As the executive director of the Mets’ Florida facility, Paul Taglieri works through a list of duties longer than the line at the Citi Field Shake Shack. He oversees the grounds crew. He fixes anything that breaks. He distributes hats to the janitorial staff. One thing he does not do anymore, though, is escort the major league team onto the field for spring training games.
He had to give that up a couple of years ago, because the team’s ace would not stop ambushing him in the dugout and pouring a cup of water on his crotch. “So it looked like I urinated on my pants,” Taglieri says. “And then I had to walk around the stands with 7,000 people.”
Once, he thought he had eluded Jacob deGrom. Then Taglieri ducked into the tunnel that leads back into the clubhouse. “And he’s standing there with the hose hooked up to the sink, and he just crushes me,” says Taglieri. So now one of his underlings starts the game, while Taglieri hides in the stands and communicates with her by radio.
