julianne, and their kids fly back and forth from their home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to Arizona, where the Rockies train.

Like many players in the wake of Sept. 11, Zeile chartered a private plane, a Cessna turbo prop, for personal travel. He did it so often that it eventually made financial sense to simply buy it and charter it out to others.

"I looked at the numbers and called my attorney," said Zeile, who has made millions during his baseball career. "He thought I had lost my mind. But when you broke it down, it just made sense to do it that way."

Zeile formed a partnership with the president of Aviation Consultants Incorporated, a pilot named Bill Borgsmiller, who was licensed as a commercial pilot at the age of 12. Zeile credits Borgsmiller for his aviation know-how and his steady, reliable guidance of the company.

ACI is the parent company of GHIZ Enterprises -- named for Zeile's children, Garrett, Hannah and Ian Zeile (Aaron was born in January, after the formation of the outfit). Today ACI and GHIZ own five jets, and have placed orders for two more.

The first plane Zeile bought was a Cessna Citation CJ 2, a sleek jet based at San Luis Obispo Airport. The airport was reserved mostly for prop planes, but when business people regularly saw Zeile's jet they started to realize the potential, and jet traffic at SLO grew.

So Zeile and Borgsmiller purchased two fuel companies and are currently renovating a terminal at the airport. For Zeile, this is more than just an investment.

"I have to be totally hands-on," he said. "I'm on the phone with Bill all the time."

Then there's the development company, which Zeile became involved in after he hired Southern California real estate developer Tom Rosaasen to build a home for him in Southern California. The two hit it off and formed Roze Development, named for the first two letters in each man's name.

Roze is working on a project to build 500 affordable housing units in the mountain resort of Mammoth, Calif. The purpose of the development is to make housing affordable to firefighters, police officers, teachers and shopkeepers who were being squeezed out when the resort was first established.

"Ordinary working people were finding it difficult to live and work there," Zeile said, "so it has been well-received."

With the money Zeile has made in baseball and in his new life as a business tycoon, he won't ever have to worry about affordable housing. But now he knows he can act the role.

------------------------------ ------------------------------

APRIL 27, 2004

Zeile, others dive in to help out

By Len Hochberg / Special to MLB.com

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Big names from baseball, the sports world and Hollywood gathered for a celebrity-laden event on Monday night, but the star of the evening unquestionably was an adorable six-year-old girl.

Hannah Zeile, the daughter of Mets infielder Todd Zeile, has juvenile diabetes, and hundreds of people came to the Lucky Strike Lanes to bowl and take part in a silent auction of autographed memorabilia to raise money to fight the disease. This is the fourth year that Zeile has organized a charity event to combat juvenile diabetes since his daughter was diagnosed at 18 months old.

Many of the Mets and Dodgers -- who begin a series in Los Angeles on Tuesday -- were on hand, along with other athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Bruce Jenner and Scott Hamilton, plus Heather Locklear, Richie Sambora (from the band Bon Jovi), Kenny G, Julie Bowen ("Ed") and others from the entertainment industry.

"It's a great feeling," said Zeile, a Los Angeles native. "Especially because a lot of this happened with just phone calls because we didn't have enough time to put formal invitations together. So, phone calls to my friends, all of whom said, 'Yeah, if I'm in town, I'm there.' As you can see, a lot of them are here."

There were also many families with stricken children in attendance, and collectively they take part in various charity events around Los Angeles to fight diabetes, Zeile said.

"I'm not much of a bowler, but this is a great event," said Gretzky, who arrived with his wife, actress Janet Jones. "Todd's my next-door neighbor and Hannah is a great little girl, so any way we can help out a little bit, it's a nice feeling."

Gretzky was among the many athletes who provided autographed memorabilia for auction. Others included Barry Bonds of the Giants; Zeile, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine, Al Leiter and Kazuo Matsui of the Mets; and Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green and Robin Ventura of the Dodgers.

Zeile said he expects the event to generate from $150,00 to $250,000, adding that all the proceeds will go to the Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

"Fortunately for us and the other people here, Childrens Hospital does a great job," Zeile said. "There's a real positive hope that there's potentially a cure in the making in the next five to 10 years."

Hannah's condition requires her to take "multiple blood tests every day and injections of insulin to control the blood sugar," said her doctor, Kevin Kaiserman, medical director of the Clinical Diabetes Program at Childrens Hospital. "With advanced treatment, people with diabetes can live long, healthy lives free of complications."

Yes, a serious illness brought everyone together, but still it was a festive event.

It's a different element for us," Glavine said. "We're all fans of TV and movies and other sports. And when we see other athletes that you don't really know but you've watched, and you get an opportunity to talk to them, it's cool. And the same is true for the entertainment industry."

The Dodgers, who will oppose the Mets on Tuesday, were definitely on Zeile's side on Monday.

"We're with the same agency and I've known Todd for a while now, super guy," Lo Duca said. "He does this for juvenile diabetes and it's awesome."

Lo Duca, however, didn't bowl, saying he wasn't very good and didn't know which players were good. (Conversely, the Mets' John Franco, also asked who was a good bowler, replied, "Myself.")

Some of the stars bowled, some didn't. "Not in high heels," said Locklear, while stressing that "it's a great night for a good cause." (And, for the record, Locklear was asked if chicks still dig the long ball. "I don't know, but I do," she said, laughing.)

In the end, the night was all about Hannah and the other children with diabetes. Hannah's brother, 10-year-old Garrett, wrote a song for her and performed solo in front of everyone, singing and rocking the house with his electric guitar.

Hannah spent the evening with her pack of friends and having lots of fun "because I like bowling a lot." Asked which star was her favorite, she said, "Robin Ventura."

"Oh yeah. Her and I are tight," Ventura said. "She's spent a lot of time at our house. She's on the top of my list. She's great. I love that girl."

_________________________ _________________________

April 10, 2004

NY POST

ZEILE-GOOD STORY, TODD'S DOUBLE IN 11TH RESCUES METS

By MARK HALE

April 10, 2004 -- SAN JUAN - Mike Piazza was out, replaced for defense in the eighth inning. Cliff Floyd was gone at that point too, his calf having tightened up on the foreign turf.

Jason Phillips? He'd been double-switched and was on the bench. Jose Reyes? Still in Port St. Lucie nursing a strained hamstring. And Mike Cameron? Heck, the lineup needed to go through six more hitters to get to him again.

So as last night's Mets-Expos game reached into the 11th inning, somebody needed to step up for the Mets.

"There was a lot of talk and enthusiasm in the dugout not to give in," Todd Zeile said after the Mets' 3-2 11-inning win. "We knew someone was going to come through."

Someone did. Zeile.

Zeile came up in the top of the 11th with Ty Wigginton on first and one out. Facing reliever Luis Ayala for the first time in his career, Zeile clubbed a down-and-in sinker into the left-centerfield gap - "Just money," Art Howe said of Zeile - as Wigginton motored around the bases, sliding home safely with the eventual winning run.

"I was scoring one way or the other," he said.

Kind of how the 2-2 Mets figured they were going to win one way or the other. Even if they needed Orber Moreno to nail down his first major league save in the 11th. Even if they first squandered a 2-0 lead in the eighth.

And even if Braden Looper blew the season's first save opportunity and spoiled the chance for Tyler Yates to earn his first career win.

Making his major league debut in half-empty Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the 26-year-old Yates was magnificent, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just five hits and striking out four.

"It's everything I wanted to do out there," Yates said.

Making it more impressive was that Yates had just faced the Expos last Sunday and allowed seven runs in four innings. But he came away motivated after having developed a better gameplan.

"I wanted to show them," he said, "that what they saw last time is not Tyler Yates."

What they saw last night was. The power righthander flashed electric stuff, reaching 94 mph on his heater while sporting a biting splitter and sharp change. He displayed a veteran's poise in his six frames, making clutch pitches by holding the Expos to 1-for-9 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with them in scoring position.

Trailing 2-0 in the eighth, though, the Expos rallied against Mike Stanton, putting runners on second and third for Jose Vidro.

Enter Looper. His second pitch was a nasty sinker just inches above the plate, but somehow Vidro golfed it the opposite way, the ball falling just inside the leftfield line for a game-tying, two-run double.

*********************

APRIL 10, 2004

NEWSDAY.COM

YATES CAN'T WIN DEBUT; TEAM CAN

Looper blows save in the 8th; Zeile's double decides it in 11th

BY DAVID LENNON STAFF CORRESPONDENT

April 10, 2004

SAN JUAN - Traded by the Mets two years ago, then essentially kicked off the Yankees last season, Todd Zeile's affection for New York has been tested recently.

But if Zeile keeps performing as he did Friday night in the Mets' 3-2 victory over the Expos in 11 innings, his farewell tour in New York City this season will be a mutual lovefest.

Zeile's go-ahead double arrived a few innings too late to save Tyler Yates, but the Mets, still unsettled by their season- opening trip to Atlanta, could not afford to be fussy.

Yates, despite six scoreless innings in his major-league debut, missed out on his first victory because Braden Looper botched his first Mets save opportunity in the eighth inning.

Looper stuck around to pitch the ninth as well, but Kazuo Matsui was cut down at the plate on a perfect throw by leftfielder Juan Rivera to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring. Until the 11th inning, anyway, when Zeile launched a drive to the gap in left-center that drove in Ty Wigginton from first base.

By then, Cliff Floyd, who had homered in the first inning, and Mike Piazza had been lifted for defensive replacements - Shane Spencer and Vance Wilson, respectively - so someone other than the Mets' top guns had to deliver. "There was a lot of talk, a lot of enthusiasm not to give in," Zeile said. "We knew somebody was going to come through."

Zeile picked the perfect spot for his first hit of the season (in his third at-bat), and his sense of timing could not have been more important for the Mets, who were swept by the Expos in four games at this steamy stadium a year ago. In a double- switch, Zeile had entered the game to play first when Looper was called on in the eighth.

"Money," manager Art Howe said of Zeile. "Just money."

Hiram Bithorn Stadium, capacity 20,000, looked half- empty when the game began because many people here observed Good Friday, and it was just about deserted when Orber Moreno pitched the 11th inning for his first major- league save to snap the Mets' losing streak at two games.

Moreno walked pinch hitter Ron Calloway with two outs and Calloway stole second, but Brian Schneider grounded to first to end it. While Yates and Looper missed out on personal milestones, Moreno relished his first save.

The Mets opted to sign Looper to a two-year, $6.75-million contract rather than hand the closer's job to someone without significant major-league experience, but Moreno was the one who wound up with Friday's well-used lineup card as a memento.

"When I made this team, they didn't tell me what I would do," Moreno said. "I've just got to be ready."

The Mets' attempt to break the tie in the ninth began when Kazuo Matsui delivered his second hit of the night, a two-out double off Expos closer Rocky Biddle.

Ricky Gutierrez walked and Spencer, who entered in the eighth, smoked a single to left. Former Yankee Rivera charged in and delivered a perfect one-hop throw that barely beat Matsui's feet-first slide.

"That was the only ball somebody could throw him out on," Howe said. "It was a rocket. If it's not hit right at him, we win the game that inning. But we didn't give up."

Mike Stanton had turned in a perfect seventh inning to preserve Yates' 2-0 lead, but things didn't go quite so smoothly in the eighth. A leadoff single to Schneider and a walk to pinch hitter Jamey Carroll set up Peter Bergeron's sacrifice bunt, and suddenly the Expos were on the verge.

That's when Looper trotted in. He lost his closer's job with the Marlins to Ugueth Urbina late last season, and here was his first chance as a Met.

But his second pitch was a sinker that Vidro golfed into left, fair by a few feet, for a two-run double.

"I give him credit because it was a good pitch," Looper said. "But I still have got to get the job done."

Yates did that and more for six innings, allowing only four hits and striking out four without a walk. Three times the Expos got runners to second but Yates escaped each time, showing the same ability that won him the fourth starter's job out of spring training. Next up on the agenda is his first major-league victory.

Said Howe, "If he pitches like that, he's going to get his share."

************************

APRIL 5, 2004

NYPOST.com

NO SPRING FLING

PORT ST. LUCIE - As Tyler Yates got dressed after surrendering seven runs in four innings yesterday, he talked about getting a tough day out of his system.

"Yeah, dog," Cliff Floyd piped in. "Leave all that stuff here."

Indeed, as the Mets broke camp yesterday and flew to Atlanta to start the season tomorrow, that seemed to be a common theme. Fact is, spring training was not exactly kind to the Mets. Kaz Matsui got hurt and struggled in his adjustment, Mike Piazza suffered nagging injuries, Jose Reyes ended up on the disabled list and Al Leiter took a line drive off the head.

Worse, at a time when teams are supposed to be coming together, the Mets floundered, wrapping up their spring by losing eight of their last nine.

But now that spring's done, the season is here. And the Mets, who finished the exhibition slate 13-20-1, are determined to leave their rotten Grapefruit League in St. Lucie.

"It's behind us," Art Howe said. "Now we've got to get serious about things. Not that we weren't serious, but everything counts now."

"Come (tomorrow), we're a .500 ballclub with an 0-0 record," Ty Wigginton said. "Everybody on the squad's batting .000. Everybody's got a zero ERA. Come (tomorrow), it doesn't matter if you hit .500 in spring training or if you hit .100 in spring training. Nothing matters. All that matters is getting those W's."

But just how many W's can the Mets and their fans expect this year? Ownership has said it wants to play "meaningful games," a vocal determination that doesn't exactly translate into tangible expectations.

Asked about the season ahead, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon was content to issue a simple proclamation.

"We're going to have a better team," he said, "and we're looking forward to the start of the season where everything counts."

Wilpon's sentiments were echoed by his players.

"We're going to be better because we're strong up the middle," Jason Phillips said. "You've seen a lot of plays that have been made this year that we didn't make last year."

Added Todd Zeile, "Fans always expect more than maybe the press credits us for, which I hope this season is justified, because I think this team expects more than what people have been saying."

And Wigginton said, "I think we're going to surprise a lot of people."

Mike Cameron, used to winning from his days in Seattle, also spoke about how experts are not predicting much - and how that doesn't mean anything.

"That doesn't mean that has to happen," he said. "We can play as well as we want to. The only way that's going to happen is we have to play with some type of consistency, day in and day out. It's the simple things - catching it, pitching and hitting. But more importantly, catching consistently."

Those were things that didn't happen last year, as the Mets crashed to a 66-95 season. But at least Phillips said they got something out of that disastrous campaign that might help the 2004 season.

"Last year was definitely a learning experience," he said. "You feel like you've got to lose to know how to win. We definitely learned that last year."

****************************************

APRIL 4, 2004

PALM BEACH POST.COM

Metropolitans no second bananas

By Dave George, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Some of the bruises are fresh and some of the scars are all but faded away, but one thing never changes for Mets fans and their bitter brethren in the more ancient New York baseball feuds. The Yankees' traditional dominance of the market and of the game itself is a perenially sore subject.

"Second fiddle? The Mets are never second fiddle to their fans," retired Long Island cop Dave Meehan said recently at a Mets spring training game.

Meehan, 78, has practiced well that bottom-line argument. It's the same sort of thing he used to say when the Brooklyn Dodgers were his team. From 1941 to 1956 Brooklyn reached the World Series seven times, and all seven times the Yankees were right there waiting. With the exception of 1955, the pinstripers prevailed every time.

It was no different for the New York Giants, the other half of the 1-2 National League punch that sometimes rocked but never quite put away the Yankees of Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle and Phil Rizzuto and Whitey Ford. In Meehan's lifetime, for instance, the Giants earned five World Series spots before leaving New York for San Francisco. Each of the three times they lost, it was to the Yankees.

In fact, there was a 10-year period between 1947-56 in which the Yankees won seven world titles, and all but one of those World Series victories came against either the Brooklyn Dodgers or the New York Giants. Into this environment stepped the expansion Mets in 1962, returning a National League option to fans who felt jilted by their old favorites leaving for California. There have been some truly magical moments at Shea Stadium, most notably the Miracle Mets of 1969 and a second World Series championship team in 1986. Overall, however, the baseball world hasn't changed that much in the Big Apple.

The Yankees have 26 world championships, including seven since the Mets came into existence. The Yankees have appeared in six of the last eight World Series, including three championships in a row from 1998-2000. During that same period, the Mets have reached the World Series one time, four years ago, and cruelly they were stopped there by the Yankees, who won it in five games and celebrated on the field at Shea.

It doesn't get any better for the foreseeable future. The Mets are coming off a last-place season in the NL East at 66-95. The Yankees just signed Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Kevin Brown, further proof of George Steinbrenner's unlimited buying power and his disgust with disappointments like last October's World Series loss to the Florida Marlins.

"You've got to respect the Yankees for all they've done," said John Franco, a Mets pitcher since 1990 and a Brooklyn native. "It's just unfortunate for us that we're in the same city as them."

Mets General Manager Jim Duquette says he can't think that way, even though his team did make a strong bid for free agent Vladimir Guerrero in the off-season in the kind of move that would have stolen the New York tabloid headlines for a day or two.

"We don't concern ourselves with what the Yankees are doing as much as the other teams in our own division," Duquette said. "Our philosophy is a little different than theirs. Theirs seems to be one where you're always going to see the payroll extremely high. They seem to be an island in the game. We tend to be on the more conservative course followed by the other 29 teams, though we still have a payroll that's pretty high."

If the Yankees are an island, it's volcanic in nature and always rumbling toward another eruption. Steinbrenner's estimated payroll this season is in the range of $190 million. The Mets should come in around $80 million, still a huge payout for such small returns. The frugal Marlins, who beat everybody last year, won't be much over $52 million in 2004.

With Atlanta still consistently winning the division and the Marlins ruling the world and Philadelphia improving greatly, the Mets can't afford to scrap it out with Montreal for whatever's left. They've got Mike Piazza, sure enough, a future Hall of Fame catcher, but other big-ticket moves have been a bust. Think Roger Cedeno, Kevin Appier, Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar.

A-Rod himself was available in 2000, when the Mets were a championship contender, but the franchise couldn't match his outrageous price. Rodriguez said at the time he would have enjoyed playing for the Mets but he's a Yankee now, never even considering the other New York team, mired in a rebuilding process that's blending kids with veteran pickups like Mike Cameron, a gold-glove center fielder from Seattle.

Third baseman Todd Zeile also is new to the Mets but fully experienced in the ways of the New York pecking order. He played for the Mets in the 2000 Subway Series, batting a team-best.400, and last year tried on the other uniform, playing 66 games for the Yankees in a season split between New York and Montreal.

"I have nothing bad to say about the Yankees," Zeile said. "They're the most storied franchise in the history of sports. They're the Yankees, period, but even in saying that you have to recognize that they are the nemesis in some respects to a lot of people who would rather see anybody but the Yankees prevail. Whether that's because of George spending all that money or because of the arrogant approach in what they can and can't do, I can't say.

"The difference, and this is an overgeneralization that probably will anger some Yankee fans, is that there tends to be more of a bandwagon effect with the Yankees when they're going well. Mets fans live and die with the Mets. It's more of a blue-collar team in a lot of ways and I think that's reflected in the fan base. Some people get their noses out of joint when they see the former mayor in the stands with a Yankees cap. I say if Rudy (Giuliani) is a Yankees fan, I respect him for standing up and showing it instead of being so political that he doesn't think he can."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and comedian Billy Crystal are among the other high-profile Yankeephiles. Jerry Seinfeld sometimes shows up at Shea in a Mets cap but the celebrity list there is much shorter. Because of interleague play, the teams play six games each season, giving everyone plenty of notice on how they want to play it. In general, there are very few independent voters, even when the Mets are dragging bottom.

"We feel pressure more from our fans," said Duquette, "and we value their input. What we do is try to keep them realistic. Our fans can see what the Yankees are doing. The best thing we can do is convey to our fans what our plan is. Our fans had to live it back when we were going for the main players in the early 1990s, the high-profile, high-salary guys. It didn't work for us."

Not much has lately, but eventually the relationship will shift. It will be again, however briefly, like 1986, when the Mets edged the Red Sox in a classic seven-game World Series and the Yankees missed the playoffs altogether, or 1988, when the Mets topped three million in home attendance and the Yankees finished in fifth place under the fifth and final Billy Martin administration.

Meanwhile, there will be stark reminders of what it means to be the underdog in a city that prizes only the Best in Show. Joe Torre, for instance, is experiencing one of the best managerial runs in history with the talent-rich Yankees. At the start of his career, while managing the stumbling Mets of the late 1970s and early '80s, Torre struggled mightily just to keep his team under 100 losses.

"That's all right," said Bryan Whitty, 66, another transplanted Long Islander who now keeps spring-training season tickets with the Mets. "When I was in New York, I always rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers because it seemed they were the team from the south side of the tracks. The Yankees, they were the upper crust. Even now, here at Port St. Lucie, I meet all kinds of retired policemen and firemen and working men in the stands. Not that many retired business honchos, I'll tell you that."

Second-rate is a tag this franchise and its supporters simply won't accept, no matter how many generations the Yankees sour with the kind of jealousy that only close neighbors take to the max, and to the grave.