The Staten Island FerryHawks are as happy to have Wally Backman as the umpires of his 10-year-old grandson’s baseball games are to be rid of him as a heckler.
The last two years proved to Backman and his family that his competitive juices still are flowing.
And, if the 66-year-old former Mets great is going to be managing from a dugout, he only wants to do it in New York.
“My time in baseball is not over,” Backman told The Post on Monday, shortly after he was announced as the manager of the FerryHawks. “I’ve been a lifer. I love the game. And I take a lot of pride in winning. Losing sucks. This is a team that has struggled, and I accept the challenge. I believe I can turn this team into a winner.”
The FerryHawks — formerly a Single-A affiliate of the Yankees — are off to an 8-40 start in the independent Atlantic League, which prioritizes winning over developing young players for the majors.
The standings reset July 3 for the start of the second half.
Upon his return to the Atlantic League — where he managed the New Britain Bees (2018) and Long Island Ducks (2019-23) — the notoriously fiery Backman jokingly asked league president Rick White for a few freebie ejections to get reacclimated.
“I try to teach the players like major leaguers — I’m not going to let a kid throw 140 pitches,” Backman said before boarding a bus for a nine-hour ride and gathering his thoughts for his first team meeting. “All they have to do is YouTube me and they’ll find out. [The meeting] will be about winning No. 1 and basically no bulls–t. You’re never going to win every game, but we’re not going to get outhustled and outplayed.”
Backman is a beloved member of the 1986 World Series champions who are celebrating their 40-year anniversary at a time when the Mets are mired in last place.
He was last part of the organization as its Triple-A manager in 2016.
Does Backman still dream of returning to the Mets?
Or testing his managerial chops in MLB, as he nearly did in 2005 before the Diamondbacks fired him four days into his tenure when years-old legal problems were uncovered?
“No,” Backman said. “They had their opportunity with me. I should’ve had my opportunity — didn’t happen. I’m in New York. Trust me, this is probably the only place I would come because … the knowledge of sports that the people have in New York keeps driving you to be better and better and better.”
FerryHawks chairman John Catsimatidis teased an improved fan experience that includes “better players, better food and valet parking” with the “kinks” ironed out soon.
Why did he target Backman and lure him out of his motorhome and fishing lifestyle?
“He’s always been used to being the best,” Catsimatidis said. “New Yorkers know his name, especially Staten Islanders and Brooklynites.”
Backman has already talked to four former major leaguers — including infielder Jose Miranda, who set an MLB record with a hit in 12 straight at-bats — about joining him.
“It’s nice when you know a lot of people in MLB that will give you a little bit of info [on minor league free agents] before other people have it,” Backman said, “so we’ll have — a lot of times — first shot.”
Backman’s return to New York comes at a time when the city is electrified by the NBA champion Knicks.
The Mets now own the city’s fourth-longest championship drought, but the winning formula hasn’t changed from 1986 to 2026, he said.
“Chemistry,” Backman said of the Mets-Knicks parallels. “When you come back from a 29-point deficit (in Game 4) to win a championship, that shows me something. That’s heart and desire that comes from within players. A lot of things are analytics, which I believe in. People think I’m totally old school. But you tell me when you can measure this [heart] and I’ll put it into the analytics. Because you can’t.”
The FerryHawks will host an in-season tryout June 23 for high-end college and minor league free agents.
Backman’s first home game is June 24, and the team will honor the 1986 Mets and host Lee Mazzilli on June 27 at SIUH Community Park.
