Meet the Mets

Meet the Mets, beat the Mets,
Step right up, defeat the Mets.
Bring your kiddies, bring your wife,
Guaranteed to have the time of your life.
Because the Mets are really droppin' the ball,
Watching those home runs over the wall.
East side, West side, everybody's coming down,
To beat the M-E-T-S Mets, of Brooklyn town.


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I give up

Just make it stop! Please! I can't watch, I can't listen, I can't even read about it anymore. 5 in the 9th off K-Rod to lose the game. Meanwhile, his old team clinches the division without his 162 saves. The Mets aren't even trying. Jerry Manuel is not even trying. They stopped trying around the same time they stopped getting hurt. Reyes is was trying. And he got hurt again, and he hasn't played since May.

I'm going to the game on Saturday to sit with the GKR group. That should be interesting - lost of Mets fans that mostly otherwise wouldn't be at the game at this point in the season from hell concentrated in one part of the ballpark to watch the game.

I'm going to the game on Sunday to sit in my "regular" seats, hopefully in those for the last time, where at least there will be some obstructions keeping me from seeing what goes on on the field.

Just make it end! Please!


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My Last Days At Shea - Part 4 - In My Life

This is part 4 in a 4 part series on my last days at Shea Stadium. This is the story of the "Shea Goodbye" ceremony.

So the season is over. Playoff hopes are gone. And all in the blink of an eye. A day that started with a bit of uncertainty now has a concrete ending. Shea Stadium has seen its last official pitch, and all that was left was the closing ceremony. A bit of a wait to set up the field. Not a good wait. Most fans stayed around after the loss to see this. It looked like a few couldn't bear to watch the rest.

Mr. Met came out to tear down the last number to reveal a Citi Field logo at the end of the countdown. Boos, but not for Mr. Met, but rather what his actions revealed (oh what a telling sign that was).


There was a great parade of former Mets and those affiliated with the club since the opening of Shea. A good mix of the different winning eras and some of the losing eras. Howie Rose read with excitement each name as the player came out from a bullpen down the side warning track to the edge of the infield grass. Quite a collection of the different white Mets jerseys. I could sense an order towards the end when they got to what I call the Mets dignitaries (Strawberry, Piazza, Koosman, Gooden, Seaver). They're all a bunch of names who's numbers belong painted on the outfield wall with the other retired numbers. There were a few players that I felt should have been included and names mentioned in their absense (such as the only manager to take the Mets to the playoffs and not be represented in some way, the first basemen from the greatest infield ever, or the "ace" of the staff before they got good again a dozen years prior to this parade). There also should have been something for the other teams that played at Shea, especially the Jets (the program from the final game had all that). Imagine Tom Seaver and Joe Namath on the same field together.

The best name to appear in terms of sentiment was Doc Gooden. A long time in absence from the Mets and Shea (he last appeared at Shea in a day-night doubleheader pitching for the Yankees against the Mets the same day that Clemens beaned Piazza in the other now-defunct ballpark). That felt really good to see him back in the good graces of Mets fans.

A video tribute to Mets baseball at Shea. A great scene of former Mets and former teammates coming together behind 2nd base from their different respective entrance lines and embracing. Doc and Darryl together in Mets jerseys for the first time in about 18 years.



The players came off the field towards home plate to touch the plate one last time, each to more ovation, and then one last pitch. Tom Seaver, the "franchise", and best pitcher the Mets have ever had, throwing to Mike Piazza, the greatest catcher that the Mets have ever had. Then they walked into the sunset together and out through the centerfield fence (the same place that I entered the field myself the day before) to the music of The Beatles' "In My Life" (and briefly before it, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". I will never be able to listen to "In My Life" again without thinking of this moment. I started to break down into tears when the song came on. One year later, listening to the song typing this, the same thing is happening.


The lights went off, it was close to sunset, fireworks went off, and that was it. At 6:22pm on September 28, 2008, Shea Stadium was closed for business. Nobody rushed the fans out of the ballpark. I got to stay for some time before I felt like I had to get my dad home. I walked slowly out for the last time.

"In My Life" was a very fitting song. I vaguely remember it on a history of the Mets video from the 1980s. And of course the Beatles connection to Shea. I think "In My Life" came on right when Seaver and Piazza hit the spot where the Beatles stage was for their first Shea concert behind 2nd base.

But the lyrics. Click that link and read the lyrics and tell me that it isn't the best set of lyrics for that moment.

Photos from the day:



Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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My Last Days At Shea - Part 3 - Shea Goodbye

This is part 3 in a 3 4 part series entitled "My Last Days At Shea", celebrating the first anniversary of the closing of Shea Stadium. This is my story of the final game at Shea.

This was a tough ticket to get. Every real Mets fan wanted one. I got mine through the luck of the draw. Since late in the 2006 season, I was part of a group that split up season tickets (4 seats in the Mezz box, first base side, just out from the camera well). We had enough people in the group so that everyone had tickets for 4 games. We also had a rule for the premium games that you could only take 2 tickets instead of 4 (with the tradeoff being 2 tickets to another game at the end of our draft, meaning probably a weeknight in April against the Nationals). For whatever reason, 10 people ahead of me passed on the finale. That made it kind of easy to get.

To gameday itself, I had my dad with me. We had been going to games together at least once per season since my first game in 1986. We arrived at the ballpark around 10am. In all the years of going to games at Shea, including a few opening days and playoff games, I had never seen the place so crowded that early. Lines to get in at every gate. People just kind of looking around. And it started raining, so batting practice was more of a quiet time for fans to walk around and reflect on however many years they had spent there. More chances to walk around taking pictures of "empty Shea". More time to have one last walk down each concourse.

I saw a bit of commotion in the Loge concourse where the MeiGray group was selling for the first time Shea memorabilia (I have many posts accounting my delivery of these items and visiting the warehouse a few times). I figured in order to get what I wanted, I needed to stop, look through the catalog, and figure out what I had written down in the past on my "wish list". I wish I had known they were going to be there selling things.

Rain delay and just too much time to kill before starting the game. You can only walk around slowly so many times. The Mets had a very important game to play. They could clinch at least a tie for the Wild Card, possibly making the game acutally not the last game at Shea (either a playoff game or the playoffs). Confusing. But the Mets by the 7th inning simplified matters, as did the Brewers in their game against the Cubs.

Just like many other games for what Gary Cohen called "team tightrope", the Mets had an early lead, things were looking good, and it didn't last. After the rain delay, the Mets game started around the same time as the Brewers game. Both games ended around the same time. Both games' results were set at about the same time a few innnings earlier.



The season was over. Shea was closing. And then a way for the closing act.

I've decided to make this a 4 part series

Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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My Last Days At Shea - Part 2 - The Santana Game

This is part 2 in a 3 4 part series on my last days at Shea. I bring you now to the final Saturday of the season, the penultimate scheduled game at Shea. At the time, the Mets season was hanging on by a thread. One loss and it's over. Scoreboard watching to see what Milwaukee and Philadelphia would do to possibly get us in the playoffs desipte another late-season collapse.

I had never sat in the bleachers in left field. I'd always wanted to. Nothing special about being out there other than it was different. But I didn't want to leave Shea for the last time without having sat there. I'd sat just about everywhere else at Shea (speaking in terms of general areas). I'd been looking for a way in for probably the last 2 seasons. They didn't sell individual tickets out there, only groups. OK, how do I get myself into a group that can get me into the picnic area and bleachers? I can fake the interest if it gets me out there. I don't care what game it is.

And stepping up to the plate was GaryKeithAndRon, the charity organization run by Lynn Cohen, wife of Mets TV play-by-play man Gary Cohen. Their "main event" group outing, penultimate game at Shea. Too perfect. No need to fake interest here. If there's one group I'd want to support it's one affiliated with fan favorite broadcasters Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. Picnic bleachers, 1,200 Mets fans, season on the line. This has the making of a great story. Let me add one thing, thrown in by the GKR group - anyone from the group wearing their t-shirt gets to walk on the warning track for the National Anthem. So now I get to sit in that elusive part of Shea, AND I get to be on the field. I was just glad the rain held off long enough to get the game in without much of a problem (there was about a 1 hour delay and the threat of heavy rain for the entire weekend).

I'm out at the ballpark early (as always, the first LIRR train from Penn Station to Shea), we get in and get our commerative pins and towels and I go to check out the sights (during BP). A different perspective on looking at "empty Shea" in its full vivid color. I get my food, GKR merchandise sale (I bought 3 more t-shirts), and appearances by Gary and Ron, all with a delay in the game while the fans are told to line up in the back to come out on the field. Somehow, with the delay and extra time and whatever else it was, I managed to be the first person standing in one of the two lines. I've got the camera ready to capture this one. First person on line isn't walking behind people to come on the field, only someone from the stadium security leading the group. First person on line gets to go as far down as they'll let us (which was to the foul line initially, then when the crowd swelled up so much, it was over the line and down a few feet).


For the game, well, it became known as "The Santana Game" in Mets lure, just like "The Imperfect Game" and some others. Our new ace Johan Santana came out on 3 days rest and pitched a complete game shutout (it was later revealed that he had a bum knee for at least that game and possibly even the entire month of September). Mets win 2-0. He kept the season going one more day. And that's another story.

A big "thank you" goes out to Lynn Cohen and the rest of the GKR group for setting this up, timing it perfectly in the Mets season, and allowing us onto the field. At the time of this writing, I have 5 of their t-shirts now and am looking forward to the 2009 "main event" group outing at the new ballpark on the final weekend of the season.


Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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My Last Days At Shea - Part 1 - Photo Day At Shea

The first anniversary of Shea Stadium's final game is upon us. So it's time to write about my last days at Shea. And I don't mean to infringe upon the title of the new book "The Last Days At Shea" by fellow blogger Dana Brand (which you can buy from amazon.com linked to on the right half of this blog). This is my story.

I start with a less exciting game. Actually games. I was at Shea's final doubleheader, a "regular" doubleheader to boot (as opposed to those greedy day-night doubleheaders). The story starts back in August when I got a new digital camera (I had one already, but after almost 5 years, they've improved in quality to the point where pictures look good). I decided that I wanted to have a day to spend at Shea to say goodbye. Walk around the park, poping out from different sections in different levels, taking pictures, and just looking around. It was easiest for me to find a weekend game, and there was a 4:05pm game against the Braves in September, so I didn't have to be up early in the morning and I could get some nighttime photos after the game with the neon signs illuminated (and yet not have to rush back to make the last train back to NJ). Anyway, 4:05pm game, timing worked out. Until it rained the day before and the Friday game was cancelled (acutally, there were 6 games postponed on Friday including in both NY stadiums). That led to 21 games being played on Saturday (with 5 doubleheaders played and one postponed). I saw 2 games on the single, cheap, back row Mezzanine ticket I had for Saturday. Good. 2 games to spend walking around Shea taking pictures. I get both daytime and nighttime photos. Perfect.

The games, for as much as I saw (and listened to on the radio), were somewhat of a microcasm of the 2008 Mets season, especially in the first game. Santana pitched for national TV, the Mets had a lead in the 8th, Santana left the game ahead 2-0, and 2 pitchers later in the 8th, the Mets were down 3-2. Jon Niese pitched and won in the 2nd game going 8 strong innings and the Mets won 5-0 in front of about 10,000 fans left in the ballpark.

It was also my first glimpse of the MeiGray Shea catalog (which at the time seemed like picking out the items in Grandma's house that you wanted to take before she was put in the old folk's home). Some sort of pre-sale and preview of items. Enough about them for now, other than to say cataloging the items must have like being a kid in the candy store.

I think walking around the inner ramps of Shea was like walking a condemmed man down the Green Mile. It was a last look, somewhat captured on (digital) film, from just about every part of Shea. One thing in particular I wanted then, that I was thinking about this week reading some posts from other Mets blogs, was getting what I call "empty Shea", where I can see the broadness of the seating bowl and its different levels in their full colorful glory before the fans in their various colored jerseys filled in the seats. When I think about Shea, I want to remember the colors. Citi Field makes those memories even more colorful.

In the end, I walked the concourses on each level, I got out to see the field from different angles (just to have fresh pictures of what that all looked like), and I even got what I call my "postcard" shot from the last row in the Upper Deck looking out to the entire field. I got everywhere except to the outfield bleacher seats. At the time, I still hadn't been there. That was going to change.

This is a very small sampling of photos from that doubleheader day, as well as the final two games.



Photo Day at Shea | The Santana Game | Shea Goodbye | In My Life


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Something Blue

From MetsBLog.com comes the direction that we should all wear blue at Citi Field next season.

Next season, I’d like to see every Mets fan who attends Citi Field wearing a blue shirt… nothing but blue… wear a blue Mets jersey, where a generic blue t-shirt, a blue jacket, this Mets jacket, whatever… but make it blue… this way, Citi Field will get the splash of blue paint it is sorely missing.

That puts my black jersey, snow white jersey, and white pinstriped jersey to waste, but I will be wearing blue for the game on October 4 (after my GKR t-shirt on October 3).


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The Onion Strikes Again

Another one from The Onion making fun of the Mets with excellent humor.

NEW YORK—With Citi Field attendance during Sunday's matchup barely reaching 70 percent, Mets pitcher John Maine let fans who actually came to see the bottom two NL East teams play shout out pitch requests during Nationals at bats. "What's that? A slider? I haven't thrown that old classic in a while, but I'll give it a go," Maine said during the fourth inning. "All right, submarine pitch, then a palm ball. That's a weird one, but if you want to see me throw one of those, let's hear you scream!" Requests were no longer accepted after a teenage boy asked Maine to "throw something faster than 91 miles per hour," to which Maine responded, "Shut the hell up."

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I'm Bored - Let's Play Trivia

No prize other than bragging rights...but a Mets trivia question for you.

Of all the players who have played for the Mets, only a few have become broadcasters for the club too. Of those select few, who is the only one to never win a World Series with the Mets (as a player)? I can't make it multiple choice because seeing the name would probably give away the answer, but can you name him?


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Injured Players

Here is an interesting take on injuries for the 2009 Mets. The following players from this season's roster did not play during the NHL's entire off season (defined here as the time between the end of the Stanley Cup Finals, June 12 and the first exhibition game, September 14):

• Carlos Delgado - last game was May 10


• Jose Reyes - last game was May 20


• Ramon Martinez - last game was June 2


• J.J. Putz - last game was June 4

John Maine missed being on this list by one day - he returned on September 13 after pitching June 6.

OK, I actually thought there were more players on this list. But when you consider 2 offensive keys and 2 of your top 5 pitchers (top 3 starters, setup man, closer) on this list, that spells doom.


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Happy Birthday to the longtime voice of the Mets

Gary Cohen reminded us on the TV broadcast today that today would have been Bob Murphy's 85th birthday. Murph, for you younger fans, is what I call "Forever the Voice of the New York Mets".

Just as I did on the anniversary of his passing, I invite you to listen to his voice from a couple of posts from earlier this year.

First is a few minutes of play-by-play and banter during Spring Training with Gary Cohen.

Second is something that I put up just before Opening Day and is available on the right side of (every page in) this site. Just Bob Murphy talking about Shea.

And I invite you to read (or re-read) something from Faith and Fear In Flushing that Greg Prince sent me about a month ago and posted about a year ago, in which he transcribed Bob Murphy's account of the first half inning at Shea Stadium. I can read those words and just imagine his voice in my head.


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My first game and my biggest game

Thanks to Greg Prince of Faith and Fear In Flushing for sending this over a while back from his "Flashback Friday" archives. It's a writeup on the first ever game I saw at Shea Stadium, attending as an 8 year old non-fan pulled out of school, and it happened 20 years ago today (September 18, 1986), the day after the Mets clinched the division. I can't say I was hooked on the Mets immediately. That didn't happen until the end of Game 6 and then Game 7 of the World Series. Those are the only three games from the 1986 season/post-season that I even remember watching, even parts of.

I wish I had pictures. I wish I had the scorecard. I wish I had the ticket stub. All I remember was Hojo hit a home run and Rick Anderson pitched. Mets won 5-0. I found out years later that Greg Maddux pitched for the Cubs that day. You'll recognize the game in any highlights because of the green "band-aids" on the outfield grass (that's how my father explained to me what that was, while later Vin Scully called it "Sharks at feeding time"). This wasn't the regular Mets lineup.

Today is also the anniversary of the 2006 Mets clinching the division (many many similarities to the 1986 Mets). I attended that game along with my father to honor the 20th anniversary of my first game. I also knew when I picked the game in August that it would be that year's clincher. I have the ticket stub, program, photos, and video from the 2006 game.




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The season is almost over

As Coop reminded me in her recent post, it's hockey season already. Preseason hockey anyway. While that is a good thing, it also signals the end of the baseball season.

That means there's only a limited number of times to listen to Howie Rose and Wayne Hagin (especially if Howie leaves us a bit early to go back to his winter job with the Islanders) and a limited number of times to listen to Gary, Keith, and Ron (and Kevin and Ralph, especially Ralph since you just never know). And it means there's limited window to watching baseball, meaningful or not, before the Yankees playoff games are thrown in our faces.


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Ballpark Review - Philadelphia

Forgive me for saying this (my blue pinstripes may be taken away for this), but I went to the baseball stadium in Philadelphia on Sunday and enjoyed the ballpark. The Mets lost (so what else is new). But my friend and I walked all over the ballpark and we really liked it.

There was a great atmosphere in the park. The home team is in first place. The fans were all into the game, and the day. Cheering on their failing closer and other stars. Making noise mostly without being asked to do so. Almost everyone there was wearing a Phillies jersey of some sort (they have a few different types, all represented in my section), and none of these were cheap knockoffs (and not saying all of our Mets jerseys are, and meaning that the proper colors were used for the name and number of the back of the jersey). The seats are all Phillies-blue (it's a seldom used color, but it's there), and it was a really good visual contrast with the fans in the seats wearing different whites and reds, showing you all of the team's colors. It was good. It was fun.

Walking around my eyes started seeing many comparisons to Citi Field. A Phillies fan may come to Citi Field and call it a cheap knockoff of the Philly park. So let me begin the comparisons in the outfield area.

They had lots of open space, wide and open concourse, varried concessions, sunshine, and just a feeling that this park belonged to the Phillies (I couldn't quite put my finger on it). The outfield area is the most unique. Wikipedia describes Ashburn Alley better than I do. Hidden behind the pictures on your TV is a Phillies Hall of Fame. A big, but not eye sore-big, scoreboard is over there too. And bullpens that you could spit into.


Except for the food, Philly set up the space better. A bar and grille named after a popular broadcaster (Harry the K's after Harry Kalas) - does anyone want a place at Citi Field called "The Happy Recap" named for Bob Murphy? A BBQ pit named after another well liked player ("Bull's BBQ" for Greg "The Bull" Luzinski, or for the Mets, "Rusty's"). The whole open area named for a popular Phillie player and broadcaster (how about Casey Stengel Plaza at Citi Field, I like it for the area above the Rotunda on the Promenade level).

Inside, where the color of the brick fits the Phillies scheme, there's plenty of Phillies stuff inside, but otherwise almost identical to Citi Field. Except that I noticed something while going over the pictures, something that Citi Field was lacking that I just couldn't put my finger on. Sunshine. The Philly ballpark main concourse is at street level, so the entrances from outside go right there. Openings in the brick castle. As someone once sang, "Let the sunshine in" (or was it "Let the sun shine in"?). The two parks were so alike that the layout of the concourse and steel in RF and the bridge from the 2nd concourse above me to the RF area looked almost exactly like Citi Field. Another thing inside, and a few of my blogger-friends can appreciate me saying this, were hanging banners of different Philly players. Something greatly missing at Citi Field.


Citi Field's Excelsior level seemed to be modeled after the second deck in Philly. My friend and I went up to our seats out in LF (this part is miror image from Citi Field - Citi has the LF landing and Philly has it in RF). We got up, went to walk, got two sections over, and got stopped at the entrance to the Hall of Fame club. The RF side looked bigger but we never got over there. Many suites, and many were full for a Sunday afternoon game. Their seating comes out to meet the regular folk.


Upstairs to the very open upper level (I think they call it the Terrace there). Very similar design to what Citi Field has, except for one big thing that I noticed in the pictures. There are no back walls, so it feels real open and the sun shines in (concessions along that side did have back walls though, but the concourse wasn't completely enclosed0. Even the staircases are open, and not enclosed (probably bad in a rain storm, though, to be open). This level also had a Phillies feel. Even the steel beams in the ballpark are the old Phillies maroon color.


They did appear to do something better in Philly - access to the upper seats (the seats above the concourse). It's a staircase underneath the seats that winds up to the middle of the section (think of the seats behind home plate at Citi Field where you basically walk over the club into the seats). So the fans in the first rows aren't distracted by those plexiglass railings and barriers, or even by people entering the seating area. That's really the way it should be.


One other thing that I saw on the LED ribbons was something that said "Welcome to Citizen's Bank Park - Home of the Philadelphia Phillies". Has anyone seen something similarly worded at Citi Field? Maybe I just didn't notice. My friend didn't recall seeing one.


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More on Keith Hernandez

Neil Best of Newsday has more on Keith Hernandez, here (on his wife Kai) and here (on his retirement from being a player). This goes with the story that Best wrote on Keith and Kai as well as the main article and video.


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The Mets have been officially eliminated from playoff contention

It's over. Officially. And there's still baseball to play this season.

11:00pm, September 13, 2009 - After being swept in a doubleheader in Philadelphia, the Mets have been eliminated from both Division play and the Wild Card in the same game. With 18 games left ot play, the Mets have also assured themselves of no better than a .500 season.


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I'm Keith Hernandez

Neil Best of Newsday recently spent a night at Keith Hernandez's house in Sag Harbor. He wrote his Sunday column about the experience. A video tour followed (the Newsday website has been a bit flaky since it was redesigned a few months ago, and the video page is no different).

Neil Best writes a column called Sports Watch for Newsday and a blog called Watchdog that cover sports media

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Flashback Saturday

To borrow (and change) an expression from the blog Faith And Fear In Flushing, today is Flashback Saturday watching the Mets game.

Former Mets TV play-by-play man (and current Radio play-by-play man) Howie Rose is filling in on the FOX Sports telecast with former TV announcer Tim McCarver. The duo never worked together (like when FOX had Ralph Kiner visit the booth for an inning last year working with Tim McCarver), but it's both good and a bit strange to hear both familiar voices in places that I knew them when I was growing up.


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MLB Productions

As I flip between the Mets (playing through the mist), Tennis (now in a weather delay), and some crappy music thing that's supposed to be NFL Football, I came across this non-Mets item.

MLB Productions in Secauscus, NJ, is naming their different studios (like where This Week In Baseball is taped) after legendary broadcasters Ernie Harwell, Mel Allen, and Vin Scully. Read about it here.

All great broadcasters who's careers span almost the entierty of broadcasting. Allen came to the Yankees and Giants in the summer of 1939 to broadcast home games. Harwell started with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948 and moved to the NY Giants for 1950-1953 (still alive and retired at age 91, he was recently diagnosed with incurable cancer). Vin Scully, the "kid" of the group, has been with the Dodgers since 1950 and still calls home games and short (distance-wise) road trips (nothing east of the Rockies).

I can't think of anyone else more deserving of that honor. Can you?


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Doc and the Bears

From the NY Times today - Doc Gooden to be named senior vice president for the Neward Bears. Gooden "would be an ambassador and assist in youth camps and with Little League development in Newark" and "will work with Manager Tim Raines ... instructing the players". Gooden and Raines were teammates with Yankees.

It's just good to see Doc back in the area and doing something positive. It was so great seeing Doc return to the Mets last September and a bit during the season.

The current Bears roster features ex-Major Leaguers such as INF D'Angelo Jimenez, INF Rob Mackowiak, ex-Met OF Carl Everett, OF Charlton Jimerson, ex-Yankee RP Ramiro Mendoza, and P Scott Williamson. ex-Major Leaguer Tim Raines is the Manager along with ex-Major Leaguers (Pitching coach) Mike Torrez and (hitting coach) Ron Karkovice.


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From Shea Stadium to Citi Field

From Marty Noble on MLB.com who has been covering the Mets for what seems like forever comes, in his words, Shea Stadium's Open Letter to Citi Field. Clever.


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If my calculations are correct

Give or take a day or two, 6 months from today, we should be seeing those sights and hearing those warm sounds that mean Spring Training 2010. It will be a refreshing change from the (probably) cold winter in New York, New Jersey, and/or Connecticut. We'll get our first look at Tradition Field, and my annual Ralph Kiner is still alive post (we all hope!).

(give or take) 6 months from today.

Notice that I'm paying very little attention to the 2009 Mets at this point.


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More humor

And from the humor department...from my friend over at Studious Metsimus comes the Hot Dog eating contest that we've all been waiting for. Carlos Beltran, rehabbing at Coney Island, vs. Takeru Kobayashi, best known for the 4th of July Nathan' Hot Dog Eating Contest. Great suff, and somewhat fitting with the timing being Labor Day weekend, maybe a new tradition to come after July 4th.


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A fan's take on the US Open

With all due respect to the Mets [sarcasm], a first week US Open day session ticket is the best bang-for-your-buck in all of sports [seriously]. A $62 ticket got me 11 hours of live tennis on Friday. Planning back in June, I had no way to know that the better marquee matches would be played Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, but it was still a good day. The US Open of course is located on the old World's Fair grounds adjacent to the Shea Stadium/Citi Field site.

One thing I observed was just lots of people. The US Open is out-drawing the Mets and setting attendance records on an annual basis now. They need to expand some of the side courts to handle the larger crowds during the first week. Fans can sit on small bleachers (2 or 3 rows deep) next to each side court (not including the main 3) on one side, and in some, both sides, to watch the action on that court (the other side is usually a larger set of bleachers for a couple hundered fans). these are nice because you can turn around and watch another court. Fine for small crowds, but there were some matches where the big bleachers were filled and the open side was swelled with people that fans were lined up on the top of the other set of bleachers to stand over the crowd and between was lined up 2 or 3 deep to try to watch that action. They really need to expand the seating area to fix that.

I'll get an album on webshots at some point.

Another thing I noted was about Arthur Ashe Stadium itself. Back in April, I had compared it to the brand new Citi Field, saying how generic-looking Citi Field was from the inside. Not a knock on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but one on Citi Field, since a baseball stadium belonging to a team should not have that generic look.

I also mentioned that the plexiglass safety barriers that Citi Field uses are similar to the ones at Ashe Stadium, which I've noted (maybe just to myself) create obstructions. I got to see Ashe Stadium in person for the first time since making those comparisons. In the tennis photo here, there is plexi glass behind the railing from the stairs. Both stadiums use a similar design with boxes below the concourse level and the regular seating above it, with stairs from the concourse up to the first row. Somehow, Ashe Stadium did it better.




While annonying at Ashe Stadium to have them, the two facilities are constructed around them differently, and they can block your view of lower seating and not the court by moving just 2 or 3 rows back, and not even block anything by moving just 5 or 6 seats away from the aisle. That's really not so bad. Citi Field has larger plexiglass and seats that are pitched differently and angeled differently that it causes more obstructions.

Here I'm able to move just a few seats over and this is not a problem. I don't remember being able to do that at Citi Field. Going 10 rows up at Ashe Stadium, this is a non-issue. Not at Citi Field.



A few other things - beware of the sun. It'll get you. Wear sunscreen and sunglasses if you have them. It's quicker to get in to the complex if you don't have any bag/purse at all, but if you must, small ones only. Their rule, not mine. Drink plenty of water and/or gatorade. Forget about the dollar cost. If you want to spent 10 hours there, you need it. Take mass transit. It's just easier, especially for the days when the Mets are home. If you're taking the (LIRR) train, they run all day. Just like after a Mets game, if the track-level platform fills up, they'll hold you and you may miss your connection at Penn Station. Actually, that was almost the case Friday night just after I got down there, along with the 8th inning departers from Citi Field.


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a new Mets take on Monopoly

This comes from Faith And Fear In Flushing's Jason Fry and courtesy of the Wall Street Journal's website.

MetsSloppily. I Mets-themed Monopoly parody that kind of sums up the 2009 season. Check it out.


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Why cut back attending in 2010?

Since most readers have said (through my poll on the right side of the site) that they are planning on attending fewer games at Citi Field in 2010 than they did in 2009, let me pry a bit further and ask why.

1. low expectations for the team/poor play


2. tickets (in 2009) are over-priced


3. not falling for those ticket mislabeled packages again


4. dislike of the ballpark (aside from ticket prices/packages)


5. the bad economy (aside from ticket prices)


6. other - drop me a line as to why

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Start looking to next year

Keith Hernandez just said on SNY that the Mets will open next season at home (first time in quite a few years that they aren't opening on the road, if my memory serves correctly) and then head to Denver to start the 2010 season's first road trip. I believe Opening Day 2010 is April 4-6 (Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday for some teams).

In a related note, Spring Training games start in about 6 months.


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It's been almost a week since I watched a Mets game

Yes, it has been 6 nights since I watched a Mets game. It just seems weird. Very weird. Where were they? Where was I? I've actually watched and listened to 1 televised game in the past 9 days (and had one other on in the background while meeting some other Mets fans last week). After that unassisted triple play, they had 3 day games last week, I was at work and had to listen, and that seems like a very long time ago. They had games in Chicago, and I was in Boston, New Hampshire, and then Maine. Then they were off.

I started getting used to NOT having to watch the Mets. Sorry Gary, Keith, and Ron. I like you guys, but the break was good. Now that it's September, I'll be looking for distractions from the Mets. Is it worth watching? The U.S. Open is this week and next, and I'll be there all day Friday when the Mets come home again. Hockey games will be on TV starting the week after that. Just a few, but it's a change. LET'S GO DEVILS! A new season of primetime network television comes later in September, officially the 64th.

The Mets have to fight for my attention.


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