Former Mets/Twins P Jerry Koosman is currently serving a 5 month sentence for tax evasion in a Duluth, MN federal prison. As you might expect, he’s in no rush to chat about the glamorous inmate lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean he can’t look forward to vists from his close friend and orthopedist Bob Meisterling…who is all too quick to spill the beans to the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Charley Walters :
Koosman, who won two World Series games for the 1969 champion New York “Miracle Mets” and another for the Mets in the 1973 World Series, arises each day about 6 a.m., plays some bridge, goes to breakfast, then begins his prison job as a sweeper.
Koosman’s first job at the prison was as a regular sweeper. Pay: $5.50 per month. Then he was promoted to chief sweeper and received a $2.75 per month increase.
Of the sweeper promotion, Meisterling said Koosman told him that’s when he knew he had become more important because it was then that he had been assigned an assistant sweeper, a trainee.
Koosman has lost 10 pounds during his prison stay. He coaches a softball team there and jokes that he volunteers to retrieve foul balls that sail over the fences.
During his visit, Koosman told Meisterling, “The experience you get up here is worth a million dollars. But you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to come and do it again.”