The Mets owner didn’t just manage to escape blame from the press.

She became the toast of the town.

‘Mother of the Mets’
Joan Whitney Payson had a decidedly elitist background. She grew up in one of the world’s wealthiest families, the benefactors of art museums and opera houses. She collected priceless paintings by the masters – Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Matisse. Her grandfather had been secretary of state, and her brother was the U.S. ambassador to the U.K.