A little Irish greeting to all the  Mets critics on the eve of St Patrick’s Day

There have been some stories the last few days from the dead media (a/k/a newspapers) about ticket sales at Citi Field for single game tickets not being particularly brisk. These newspapers wasted time and money to send reporters to Citi Field to see if anyone was buying Mets tickets. The reporters were SHOCKED that weren’t lines snaking around 126^th street with fans holding fists full of cash clamoring for Mets tickets.

The story in this case was not the dearth of ticket buyers at Citi, instead it should have been WHY would people go to Citi to buy tickets? Back before we were unable to “fire through the internet” going to Shea Stadium for ticket day was a happening for some. People enjoyed sleeping in front of Shea to get tickets while freezing and peeing into bottles just for a shot at opening day, Highlander games and gym bag day, I was never one of that ilk.  Back then I’d rather pay a premium for a ticket while sleeping nice and cozy in my own bed, but to each his own.

Why would anyone schlep to Citi for tickets when you can turn on a computer, pick the game you want and print the ticket yourself (yes the $2.50 fee to use your own printer and your own ink is total bullshit)

There just seems to be a MSM conspiracy to kill the Mets any way they can. There are some who follow the team that really hate their job (I’m looking straight at you Andy Martino) and just really hate the Mets (That would be you Klap) that anything they say or write about the team I ignore.

The Mets don’t do enough to fight the perception that they are inept in all facets of the baseball business but most media and general baseball fans that belittle the Mets are out and out assholes. I put them in the same category of people who now participate in the new sport of bashing union workers especially government workers because they think our medical and pension benefits are bankrupting the country. We union workers wish we were living as well as you think we are, the folks who are raping this country’s economy run the financial intuitions that most of our critics work in. But I digress.

Our Mets are far from perfect but we are not a disaster the club is portrayed as.  Yes the owner has fucked up something awful and the financial where with all that the club has enjoyed for years is gone but I bet if the Skill Sets put the For Sale sign up at Citi Field then you’d really see a line forming around Citi Field.

This will all come to a head soon as the Skill Sets will either survive paying off the Madoff trust with either enough dough to keep the Mets or they will get cleaned out where they have to sell the club, SNY and Citi Field to pay off the lawsuit but you what it doesn’t matter to us we’re “Webees” We be here when the Skill Sets got here and We be here when they’re gone.  Mets fans are the one constant in Flushing. As have been and always will.

If it’s the Skill Sets who keep the team or a new owner for the club, there needs to be a plan to fight the negative perception that follows the organization. Does anyone in the Mets front office get pissed off as the fans do? I hope with the new front office this would change because it really bugs the shit out me that the Mets fans, bloggers and Tweeters are the only ones with the guts to fight this perception.

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The Greatest!!!!!!!

This off season Ed Marcus (a/k/a RustyJr) of Real Dirty Mets took on the project of asking his readers to send in their list of the Top 50 NY Mets of All-Time. What’s great about the list that Ed tabulated as we enter the 50^th season of Mets baseball, there are three generation Mets fans, the oldtimers (my crowd) who have lived through the best and worst of this franchise, the early to mid 40’s Mets fan who aligns very close with the old timer but didn’t witness the ’69 Championship but reveled in ’86. Then there is the young guns of the Mets fandom, the 20-30 something’s who are sick and tired of the previous generations (especially the old-timers) talking about the halcyon days of the franchise.

When I look at the list (Ed has the list of the top 50 posted today but you should look in the archive of that site to read the essay he put together on each player which are well researched and well written especially for you neophyte Mets fans who need a history lesson) there were some pleasant surprises and a few head shakers as well.

At the last game at Shea Stadium, Felix Millian(#50) was introduced and fans my age were clapping and imitating Millian batting stance complete with choking up half way up on our makeshift Mets magazine/bat. More surprising to me was Little Al Jackson coming in at  #35 who has been in the organization as a player/coach/instructor from day 1. Robin Ventura was a shocker at #9 as he played only three seasons with the Mets with 1999 his best, the other two were so-so although like I told Ed I still have my “Mojo Risin’” t-shirt from the 1999 post season.

Of course I feel Ed Kranepool should have placed higher but that’s my personal bias. I can see Mike Piazza at #2 even though I’m not a big Piazza fan (Jerry Grote is still the best catcher in Mets history with Gary Carter close second) and of course the #1 choice will always be the #1 choice as he is then, now and forever THE FRANCHISE, George Thomas Seaver

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The NY Times has a couple of interesting items pertaining to the Wilponzi’s and Citi Field. The cost of a trial between Madoff victim trustee Irving Piccard and the Skill Sets could put the Freddy and Uncle Saul into financial ruin but so could an out of court settlement. Either way the Skill Sets are fucked it’s just a matter of which way will be less painful.

The Citi Field story is hilarious as the author thinks this would be a good time to drop the Citi name and the millions that come with it, and rename it Shea Stadium. A real nice thought but with the Skill sets hurtin’ for dough it will never ever happen. In fact don’t be surprised the Champions Club is not renamed the Medellin Club.

Back in December when I attended the Mets Holiday Party, I got to speak to David Wright. As I wrote back then, it seemed that Wright was happy for the change in leadership in the front office and the manager’s office.  He didn’t come out and say it but from the conversation you could tell there was no accountability in the clubhouse amongst the players and the manager, knowing he was out of a job mailed it in that last two months of the season. Wright even said that so far in his Mets career “I only have one NL East Championship and that is not enough” No one can question Wright’s work ethic on and off the field for the Mets and it seems like he is ready to be an ally to Terry Collins and sell his style and message. From reading stories today, Wright also seems to be ready to throw his veteran weight around in the clubhouse. Why not, the understated way of doing things hasn’t worked so with managerial backing, Wright may be ready to step up as the team’s vocal leader. That doesn’t mean being a “rah-rah “ guy it means getting guys to work harder and also take responsibility in the wins and losses and getting his teammates to sharpen their focus.  

Ed Marcus (a/k/a Rusty Jr) continues his series of the Top 50 Mets of All Time with Number 29 David Cone. The Cone for Ed Hern deal is one of the all-time steals in baseball history. Cone was a lighting rod on and off the field for the Mets as Ed points out in his piece.

The Mets have hired 48 year old Brad Andress as their new strength and conditioning coach. In reading Andress’ bio, it’s interesting to see that he assisted Clint Hurdle when he was with the Rockies in travel scheduling and administrative duties. I’d bet that Andress will do the same with the Mets since that was part of Charlie “Make Me An Offer” Samuels tasks when he wasn’t  pilfering the Mets clubhouse.   

I could definitely live with Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg of the Canarsie Sternberg’s buying the Mets. This is so good it will never happen. My biggest fear is that M. Donald Grant has some grandchildren running around from a love child he had with Joan Payson with a robust trust fund and ends up buying the Mets. (Tip of the Mets cap to Metsblog for the link to Cork Gaines story)

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Roberto Alomar had one of the more bizarre tenures as a NY Met. How did a now Hall of Fame player, go from hitting .336/.415/.541 with 30 stolen bases and 100 RBI along with 113 runs scored topped off with 66 xbh along with an All Star appearance, Gold Glove Award and a fourth place finish in the MVP vote in 2001, become a underachieving malingering  pariah as a NY Met in 2002?

Talk about your unsolved mysteries. Alomar just could not find comfort in Queens. He never fit in with the Mets. Maybe it was going from a first place Indians team to a losing situation with the Mets? Maybe all the baggage that Alomar checked in with at Shea Stadium, the Hrishbeck spitting saga which weighed on him considerably and the constant meddling of fans and media about his sexual preference led to his down fall with the Mets, I don’t know but I do know that he was one of the most hated Mets of all time.

When the deal was made though, we Mets fans were a giddy bunch even praising Smarmy Steve Phillips for obtaining a talent of Alomar’s caliber but we didn’t get the 2001 Roberto Alomar, instead we received a cheap knock off. It sure was a bad time to come to Mets as a “savior” or a difference maker and not produce and also come off as a malcontent. The club came off a great 2000 by winning the NL Penannt but losing to the Highlanders in the World Series. In 2001 the Mets got off to an awful start but rebounded in the second half of the season with a 44-29 recorded but the club faltered down the stretch and most folks didn’t care at that point as we all dealt with the attack on September 11^th.  So on December 11^th of 2001 when it was announced that the Mets had made a deal with the Indians for Alomar, it brought hope to Mets fans that this move would get the team back into a post season berth. No need for revisionist history of the failure all around the organization during this time but Roberto Alomar was the guy who took the bulk of the beating from Mets fans, venting their frustration with boos and cat calls until he was mercifully dealt to the Chicago White Sox in 2003.

In a story in the NY Times the day after he was dealt to the White Sox, some evidence of Alomar’s unhappiness came out:

Exactly why Alomar was not himself in 222 games with the Mets will seemingly remain a mystery. Alomar said in a conference call with reporters yesterday that he liked New York, and he made sure to add that he had great teammates.

He did not sound as if he could cope with the malaise that came from losing, and the Mets lost 20 more games than they won while he was here.

”The team, maybe, I didn’t really feel comfortable with the situation,” said Alomar, who batted .265 with the Mets, far below his career average of .302. ”Sometimes, teams don’t work for you. I think the New York Mets weren’t the right team for me.”    

When Alomar went to the South Side of Chicago, guess who greeted him as skipper of the Pale Hose, the Gangsta’ himself:

There was not much doubt even at the start of the regular season that Alomar would be the Mets’ second baseman, but the team began to founder, and Alomar became a target of the fans, who thought he was not playing hard enough.

 ”I’ve seen a lot of players have a tough time in New York,” Jerry Manuel, the manager of the White Sox, said in Chicago last night before his team beat Minnesota. ”New York is a tough place to play.”

Tough place to play, tough place to be a manager too.

I’ll say this for Alomar with all the scandal that has followed him since leaving New York; his induction speech should be riveting.

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Remember when I had to clean out a closet for my daughter, so I had to relocate my baseball cards and memorabilia? Well I took pictures of some of the items:

The NY Daily News were selling these pins for a buck back in 1969. My father went over to the News Building to get me a couple of these pins. My dad worked downtown so he had to head to midtown on his lunch hour to get these for me. I miss that man everyday.

Check it out Jets fans, 2 tickets from the 1968 AFL Championship Game played at Shea Stadium Jets 27 Oakland Raiders 23

The first game EVER for the Colorado Rockies was played at Shea Stadium and I was there allllllllllll the way up in the Upper Deck Reserve. Check out that price less that cheeseburger at Shake Shack

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I didn’t watch one pitch of yesterday’s Mets-Phillies game. With opening Sunday of the NFL in full swing and the New York Football Giants on Ch. 5 and Tom Brady and the Pats on Ch. 2, there was no reason to move the dial any further. Oh I didn’t blow off baseball altogether, by 4PM I was ready for the Giants-Padres game and the match up of Tim Lincecum and Matt Latos, in fact my baseball viewing from today on will include watching the Giants, Padres, Rockies, Rays, and the on the downward spiraling Highlanders.

It hit me around 7PM last night when I didn’t even know that the  Mets lost to the Phillies 3-0, that the NY Mets franchise has collectively climbed in the Mr. Peabody and Sherman’s Way Back machine and have arrived at 1979.

What year 1979 was. I was 21 years old with more hair than I knew what to do with (give me a moment please………………………..sniff! sniff!……………..ok back to the post) hanging out at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB. Going to the Palladium to see The Clash and Graham Parker and the Rumor (The Palladium was a great venue, first time I ever saw Bruce Springsteen ad the E Street Band was there in 1976, YES I SAID 1976!) I spent my winters and spring watching the NY Rangers from Section 432 in my Blue Seat all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to Les Habitants but at least the Blueshirts beat the Icelanders as that was the year that no good scumbag Denis Potvin took out Ulf Nilson and the POTVIN SUCKS Chant was born.

More to the point of this post though, 1979 was the year the NY Mets drew 788,905 live bodies to Shea Stadium, less than 10,000 a game (9,621 to be precise) and I can not remember if I were a part of that 788,905-details are very hazy-but I’m sure I was because it was Richie Hebner’s one and only season as a Met and I remember him giving Mets fans the finger. I also remember it was Ed Kranepool’s last year. I remember Bob Murphy telling the tale of Ed Glynn a relief pitcher who also hawked hot dogs at Shea as a youth. The one bright spot of ’79 was that miserable, no good, saboteur of the franchise; M. Donald Grant was no longer around, dumped by Lorinda de Roulet after the 1978 season. But the team still sucked.

Right after the season, de Roulet thankfully sold the team as she had no clue on how to run it, she sold it to the dynamic duo of Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon and the rest as they say is history.

Myself and many Mets fans lived through 1979 and not only was it not fun but it was painful. Painful because of what could have been. What if Tom Seaver was never traded ? What if Joan Payson wasn’t sick and then dying during the advent of free agency with that asshole Grant advising her ? Remember Mrs. Payson had no problem spending money on her team, in fact when the Mets were born in 1962 she told Horace Stoneham that she wanted to buy the contract of Willie Mays and money was no object. What would have happened if Whitey Herzog would have been named manager after the death of Hodges instead of the overmatched Yogi Berra?

As much as I would to re-live 1979 all over again I wouldn’t want to relive the Mets season of that year as the Mets were so bad no one cared. At least we still care, we still have passion for this team, though it’s mostly negative, it’s still passion. Let’s hope the right moves are made for a new GM and manager and that deadwood and players who don’t like it here are sent off, no matter the cost monetarily. It’s time to restore some pride in this organization but I’m not optimistic the people in charge are intelligent enough to pull it off. All Jeffey Skill Sets needs to do is start collect batting practice baseballs, clean them and use them again and he’d be Linda de Roulet all over again.

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Attention Mets Fans: Today is Primary Day for Howard Megdal’ run for General Manager of the NY Mets. This is an unprecedented run for office but then again no one of with the impeccable credentials of Howard Megdal has ever thrown his blue Mets cap into the ring.

Think of the some of the former GM’s of the Mets, George Weiss and Johnny “Grandma” Murphy have the taint of Highlander blood, Joe McDonald who lacked the guts to stand up to the Plantation owner M. Donald (HOCKKKKKK-TOOOOO) Grant when Tom Seaver was run out of town, Bing Devine who could have made us a contender but ran back to St. Louis like a homesick summer camper, the late Bob Sheffing, who was dead even when he was alive, Frank Cashen who couldn’t handle the Wild Mets of the 80’s as he got all bent out of shape when a little bit of champagne was spilled on a airplane ride back from winning the NL Pennant in Houston, Joe McIlvaine who was and still is a terrific scout but was never around when Freddy Skill Sets whistled (that may be a badge of honor instead of scorn) Al Harazin who I think sold aluminum siding for Bill-Ray before he was given the keys to the Mets castle, Hound Dog Steve Phillips who taste in trollops was as bad as his eye for ballplayers, Jim Duquette who didn’t fight hard enough to sign Vladimr Guerrero when the ex-Expo was laying out on a silver platter for him, and then of course we have the incumbent Omar Minaya who at the end of day, you know what I mean, has been pushed to photo copying and fax duty in the Mets front office as Jeffey Skill Sets and John Ricco run the baseball ops.

None of those men have put in the time, effort and passion into the New York Mets like Howard Megdal has. He has sat through the rain delays at Shea Stadium when it was just us, a few hundred fans (maybe a few homeless folks too) and the soothing sound of Jane Jarvis playing Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head. He has eaten, Schickhaus, Kahn’s, Ball Park and Nathan’s Hot Dogs at Shea and Citi Field. He’s wash those dogs down with an RC Cola and Coke and now that swill that call Pepsi. His parents banked at Manufactures-Hanover and sat around deciding which Plymouth dealer to visit NY, NJ or Fairfield County? Howard wore a Lindsay Nelson style jacket for his Bar-Mitzvah. He went to Banner Day, Old Timers Day, and all the Sunday doubleheaders. He’s vacationed in the Catskills with Mr. Met, Lady Met and Baby Met.

The fact that a man like Howard Megdal has put aside his writing and broadcasting career to run for GM of the Mets to restore what is missing from this organization, which has lost it way. Do not let this recent run of prosperity sway your thinking. Howard will restore everything that has been missing for years in the Met front office, LOGIC, TRANSPARENCY, PASSION.

So vote today in the first primary which will be held at Amazin’ Avenue and NY Baseball Digest. Voting starts today and runs through this Friday.

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I wrote a piece for NY Baseball Blog on the Vuvuzela and if you’ve seen or read anything on the World Cup you what that is but did you younger Mets fans know that a simallar version of Vuvuzela was a staple at Shea Stadium back in the day?

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Lot’s of posts on this site have been made taking Mets management to task but today I want to start this one with some praise and thanks.

My son and I were supposed to be at Citi Field yesterday enjoying Opening Day but due to the Easter weekend we could not lay my mother to rest until yesterday.  I offered my tickets to various friends but none wanted them under the circumstances and a more than one person told me to contact the Mets and tell them of my situation and see if they would exchange the tickets for another game.  So I called the Mets ticket office to see if they could help me out.

The seats were in the lower level and cost me $190 so I couldn’t just eat the cost, so it was worth a shot.

The ticket agent I spoke to offered me his condolences and then asked me  to hold so he could get a supervisor to help me. The supervisor came on and also offered a kind word and told me “no question, Mr. Keane we will refund your  ticket and credit your credit card for the full amount” and with that he said “On behalf of the New York Mets, we offer our condolences”

Thank you to the Mets ticket office and to the Mets organization for their help, understanding and kind words.

I didn’t get to see much of yesterday’s game but after seeing highlights and reading various sites, I figured I’d comment on a few items:

It looks as though the Mets have taken the fan base’ advice and Met-trifed Citi Field. Moving the Shea Stadium Home Run Apple was a tremendous move. Although I enjoyed sitting at the picnic tables in back of the bullpen with the Apple tucked away in the back, the Apple is now in a proper place out in the open.

I love that there is a Gil Hodges Entrance and a Tom Seaver Entrance as well. The Mets Hall of Fame looks like it’s a must see place and the player imagines on banners hanging from the lamp posts are a great touch as well. I can’t wait to see these things in person.

I got a letter from the Mets with the location of my brick on the Fan Walk. It’ s in the spot with the Game 6 of the 1986 World Series plaque and it reads METSFANS4EVER KEANE FAMILY STATEN ISLAND.  So please no spitting, or gum or cigarette butts on my brick. Thank You.

It’s safe to say no other fan base but the Mets fan would boo the training and strength and condition staff. In fact I don’t think any other fan would know the names of it’s training and strength and conditioning staff.

Hurray for the new guys as Jason Bay, Gary Mathews Jr and Rod Barajas had big days with the bat.

The Marlins looked very 2009 Mets-ish with their sloppy defense.

Not the best welcome back for Mike Jacobs with 2 K’s and being lifted for defensive purpose by Fernando Tatis.

One win down and nineteen more to go for Johan Santana. Santana pitched to the ballpark as we got ten outs via fly ball and five K’s with a nice mix of the fastball/changeup that kept the Fish batters off balance. The man knows how to pitch.

Those new cream colored pinstriped  uni’s should be the one and only home uniform.  How can anyone say the black uni tops and those disgusting black and blue hats look better ?

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11 days until pitchers and catchers

Yesterday I hopped over to Mid-Town Manhattan (where miraculously  there was no snow on the ground when I left about four inches of the white stuff on my walkway in Staten Island) to attend a meeting of the Casey Stengel Chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR). It was there that I met up with Dana Brand who was one of the guest speakers at the event.

As I greeted Dana I asked him “So are you ready for pitchers and catchers” ? He gave me that look you give the dentist when he says “would you like Novocain or gas”?  Dana was not the only Mets fan in attendance that had that same queasy feeling bout the 2010 Mets season.

I never thought it could happen but the Wilpon’s have now displaced the Dolan’s of MSG as the worst owners of a NYC franchise.  I thought I despised Jeffey Skill Sets more than most but after talking to the Mets fans yesterday, I see I have competition.

By this time in the winter, as a baseball fan ,Super Bowl Sunday signals the home stretch of winter and knowing that spring training is around the corner. Usually for Mets fans we start to think of April and opening day, and opening day is usually cold. But we never cared about the cold. We wore Mets sweatshirts under our Mets jackets and figured our Mets gloves and the knit Mets hat we got last season on Fan Apprecitaion Day would shied us from the elements. We were just happy to have a ticket and a seat to root for our favorite baseball team. But from what I’ve read and heard from Mets fans this winter,  I have a feeling opening day at $iti Field will not be a hot ticket, in fact I figure the longer you hold out the better your chance to get a prime seat for below cost.

Where and when did this all go wrong? I’m starting to think the demolition of Shea Stadium will become our Curse of the Bambino, or Billy Goat.

When a team opens a new ballpark, the fan base is usually fired up about the new home and the great amenities so you’d think as Mets fans we’d be happy about all there is at $iti Field. But the more I talk to Mets fans and the more I think about it, maybe we should have stayed at Shea. Shea was a pitchers park and no one screamed to pull in it’s fences. But after one season at $tit, the cry is, “the outfield fence is too high” “the ball doesn’t carry” “the fences need to come in” what we’re really saying is “this place sucks, we want our Shea Stadium back”. Face it Mets fans we hate change and we hate $iti Field.

Now I ‘d say it’s mostly us old timey Mets fans that hate change and I know I’m of that crowd, it surprises me that I’m like that with the Mets as I embrace progress with everything else in my world. I guess I need one small part of the old world to stay with me. I still want pinstripe unis with no name on the back and blue caps with and orange NY. I want organ music instead of ear splitting pop shit, and this from a guy who still listens to Black Sabbath albums with the volume on 10 but at a baseball game I want to here the Mexican Hat dance played on a Thomas organ. I don’t want to be told to “Clap my hands” I’m not a idiot I know when to clap and when to cheer and when to say “AH SHIT!!”. I want my teams National League heritage to be displayed and educate fans of where we came from how our lineage evolved from the days of John McGraw and Mel Ott and Carl Hubble to Bobby Thomson and Willie Mays along with Zack Wheat and Joe Medwick and Dolph Camli and Jackie Ribinson and Duke Synder. NYC was always an NL town until now that the Wilpon’s let that distinction slip away and for that they should be ashamed of themselves.

Jeff Wilpon has not only surpassed Jim Dolan as the most spoil son of a rich man in NY sports but he is close to reaching M. Donald Grant status as a franchise killer. But we shouldn’t put the blame all on young Jeffey, I put  90% of the fiasco that is now the NY Mets on Fred Wilpon. Freddy has the power to tell sonny boy, “I’m sorry but you are in way over your head here my boy, it’s time for me to find a real baseball man to run this franchise and bring it back to respectability and to being a championship baseball team”. If Fred Wilpon does not step up and do what is right for the NY Mets franchise, he will become as hated here as much as Walter O’Malley. The only difference is Mets fans might be wishing he move himself and team someplace else.

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