Phillips Spills Beans on Madoff Relationship

How close were the Wilpons and Bernie Madoff? Just ask former Mets GM Steve Phillips, who had this to say last night on ESPN:

“I heard Bernie Madoff’s name once a week every week for 13 years,” said Phillips, who worked in the Mets front office from 1990 to 2003, the last six as general manager. “He was that close of friends and had a relationship with the Wilpons.”

Again: “once a week every week for 13 years”. Ouch.

We already heard that Fred and Bernie were trusted friends, as are their sons, who were high school chums. But we were assured that Madoff’s Ponzi scheme had little effect on the running of the Mets.

But, how could that be possible, when Steve Phillips — a man who was most assuredly on the baseball side of the business — constantly heard Madoff’s name bandied about?