When he was only 12 years old, James Ray Plummer found the love of his life – baseball. He scored a volunteer job as a bat boy for Marion’s farm team for the New York Mets. As he grew into high school, Plummer became a decent ball player himself, playing second base for the Scarlet Hurricanes on two District Championship teams in 1968 and 1969 – all the while continuing his role with the Marion Mets. When he turned 18, Plummer was promoted to become the youngest black general manager for a professional sports team, taking the helm of the Marion Mets as he attended East Tennessee State University where he earned his degree in accounting. In 1976, Plummer was moved to New York and worked his way up to Director of Corporate Sales for the New York Mets.
Plummer never forgot his Marion roots. From his position in New York, he made sure little league teams in the area had equipment. When he’d come back to the visit, he made sure the neighborhood kids had memorabilia from the Mets. There was never a doubt about Plummer’s love of the Mets organization and as his high school baseball coach, Alvin Crowder. said after his death in 2008, “We will all miss that generous man with the contagious smile and unmistakable laugh who left our town and made it big”
To honor Plummer, the New York Mets officially named the ‘green room” at Citifield Stadium in Flushing New York “The Plum Room” in honor of Marion and Smyth Counties own, James Raymond Plummer.
Plummer will be inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2024. In advance of that honor, The Town of Marion has sponsored James Ray Plummer as a 2023 Inductee to the Smyth County Athletics Hall of Fame at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 18 at Hurricane House Gymnasium.
