Welcome back if your are returning. Welcome if you’re first timers. I am not going to recap my part1 article here so please go back and read that first if you haven’t already.
I left off with the incredible joy the 1969 New York Mets brought me and the entire city of New York. Let’s face it, something very strange was going on that year in so many ways. Besides the fact the Mets won the World Series over a heavily favored Baltimore Orioles team, the NY Jets upset the Baltimore Colts, the NY Knicks won a world championship, man landed on the moon along with the infamous Woodstock concert. It was quite a crazy year.
As an 8 year old and having been a Met fan for only a couple of seasons, I thought this being a fan thing was going to be a continuous fun ride. While I was aware of the surprise this team was pulling off, I think I was too young and lacked baseball history, let alone the minimum time being a fan, to truly appreciate the miracle this team achieved. Gil Hodges, the manager, did something few have done in such a short period of time, not only in baseball, but in any sport.
I could go on waxing about my history as a fan and my experiences on a personal level with some of the team and its history. Such as my Dad bringing home a puppy from his mail route in Hamilton Beach to cheer me up because I was so depressed when the Mets lost the World Series to the A’s in 1973. I still lament. Yogi? Why? Why? Why did you pitch Seaver on three days rest when we had two shots at winning the series? Save the best for last. I loved Yogi, but ouch, not a good managerial decision.
After that, the Mets hit the skids. The team fell in the standings and then M. Donald Grant traded the franchise Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds. It felt like my heart had been ripped out or a family member was taken from me. How could this happen?! I suppose this was my first exposure to the business aspect of this game. My first feeling of ownership not really caring about the fans. Perhaps the loss of the innocence that happens in a relationship. Maybe, just maybe, in looking back it was the first baby step in wanting a divorce.
So like all Met fans we went through the George “The Stork” Theodores and Jim Beauchamps and Wayne Twitchell’s of the world. By 1977 they finished the season 37 games out of first place. Then there was a baseball strike in 1981 which was also another blow to the fans. Although to be honest, it spared Met fans from having to go through 162 games of misery for a season.
Into the early 80’s things just didn’t get better. In 1983 they finished 26 games under .500. By this time I went from my teens into my early 20’s and we would still go to a few games a year, because as ugly as they were, these were our beloved Mets. Then in 1984 something started happening. Frank Cashen had taken over the team a bit earlier, but was now building a winning club. Rookies by the names of Gooden and Strawberry were doing amazing things right out of the box. The additions of Hernandez, Carter and Knight suddenly made the Mets contenders in a little more than a season.
Next thing you know, 1986 comes along with a World Championship. Albeit, not an easy one. As any Met fan knows between the Astros series and game 6 and the same of the series with the Red Sox, the Tums were a regular part of our diet. I have to say while winners, that was a rather tough and nasty team. Not the most likable bunch. In fact, at the time, I’m not sure they all liked each other very much. They did know how to win however, at least for one season.
I had a conversation with Keith Hernandez years later at WNBC and after thanking him for giving us Met fans a championship his reply was “well we should have won a few with that team”. To be honest, in retrospect that was a very dysfunctional team with a ton of talent.
In quickly moving forward, we had the Subway Series in 2000. The Piazza homerun against the Braves the first game back from 9-11. I must say, I was at game 7 when the Mets won their last world championship and I was also at the game after 9-11 when Piazza launched that rocket over the wall. The ladder was the most amazing moment I truly ever experienced at Shea Stadium. Strangers hugging each other jumping up and down with tears in our eyes. It was more than a ballgame.
I should also mention in my memories as a Met fan, my wife Nancy and I along with our best man Fitz being the last group of people to run onto the field after the Mets clinched the Division against the Cubs in 1986. It was really awful the way the fans tore up the field, not sure why just running on the field to celebrate wasn’t enough for many. Still a great memory watching my friend simulate a slide into third base, which of course the fans had already ripped out of the field.
I will also never forget the amazing run the Mets put together in 2015. It was a particularly difficult year personally for me as that’s when my wife’s illness kicked in and that summer she attempted a bone marrow transplant to save here life. The Mets served as a great distraction that year, but fell short in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.
So bringing us up to the present and why I want a divorce. Of course last year the Mets put together their second best regular season record in their history and proceeded to do the old fold-a-roonie against the Padres in three games, with all the games being played at home, I might add. That left a not so great taste in my mouth heading into this season. Fans were jumping for joy or maybe just licking their chops when we signed Justin Verlander during the off season. As a long time Met fan I knew this would not be the golden ticket some fans thought it would be to the postseason once again. I figured injuries or just age would be catching up. Not a ton of pitchers have great seasons post 40 years of age.
When I posted my first blog about wanting a divorce from the NY Mets it received a fairly hardy response on my social media pages. Most were in some sort of agreement with at least the sentiment. One fan however, attempted to call me out as being “another fair weather fan”. “You have no loyalty or integrity. Good riddance to you.” I love how people turn this into a personal angry attack. Let’s just say I responded calmly and factually. Hard to call a loyal fan of 55 years “fair weather”. Maybe he was just making a weather reference for me. Some fans apparently had already filed for divorce from the team and in some cases major league baseball altogether.
So yes, maybe I should just file for a separation right now. I’m pretty much living that at this point as I have not watched a single pitch since the purge. Of course curiosity and working in the news business I hear the scores and see that Mr. Cohen clearly ripped the heart out of the team, or what was left, and they lost 6 games straight. Since then, as of this writing, they have lost 10 of their last 12 games, with the low point being a doubleheader loss to the Braves with the combined score of 27-3. Apparently the players want a divorce as well.
I want to be clear. The point about the divorce is NOT about winning or losing. If it were, I would have filed a long time ago with this team. There’s a reason I still have two Shea Stadium seats in my yard. A brick with my family’s name on it at Citi-Field. Countless shirts, jerseys and jackets as well as newspaper clippings from 1969 still in my possession. It’s because I LOVED this team, I love the game of baseball. It use to represent childhood and innocence and summer to me. When your first world championship as a fan is the 1969 Amazin Mets, it becomes more than just a game. It’s a representation of life.
Baseball doesn’t play by a clock ( well it didn’t in the past). Like life, you never know exactly how long you have. As in life, the best parts can happen early, in the middle, or at the very end. Heroes can become goats in the same game and vice versa. It’s a beautiful game, even if the pace is slow relative to other sports. I’ve always been an underdog fan. I don’t feel comfortable rooting for teams that are supposed to win. Case in point why the 1986-88 Mets were not my favorite Met team. This team this year was supposed to win. They didn’t. They failed for the most part through 2/3 of the season.
That being said there was still 59 games to play and they were 6.5 games out of a wild card spot. Of course it would be tough with many teams to leap over. Impossible? No. Probable? No. However, the chance was still there with the players they had. Instead, ownership has a house clearing sale. This after saying they weren’t going to do that. Here in lies my problem. The people who are running the team decide we will throw in the towel for not only this year, but probably next and perhaps beyond that. We are now investing in 17-19 year olds who are 3-5 years away and I would fathom a guess that if 25% of them ever sniff the majors it will be a high return. However, you still want the fans to come out and buy tickets, watch games on TV, purchase merchandise after you pretty much just spat in our face.
The fans are the main reason baseball exists. You can play the game, but if nobody is watching and putting their hard earned money toward watching, then nobody makes money and the game is over. With the huge deals from broadcasting, raised ticket prices and concession costs that make it impossible for a family of 4 or 5 go to a game without taking out a loan, this is how you treat these people? I get the concept of rebuilding. They could just as well played out this year to see if they could turn it around. Start next season with your bullpen ace, Diaz back on the field. Keep your two top pitchers that you signed huge contracts with to win a championship and maybe add a player or two during the offseason. Instead you decimated. I don’t even know who half these guys are and I don’t have the time or desire to find out. Baseball is a team sport. Teams get stronger and better when they play together. Fans get connected to teams when they have the same group of players to root for game after game. I know there are changes, but this was too much. Too inconsiderate to fans.
When all is said and done I feel like I’m rooting for a logo. An enterprise or name, not a team. I don’t have time or the desire for a relationship that in the end never cares about me(Met fans). So as much as it pains me, I will continue the separation with the intent of divorce. It was a tumultuous 55 year marriage with many cherished amazing moments. Thank you New York Mets. However for now and quite possibly forever……farewell.
The reality is, this is only sports. It’s a form of entertainment (sometimes a stretch to call it that). Life goes on with or without it. We have seen it during strikes as well as a pandemic. If you’re a fan and are OK with all of this, then please go on being a fan. For me, I think I’m done.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!! Almost time for the next agita season.
If you got this far thank you. Sunshine Always!!!
