But if you're watching at the stadium or on TV, look for this (ok, I don't know if it will be broadcast on TV, but I'd have to think there will be highlights during the pregame show or during the game):
I plan on winning. For as much as I wanted this to be fun to be involved with, I've always thought my idea, both the original idea and the one I ended up with, were good enough to win. I'll explain all of that later tonight or tomorrow.
Let me explain the banner.
- In the bottom left, it says "Met Power!". That is a tribute to Shea Stadium's "sign man", Karl Ehrhardt. That's a recreation of one of his signs, and perhaps his most famous.
- Moving up is a recreation of the patch created in tribute to Gary Carter.
- Moving up on the left side is the 3 retired numbers that today are somewhat hidden behind the crowd on the new LF Party Deck in front of the Great Wall of Flushing. They are also recreations, but I removed the black drop-shadow (hint hint).
- And moving up again is the "K Corner" in tribute not only to Doc Gooden but to the fans who celebrated Doc in the mid 80s. It's another recreation based on a photo from "Mets Yearbook 1985".
- Above that are recreations of 3 of the neon ballplayers from the exterior of Shea Stadium. And in it unfortunately are some glue spots.
- At the top left it a tribute to a modern day sign, a twitter hash tag. This one is "#NotTonightBoss", something said (unfortunately) every game by @MetsWFAN producer/engineer Chris Majkowski. He has fun with it, but it's something that started before twitter lamenting about the lack of a no-hitter by a Mets pitcher.
- Moving to the top right is another one that is a tribute to a great Met figure, Casey Stengel. I have come to learn that there was a sign posted during 1962 Spring Training that said "Stengelese Spoken Here", speaking about the weird language that the new Mets manager spoke. Please tell me I don't have to explain that to you. But it's probably the original sign with regards to the Mets.
- Moving down on the right side are the other 3 neon figures from Shea.
- Then is Sid Fernandez's fans' version of the "K Corner", where they counted strikeouts for Sid. That was recreated from a photo in Sid's profile in "50 Greatest Mets".
- Continuing down the right side are the 2 World Series Championship banners, again recreated from photos. I felt there was only room to include those 2.
- On the bottom right is a recreation from one of my favorite Banner Day banners, from 1969 (nearly how it was depicted in Mets Yearbook 1969). I changed the colors very slightly.
- In the middle near the top is a tribute to the Shea Stadium scoreboard and DiamondVision screen - "Welcome to Banner Day at Shea Stadium". That's how those screens would have welcomed us to today in Shea's later days.
- In the middle of the banner is my "centerpiece", an original piece based on a joking expression that I came up with about 3 years ago on this blog when I was thinking that the Mets should trash and rebuild, and by the 50th anniversary, they'd be better. It didn't work that way, but I liked the expression "Mets 2012: Rejuvenated at 50". The style of it is based on the new uniforms, which were introduced last November on the same day as Banner Day, which was the same day I came up with the first designs for this banner. "Mets 2012" is done in the style of the new blue Mets batting practice jersey as if there was a player wearing the number "2012". It's recreated from a photograph. "Rejuvenated" is in the font seen on the road jerseys (again, the new style because there's no black drop shadow) with the word "At" in the style of the players' name on the back of that jersey (as if there was a player named "At"). And that is an actual 50th Anniversary patch, because I wasn't going to try to draw it.
I hope you enjoy watching my banner as well as all of Banner Day. I will be posting photos on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RememberingShea) this morning, as well as telling you there how you can vote for me should it get that far.
Leave a comment or drop me a line at DyHrdMET [at] gmail [dot] com. Your comments will fall into a moderation queue.
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