Beloved Met Benny Agbayani swells with pride as son joins team he once played for

Benny Agbayani was shocked.He did not expect his 19-year-old son, Bruin, would be traded by the Twins ahead of Monday’s deadline, and the former Met couldn’t even conceive that a prospective trade would be to the team and city to which he endeared himself a quarter century ago.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.

“It means a lot,” said the 54-year-old on a conference call Friday, hours after his youngest of three children — and the only boy — was dealt to the Mets in Minnesota’s trade for reliever A.J.Minter.

“He wanted to get drafted by the Mets when he was first coming out of high school.That’s all he knew, and that’s all we talked about.

It’s a great opportunity for him.I’m just going to support him as much as I can.“I’m going to tell him the ins and outs of playing in New York because it’s tough.”The elder Agbayani couldn’t be more proud of his son potentially continuing his Mets legacy, one cemented by the home run he hit in the 13th inning of Game 3 in the 2000 NL Division Series against the Giants.The Mets had scouted Bruin a bit during his draft year, including at an organizationally run workout in California, according to his dad.Ultimately, the Twins selected him last year in the sixth round out of St.

Louis School in Honolulu.Benny’s support of his son’s dream reached new heights when he began a taxing job as a ramp agent at Daniel K.Inouye International Airport in 2014.

The unlimited free flights he received from his company helped fund his children’s athletic pursuits.He still works there to this day.(https://nypost.com/2024/10/07/sports/mets-hero-benny-agbayani-now-works-in-hawaii-coaches-his-kids)“They started playing ball in the mainland, and we wanted them to get exposed,” Benny said of his job.

“Just experience the growing up and just competing.I told them that’s what they needed.

They needed to...