Where Are They Now: Wally Backman

A totally sweet RV, that’s where Wally Backman is. The scrappy former second baseman’s RV is hitched up in a trailer park in Albany, Georgia, where Backman is managing the South Georgia Peanuts. According to an article, “To Hell and Backman,” in Sunday’s New York Post, the World Champion Met is hoping that his managerial activities will pave the way for his return to managing in the big leagues-- where he lasted for four whole days as skipper of the Diamondbacks, before legal and financial issues surfaced, and led the D-backs to reconsider and give the job to someone else.

Apparently the minor league manager of the year award that Backman had won while working for their farm system did not outweigh a bankruptcy claim, monies owed to state and federal tax authorities, a DUI, and allegations of domestic violence stemming from Backman’s divorce.

But Wally’s no quitter, so he hitched up the ol’ RV and drove to Albany, Georgia, where a near-by high school just had its first ever integrated prom.

All in all, it seems that Backman caught a rough break—and I think that we should wish the Peanuts well, and hope that someone gives him a job (Minaya has passed on him for jobs in the Mets minor league system). My investigations sort of point to the conclusion that if the Diamondbacks had been in a different position as an organization things might have gone differently; but their founder, Jerry Colangelo, had just been forced out for egregious financial irresponsibility, and when things started surfacing about Backman, they decided that they just weren’t going to go there.

Furthermore, and disturbingly, the Post’s article includes a cryptic reference to “the 10-inch plate in his left arm from that domestic violence incident when his wife’s friend hit him with a bat.” This is just another indication of the superior reportage that goes into the New York Post’s sports writing: all of my internet research reveals no clues at all into what the hell they are talking about—except that the incident lead to Backman being arrested for harassment, and that his wife’s friend was female. But the injury to Backman is apparently a scoop that was only uncovered by the Post.

But things aren’t all bad for Backman: the aforementioned RV seems, like I said, totally sweet. It’s a got a television and an electric fireplace, and is, according the former World Champion and current occupant, “nicer than any hotel room.” [italics mine]