His lawyer, Michael Bachner, said Samuels was entitled to the swag.
"Charlie Samuels has been a trusted employee of the Mets for the last 30 years," he said, deftly ducking that business about his client's being fired six months ago.
"He was authorized by the Mets to take it," Bachner said after Samuels was released on a $75,000 bond. "This indictment never made it to first base and it's never coming home. This is not a betrayal of trust. This is a betrayal of Charlie Samuels."
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Samuels had stashed the loot in a friend's home in Madison, Conn.
One more thing on the Mets
It's tempting to blame Wednesday's postponement of the Rockies-Mets game on the Mets, but we can't. The game was put off because of rain and snow in the Denver area brought on by a storm that was expected to dump nearly a foot of snow in the mountains. In any case, the game will be made up Thursday afternoon.
Front-runner to buy Astros emerges
Houston businessman Jim Crane is close to buying the Houston Astros. Current owner Drayton McLane said in a telephone interview with the AP that the team has been negotiating with Crane's group for several weeks and that a deal could be reached next week. Crane, chairman and CEO of Crane Capital, would not comment on the matter.
Crane, who pitched at Division II Central Missouri, has struck out on three attempts to buy teams since 2008, when he approached McLane about buying the Astros but was turned down. A year later, he was in the running to buy the Chicago Cubs, but fell short. And last summer, he went after the Texas Rangers but lost to an investment group led by Nolan Ryan.
Contact staff writer Francisco Delgado at fdelgado@phillynews.com.This article contains information from Inquirer wire services.
