Is SNY.tv ever going to have the investigative chops and journalism integrity to discuss the fact that retired Mets stars George Theodore, Rod Gaspar, Hank Webb, etc aren’t getting MLB pensions? And that GM Sandy Anderson, who is still on the Board of Directors of the MLB Players Alumni Association, has never commented about this matter?

– Doug Gladstone, via email.

Hey guys: Did you know that retired Mets stars George Theodore, Rod Gaspar and Hank Webb aren’t getting MLB pensions? It’s true. They played before 1980, and before 1980, players needed to accrue four years of service time to secure the Major League pension.

In April, 2011, an agreement was reached to award the 874 living former players not eligible for pension with up to $10,000 in annual payment, depending on service time, for two years. The new collective bargaining agreement signed in November extended those payments through 2016, though it does not include medical or survivor’s benefits and does not come close to matching the full pension earned by all players on active rosters for as few as 43 days after 1980.

Much more on the plight of the pre-1980 players with less than the required service time for pension can be found in the 2010 book A Bitter Cup of Coffee by… Doug Gladstone.