Mets Are a Series of Hellos and Goodbyes

“Bless you Henry Blake, your work here will never be forgotten.” That line, delivered sans jocularity by Father Mulcahy in “Abyssinia, Henry,” the March 1975 episode of M*A*S*H that bade goodbye to the 4077th’s departing commanding officer — and actor McLean Stevenson — echoed through my mind Sunday after learning Rod Barajas was suddenly an ex-Met. Colonel Blake’s farewell was an emotional scene, but come the following September, M*A*S*H was starting another season, with a new CO (Harry Morgan as Sherman T. Potter) and the Korean War endured another eight seasons on CBS. Henry Blake was mentioned a few times for dramatic effect between 1975 and 1983, but otherwise, one suspects, his work was largely forgotten. That’s TV for ya. Rod Barajas? His immediate fate appears happier than that of Colonel Blake (shot down over the sea of Japan) or McLean Stevenson’s sitcom career (NBC’s The McLean Stevenson Show, a quickly cancelled precursor to the more memorable for being forgettable...