More clearinghouse from Fantasy Camp. Busy day today, limited time for actual thinking.

Joe McEwing is precisely as energetic as you’d expect Joe McEwing to be. Before I interviewed him, during one of the Fantasy Camp games he was managing, he had taken hold of a camera from one of the camp photographers while simultaneously coaching first base.

TB: I see you’re taking up photography.

JM: I’m trying to broaden my horizons. I don’t think it’s going to be the best piece that they get.

TB: Well you played everywhere, maybe you can take over…

JM: Oh no no, I’m OK to stay on the field.

TB: Where are you going to be managing this year?

JM: In Triple-A with the White Sox, in Charlotte.

TB: Do you think you bring the same style do managing as you did to playing?

JM: Yeah, I try to take bits and pieces of everyone I’ve come across managing-wise and player wise and try to mold it into my own style. One thing I don’t forget is how hard this game is to play. It’s not an easy game to play. I go out there and treat everyone the way I want to be treated, and I think that has helped me a lot.

TB: Do you have your eye on managing in the Majors?

JM: Yeah, it’d be another dream come true and it’s something I look forward to. But for me, right now, I’m in no rush. It’s nice to see other kids’ dreams come true now.

TB: You played with some of the current Mets. Are you still in touch with any of them?

JM: I stay in touch with David Wright. We’re still good friends.

TB: Did you talk to him during the season at all?

JM: Yeah, we talk all the time, during the season and in the Winter. It’s a friendship. Mostly we talk about stuff off the field. He’s got enough going on with competing in New York and playing on the field.

TB: What’s your best memory from your time with the Mets?

JM: Oh, I had many. Obviously, playing in the World Series in 2000. Fulfilling a dream, being able to compete in the World Series, unfortunately we came out on the losing end. But I think the best was the relief efforts after 9/11. It was an opportunity to give back to the city and the whole world. To allow people to free their minds for a few hours, after that tragedy, that was special for me.

Look: I intended these quotes from Mets Fantasy Camp to be used for something a little more, ahh, journalistic. But then one thing led to another and I got all busy and now here we are and it’s Spring Training already and, you know, yeah.

I wanted to write about the way the players at Fantasy Camp, like many Mets fans on the Internet and apparently many of Backman’s Minor League charges, seem drawn to Backman personally. I think it has something to do with how he talks. He seems to love talking baseball, like, presumably, all of us do. He does so constantly, and he talks to even the most ill-informed fan like he’s a 30-year MLB insider. It’s kind of awesome, and it makes it really tough not to like the guy.

Watching his team’s games in fantasy camp from the bleachers, you can hear his gravely voice running throughout, even if you can’t make out the words. And his players seem to behave just a bit differently from those on Tim Teufel’s team and Doug Flynn’s team: they curse louder and more often, like I might have when trying to impress my older brother and his friends on the rare occasion I got to hang out with them. An opposing pitcher, from the mound, yells to Backman about the strain in his ass.

Anyway, here’s the portions of the taped interview I did with Backman that I didn’t post here:

TB: What changes in an organization at the Minor League level if the front office changes? Does anything change?

WB: It might change because we’re going to have a lot of new coaches. We’re going to have a new field coordinator in Dickie Scott, and he might have some different philosophies. The game of baseball is based on fundamentals, especially on the Minor League side, and fundamentals are pretty basic. The amount of time that’s spent on fundamentals, that might change. But there’s really not a whole lot that can change.

TB: Are there differences, in terms of strategy, in what a manager has to do at the different Minor League levels?

WB: I think, the managing side of it, the way the organization has been and I hope would continue to be, it gives you, as the manager, the freedom to run the game the way you feel it needs to be run. You know you’re not going to hit for your prospects –- that’s the difference from the Minor Leagues to the big leagues. But running the game shouldn’t change.

TB: The Mets were pretty candid: You were a finalist for the managerial position and didn’t end up getting it. Did you learn anything from that process?

WB: It’s the third time that I’ve interviewed. I interviewed when I was with the White Sox and Ozzie got it, then I had the whole Diamondbacks thing happen. I think you learn a little bit each time; but the questions always kind of stay the same.

TB: Do you mind if I ask, what are the questions?

WB: They ask about the team and what ideas you might have. Some of the questions that were asked of me were, for instance, what was I going to change about me because I had been a Minor League manager but had never managed in the big leagues. So, how was I going to change to the players in the big leagues. And my answer was that I’m not going to change. I played the game in the big leagues, I’ve coached in the Minor Leagues. I believe when you respect the players you get the respect from the players.

That was the first time that question had ever been asked of me, but that’s all the player wants. The player wants respect.

TB: Is there any part of your managerial game your working on, or are you set?

WB: No, I’m set.