Reviews

How One Met Fan Is Getting Through

9/17/2013

It's All That Mets Fans Have

Being a licensed sports columnist, I cannot root for any team, you understand. But I know this guy named Spencer who is agonizing over the last weeks of yet another wretched Mets season. This is what he said:

“It’s awful. We lost Parnell and Wright and Harvey and then Davis, who could at least field when he wasn’t moping. I understand why they shipped Byrd and Buck at the trading deadline, but geez, they were professionals. As soon as Byrd was gone, you could pitch around their whole lineup.

“What else did they have? Hawkins has been great, willing to be a closer because there was nobody else. I respect Murphy and Quintanilla for trying. I like the energy of Young – he showed me something the day he collided with Hudson at first base, showing real concern. Now it sounds as if the Mets may not want him back. Who else they got? Lagares can catch a ball. D’Arnaud is not ready, not sure he ever will be.

“Collins kept them together. They still play for him. The Mets should bring him back because he’s a teacher and he doesn’t let up. Maybe they will, just on the theory that they couldn’t find anybody else capable to take over this bunch.

“You know how long this season has lasted? Tejada and Duda are back, playing regularly. Talk about a season going nowhere. Ownership has screwed up this franchise so badly.

“The only thing I have left is rooting for the Pirates. I love the old teams who stayed where they belonged. What self-respecting National League fan wants to see the team of Clemente and Stargell losing, decade after decade? I enjoy seeing Byrd contributing, and young talented guys like McCutcheon. It’s all we got. Go, Bucs.”

Tsukimi/Full Moon Festival/ Yokohama/ By Mets Fan Haruko

Ed Martin

9/18/2013 10:44:45 am

"I should stood in bed," went the old Brooklyn Dodger saying. That young pitching staff, Gee, Wheeler, Niese and Harvey still offers hope, hope that Harvey's arm can bounce back. Meanwhile I have some fond memories of the Pirates, where during my graduate studies in the U. of Pgh. Cathedral of Learning we could see center and right field and the same amount of infield, and, if the game was close, walk over and get in free around the seventh inning the opened the metal roll-down gates at Forbes Field. Dick Groat, Mazeroski, Roberto,Smokey Burgess to say nothing of Bob Friend and Elroy Face, and the others entertained from 1957-60, finally winning the pennant. Your remember that Spencer, don't you? My favorite moment of humor was when I learned the players had nicknamed Dick Stuart, the first baseman, "Clang"--for the sound the ball made when it hit his glove.

George Vecsey

9/18/2013 03:20:56 pm

I was lucky enough to cover some games there in the 60's. The mets team bus let us into Forbes Field through the commissary -- overwhelming smell of popcorn popping. You wanted to dive right in.
And then you got to watch Clemente.
GV

Alan Rubin link

9/19/2013 03:41:54 am

George

I would think being a Met fan today is infinitely more frustrating than the days of Casey and Marvelous Marv, etc, when management was committed to building a new team and it was fun. Today, it is a mess from top to bottom with little to look forward to.

I do not follow the day to day of any sport, except soccer, to comment on the merits of players, but I agree that Collins should have been given more time as the manager. Teams in many sports tend to not give managers and coaches enough time.

In my younger days as a Yankee fan, I also followed the Tigers, Cardinals and the Pirates. The quirky Polo Grounds was my favorite ball park.

For some reason, at a Pirate's game, we decided to sit dead center in the bleachers, 595 ft away. (12 year olds have better eye sight.) Ralph Kiner hit an inside the park homer that landed on the dirt leading to the club house.. The ball must have traveled over 625 ft on the fly.

Bill Mazeroski’s ninth inning homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series was another great memory. The series in itself was very exciting and I was disappointed that the Yankees lost, but I had won four office pools.

If you look at the current MLS standings, there is another reason why soccer should continue to gain popularity. There are many cities in which MLS teams are performing better than their baseball brethren. The Red Bulls and Montreal are fighting for first place in the East, but a host of teams are still in the playoff hunt.

George Vecsey

9/19/2013 06:03:00 am

Les Expos Vivent!

Ed Martin

9/19/2013 01:19:57 pm

Montreal Gazette reported last week that Toronto and Mets scheduled two exhibition games there next spring. I saw real. Games there a couple of times when "Le Grande Orange" was still there with some other good ballplayers. Je regret. C'est tristesse.

George Vecsey

9/19/2013 02:30:31 pm

Ed, I covered the first game there at Jarry. Workers were painting things at 10 am.
I've heard that Montreal would like to snag one of the Florida teams that cannot fill their ball parks.
GV

9/19/2013 02:55:07 pm

The attendance at Tropicana is so poor and the Rays have had some good teams. When I have gone to some Bosox or Damn Yankees games their are more fans rooting for them than the Rays. (and the crowds are bigger.). Sad. I would hate to see them leave, but I would probably see more games in the O, being there all summer. The new. Stadium did not cure Miami's attendance problems, so if they move I could see the Metropolitans, et.al. And hopefully things in Tampa will pick up, unlikely, but the best of both worlds for me.

Charlie Accetta

9/19/2013 02:56:44 pm

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rays head north. That stadium is inaccessible and a giant indoor trailer park when you finally find your way there. I'll just suggest that they leave the cowbells behind.

Thor A. Larsen

9/20/2013 08:58:42 am

Speaking about rooting for a local basebal team, the Yanees had always been my favotite team since I arrived from Norway as a 10 yr old and settled initially in the Bronx. The enthusiasm for the Yankee started to diminish when they started buying these players with outlandish contracts and often short-lived. With Mariano Rivera retiring and now, Andy Pettitte as well, with the unlikely return of Derek Jeter, there is only Robinson Cano the only classy player remaining who came up from the minors who remain. Even though Alex Rodriguez has been with the Yakees for some years, I do not consider him a real Yankee of the Mantle/Maris/Munson calibre. The Yankees do not seem to have a viable farm system anymore and watchng a team with rotating palyers at each position robs any enthusiasm I had for all these years.

George Vecsey

9/20/2013 03:24:42 pm

A-Rod broke Gehrig's career record for grand slams. How does that go down for Yankee fans?
GV

Thor A. Larsen

9/20/2013 04:18:30 pm

George,
The reason I did not honor the accomplshments of Alex Rodriguez, including his record-setting grand slam this evening, was that I assumed he was guilty of using PEDs. If he is proven innocent after the hearings at the end of September, I will put him back on the very high pedestal of Yankee lore.

Thor A. Larsen

9/20/2013 04:40:36 pm

ooops---I had a problem puting up my reply as I tried and was rejected....but seems it had gone through---my apologies, George...

Alan Rubin link

9/20/2013 05:20:24 pm

Thor

Refresh the site when you get the red message that it did not go through. This almost always works.

As a precaution, copy your message before submitting as it occasionally gets lost when refreshing.

On the other hand, it is a good way to get a point across LOL.

Thor A. Larsen

9/21/2013 03:44:19 am

Thanks very much, Alan, for your helpful suggestions and great sense of humor. Well, thinking about the evolution of the Yankees did get me excited and worked up, so I not only poorly spelled some words, but also 'fought' the security system of the blog leading to the 30 plus entries...I suppose I really did get my point across!

George Vecsey

9/21/2013 04:13:31 am

Thor, just deleted 30 of them.
Meanwhile, ichiban Mets fan in Yokohama, Haruko, noted David Wright's home run in his first game back Friday night. She writes, "I admire his decision and class-act." Added photo from Tsukimi - full moon festival - in Yokohama Harbor Wednesday night. Domo arigato. GV

9/22/2013 08:13:36 am

George, this space is such a multicultural oasis, a bit of Brazilian, a bit of Yiddish, a bit of French, a bit of Japanese, et.al. (Latin). So I Googled Ichiban, the name of a Japanese restaurant in Sarasota and found dozens of references to the restaurant, and eventually some linguistic history, bottom line, Number One, número UNO.
Doom arigato, gracias, Merci, grazie Mille, danke schoen and thanks.

Alan D. Levine

9/22/2013 08:22:40 am

Another season winds down, with a dreadful record for my team. I have absolutely no faith that the Wilpons will do anything significant to improve them. And to add insult to injury, the New York Times treats them , at best, as if they were an out-of-town team. Really, a graphic novel about a tank town cage fighter and three stories about the Yankees instead of coverage of the hometown National League team?

George Vecsey

9/22/2013 11:58:56 am

Alan, good to hear from you. I imagine the answer would be that the NYT is now a national and international web force, appealing to broader demographics. I haven't asked my Met-fan Spencer what he thinks.
GV

Ed Martin

9/22/2013 04:03:41 pm

Stories: Yankees 3-Mets 0

Fuggedaboudit.

Alan D. Levine

9/23/2013 05:51:54 am

I certainly won't drop my subscription to the Times, but I increasingly find it necessary to pick up a Daily News on the way to the subway.

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