(WTNH)– One of the newest Mets is starting pitcher Taijuan Walker. He’s the new number 99, only the second player in club history to wear that number.

Former eccentric reliever Turk Wendell was the first. Wendell sent Walker a care package to go along with the number. It included black licorice, a toothbrush, and an animal tooth necklace. All part of the quirky things Wendell did during his superstitious pitching days with the Mets.

Wendell recently spent some time on Zoom talking about some of those things. He was very generous with his time and covered a lot of bases. He has a daughter Dakota, who’s an All American Soccer player, a son Wyatt, who’s a major league baseball pitching prospect in the mold of Jacob deGrom.

These days Wendell owns a farm in Iowa named after his kids, Dakota Farms. He also has no shortage of baseball memories from an 11 year big league career.