There was Patsy's Pizzeria, Espresso Coffee cafe's, real Italian Ice shops & plenty of baseball. He earned the nick name "Duke" & being known as Duke Carmel he had a classic name, pefect for baseball.
Carmel was signed as an amateur free agent in 1955 by The St. Louis Cardinals. In 1957 he slugged 29 HRs with a .329 batting average leading his team to the Pioneer League Pennant. In 1959 he hit 23 HRs while batting .291 at AA Omaha getting pushed to AAA for three games, then debuting with the Cardinals for ten games in September.
In 1960 he only appeared in four games at the big league level & then spent two more seasons in the minor leagues, batting a best .243. In that time he went to the Dodgers, Indians organizations & then back to the Cardinals.

Those clever early Mets fans at the old Polo Grounds would even hang banners for Manager Casey Stengel saying "Hey Casey Put Up Your Dukes".
Carmel debuted as a Met at County Stadium in Milwaukee, getting two hits in an 8-0 Mets loss to the Braves. On August 8th Carmel had his big Mets moment when he hit a two run HR in the bottom of the 8th inning off the St. Louis Cardinals Bobby Shantz, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead & the eventual win.
On September 1st he hit a three run HR in the bottom of the first inning in a wild game against his old Braves team mates. The Mets would win the game on a walk off HR by Tim Harkness.

Carmel spent 1964 at AAA Buffalo having a big year with 35 HRs 99 RBIs & batting .271. The next year he was drafted as Rule V player by the AL New York club, playing just six games at the MLB level.
In Jim Bouton's book Ball Four he sardonically mentions Carmel was to be the next Joe Dimaggio. When he couldn't hit during Spring Training Whitey Ford told him " Your just not a Florida hitter". When he didn't hit up North he said " You just can't hit south of the Mason Dixon line". Carmel went 0-8 with five strike outs before getting reassigned.

Retirement: After baseball Carmel settled in Coram, New Jersey & became a salesman for a liquor store.
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