OT: Fond Memories of the Amazin' Mets

[Kibitzer]

While watching the Mets in the World Series I recalled some fond memories of this franchise. It was founded in 1962 as an expansion team as MLB needed a National League team in NYC after allowing both the Dodgers and Giants to skip out of town.

Their first home was the old Polo Grounds and their first home uniforms were both a marketing and aesthetic masterpiece.

They used "Dodger blue" on caps, letters, numbers, and stockings; they also wrote "Mets" in script - just like the Dodgers. The NY logo on caps matched the one used by the Giants, and it was in Orange, copying the Giants. Finally, giving a nod to that "other" NY team, the uniforms had pin stripes - but blue.

The Mets have worn these classy uniforms in two home WS games.

Another fond memory was the "sign man," a graphic artist from Queens who sat on 3rd base side at Shea and came to games with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fol-out signs. He seemed to have one ready to display for every significant event as games progressed. My favorite was when the Mets once had a horrible inning in the field - error after misplay after blunder - just a nightmare! Our Sign Man was ready. He hoisted one that read, "WE ARE NOT AMUSED."

He could have dusted it off last night in the top of the 8th inning.

 

[VAUConnFan]

I consider myself a 1962-73 New York Mets guru. In the early days, no one expected the Mets to win. You watched to see great players on other teams, to see Casey Stengel, to laugh at the Mets constant ineptness, and celebrate the very occasional Mets victory. Every home game Sunday found me at the Polo Grounds sitting in general admission down the left field line. Wearing a hat was mandatory with all the pigeons cooped in the rafters.

Their ascent to the top in 1969 was as exciting as baseball could ever get. We had a manager who would ask when the Mets were on television before scheduling practice.

Best Mets game ever IMO: Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS with the Houston Astros, an extra inning affair that catapulted the Mets to the World Series; a must-win game because Mike Scott was set to go in Game 7, and he was unhittable that series/season. Every pitch had me on edge.
Second Best IMO: Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against Boston, the miracle comeback. I often wonder if Boston did not mess with their karma by passing over Oil Can Boyd for Game 7. Boyd never seemed to recover from that slight. That was a guy who absolutely loved to pitch.
Third and Most Exciting: The pennant clinching game in 1969. IIRC, it was on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, Gary Gentry on the mound against the Cardinals, a very good team at the time which made me believe that even the chance of clinching on that last game of that homestand was improbable; It would require a series sweep. Making that sweep/victory even more improbable was that the Mets were facing Steve Carlton. Don Clendenon hit two homeruns, and The Glider, Ed Charles added another. What a game!