Blankmeyer leaves St John's for Mets' Brooklyn Cyclones

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NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Blankmeyer left St. John's after 24 seasons as head baseball coach and was hired Monday as manager of the New York Mets' Brooklyn Cyclones farm team in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League.

He replaced former Mets star Edgardo Alfonzo, who was fired after three seasons despite leading the Cyclones to last season's league championship. It has not been decided whether Alfonzo will remain with the organization.

New York is in its first full offseason since Brodie Van Wagenen replaced Sandy Alderson as general manager.

Blankmeyer, who turned 65 on Christmas, was hired before the 1996 season and led St. John's to a 829-500 record with four ties, including a Big East record 347 conference wins. He had winning records in 23 of 24 seasons, won six regular season conference titles and five Big East tournaments. His teams appeared in the NCAA tournament 11 times, including a Super Regional appearance in 2012.

While he was an assistant coach at Seton Hall, his players included Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, 1995 AL MVP Mo Vaughn, Matt Morris and John Valentin.

Blankmeyer played at Seton Hall.

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