John Delach

March 2026

Dear reader, my best friend, Mike Scott, passed this February. I spoke at his memorial service but I couldn’t include this story as it would have made my eulogy too long. So, I set it aside to use in this blog to honor Mike, the late Foley’s NY Pub and Restaurant and Shaun Clancy, the owner and our friend.

Michael and Shaun were both avid baseball fans. Mike was a long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan redeemed by their successfully winning the World Series in 2004 and repeating this feat three more times. Shaun was a devotee of the New York Yankees and their bar room rivalry became an important bonding experience. Lordy, could they go at it, but those debates were lined with respect as they both knew what they were talking about. I remained on the sideline enjoying my Guiness while I watched them go at it. Frankly, their debates didn’t last long as, invariability, Shaun, would get an important call, or someone would arrive who needed his attention.      

My personal favorite was lunch with David Cone in 2014. It was the day of his induction ceremony into the Class of 2014 of the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame.

Shaun had asked us to arrive early and directed us to sit at our usual round table in the right-hand corner close to the mic. “Leave the seat facing away from the corner vacant for Coney (David Cone) and sit in the two seats on either side.” Shaun sounded like he wanted us to be Mr. Cone’s bodyguards noting that our size did afford him privacy if not protection.

It should be noted that in New York City, many assumed Dave Cone was a Jewish ball player. Ah contraire, mon frere, he was Irish and hence his induction into the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame.

David Cone was a delightful lunch partner who regaled us with wonderful stories. Mike asked him about being a Red Sox – particularly a Yankees game at Fenway Park in 2001 in this his last year in baseball.

Mike told him, “You were pitching for the Red Sox opposing Yankees’ starter, Mike Mussina. Mussina was pitching a perfect game and you had a shut out going into the ninth inning.”

David looked at Mike with a measure of excitement, smiled and replied, “It could have been yesterday. Tino Martinez hit a single, but Jorge Posada popped up for the first out. Paul O’ Neill hit a perfect double-play grounder that should have ended the inning and my outing.”

Mike interjected, “But the Sox second baseman, Lou Merloni, whiffed on the play.”

“Correct,” David agreed smiling, while shaking his head. “Instead of getting out of the inning, I had runners at first and third with only one out.”

Mike asked, “Didn’t Joe Kerrigan, the Red Sox manager, came out of the dugout and asked you if you wanted to stay in the game?”

“Right, you are Mike! You have a good memory. I told him what he wanted to hear, ‘leave me in.’ The last thing I wanted to do was give up the ball when I still had a shutout to protect.”

The next Yankee batter, Enrique Wilson, hit a double that scored Clay Bellinger who had replaced Martinez as a pinch runner.

Cone: “Kerrigan took me out of the game. I knew my career was almost over. This could have been my last hurrah, but Mike (Mussina) had a better day. What was utterly amazing was, as I neared the dugout, the Fenway sell-out crowd broke into a standing ovation.

“Guys, understand how amazing that was. 2001 was my only year on the team and I had pitched against their Sox with the Royals, the Blue Jays and, of course, their evil empire, the Yankees.

“What a thrill!”

“You tipped your hat to the crowd,” Mike replied.

“Yes, I did, they deserved that.”

I sat there mesmerized taking it all in. I’ve realized that professional athletes have a photographic memory of all their highs and lows. But David Cone’s responses to Mike Scott’s  prompts were terrific.

All this dialogue took place over servings of cheeseburgers, fries and a couple rounds of Guinness. 

For sure, for me and for Mike, the best lunch at Foley’s, ever.