OT: NY Mets

[UConnCat]

Long, suffering Mets fan here (with emphasis on suffering). On to the Cubbies. I'm old enough to remember 1969, the Cubs' 9-game lead, the late Ron Santo clicking his heels, the black cat at Shea and the Miracle Mets overtaking the Cubs and then winning the World Series. I also lived in Chicago for 15 years and observed first-hand the suffering of Cub fans. Should be fun. #LGM

For any Mets fans on the board, enjoy THIS:

http://justmets.mlblogs.com/2015/10/16/watch-this-video-on-the-mets-advancing-to-the-nlcs/

 

[alexrgct]

I also remember the improbable 1986 World Series and the associated Red Sox schadenfreude....

 

[VAUConnFan]

I consider myself an original Mets fan from 1962 when they played their home games in the Polo Grounds. However, I have not followed them very closely since Daryl left.

 

[ochoopsfan]

From last nights Mets v Dodgers game it appears that the Dodgers got the wrong script. Instead of lets win one for Magic or Tommy Lasorda, they got the script from Abbott and Costello. Who's on First, Whats on Second and "I Dont Know is on Third"

 

[UConnCat]

From last nights Mets v Dodgers game it appears that the Dodgers got the wrong script. Instead of lets win one for Magic or Tommy Lasorda, they got the script from Abbott and Costello. Who's on First, Whats on Second and "I Dont Know is on Third"

Good one.

That sure was one strange play. Funny thing, at least for Mets fans, is that Daniel Murphy is not known as the headiest of players; he's known for his on-field mental gaffes. "Heads up play" and "Murphy" rarely appear in the same sentence. Then there was last night. As someone said on twitter: "Dodgers just pulled a Murph allowing Murph to Murph."

Don't know what they're saying in LA, but probably was the young shortstop's job to run over and cover 3rd. Seager is going to be really good and I'm sure he feels awful.

Interestingly, there was discussion on Mike and Mike this morning about whether Ethier should not have caught the foul ball on which Murphy tagged and scored. It was only the 4th inning so I think Ethier made the right play.

 

[Bonpland]

A few months before the Mets played their first ever game (in 1962) WOR channel 9 in NY ran a program featuring Lindsay Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy trumpeting the strengths of the team that was about to take the field at the Polo Grounds that spring.

My relatives were disappointed Brooklyn Dodger fans and were anxious to have a National League team back in NYC. For four years there were only the Yankees in Town and both Dodger and Giant fans found it hard to root for the Bombers.

The Mets with a roster of familiar names who were mostly on the down side of their careers went out and lost 120 games that first year and the rest of baseball laughed at them, But a lot of us (I was fourteen) went crazy cheering for them and the best memory I have of attending a Major League game happened that first year when y father took my brother and I up to Coogan's Bluff to watch Sandy Koufax shut out the Mets on one hit.

We didn't care. We cheered and began to sound like old Dodger fans because we were always sure that by next year the team would be so much better that other teams would have to watch out for us.

In the fifty-four seasons since, to be fair, it has been mostly painful rooting for them, and I personally have often fallen out of touch with the names of their players and where the team stands in the Division, but I can't help but be nostalgic when they occasional are transformed into the team to beat and their crowds take up the half century old chant of "Let's Go Mets.'.

 

[UConnCat]

A few months before the Mets played their first ever game (in 1962) WOR channel 9 in NY ran a program featuring Lindsay Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy trumpeting the strengths of the team that was about to take the field at the Polo Grounds that spring.

My relatives were disappointed Brooklyn Dodger fans and were anxious to have a National League team back in NYC. For four years there were only the Yankees in Town and both Dodger and Giant fans found it hard to root for the Bombers.

The Mets with a roster of familiar names who were mostly on the down side of their careers went out and lost 120 games that first year and the rest of baseball laughed at them, But a lot of us (I was fourteen) went crazy cheering for them and the best memory I have of attending a Major League game happened that first year when y father took my brother and I up to Coogan's Bluff to watch Sandy Koufax shut out the Mets on one hit.

We didn't care. We cheered and began to sound like old Dodger fans because we were always sure that by next year the team would be so much better that other teams would have to watch out for us.

In the fifty-four seasons since, to be fair, it has been mostly painful rooting for them, and I personally have often fallen out of touch with the names of their players and where the team stands in the Division, but I can't help but be nostalgic when they occasional are transformed into the team to beat and their crowds take up the half century old chant of "Let's Go Mets.'.

Thanks for sharing. I became a Mets fan in 1967, drawn in by that young, talented pitching staff. This year's staff brings back memories of the days of Seaver, Koosman, Gentry and Ryan. It hasn't been easy being a Mets fan even in those rare years when the team was very good. The '86 team was really good but not likable. This year's team, Harvey and Cespedes' bat flips notwithstanding, is pretty likable. They're just not as good as the Cubs, I fear.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Thanks for sharing. I became a Mets fan in 1967, drawn in by that young, talented pitching staff. This year's staff brings back memories of the days of Seaver, Koosman, Gentry and Ryan. It hasn't been easy being a Mets fan even in those rare years when the team was very good. The '86 team was really good but not likable. This year's team, Harvey and Cespedes' bat flips notwithstanding, is pretty likable. They're just not as good as the Cubs, I fear.

While I am a born Yankee fan - and actually not one to really watch baseball much any more - I was introduced to the Mets way back in the early 60's by my Grandmother. Like Bonpland above she was a huge Dodger fan (her and her husband went to Dodger spring training, and I had (and accidentally destroyed with moisture) a ball signed for him by the famous Dodgers of the 1950's). In any case, she was a huge Mets fan and watched every game on TV (my Mother watched every Yankee game). And so I have always rooted for the Mets, unless they are playing the Yankees. Go Mets. I will root for either the Mets or Cubbies over the AL representative this year, regardless. But won't watch much.

 

[j66kicker]

Full disclosure: Yankee Fan

But I was in NY on business at the end of the '86 World Series. Watched the Bill Buckner play on TV in the hotel bar. A few days later some of us blew off business in the morning and went to the ticker tape parade (at that point it was 17" green bar computer paper instead of ticker tape). Will never forget this little old man sweeping up trash into one of those tiny sweeper baskets on a stick, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of tons of paper coming down out of skyscraper windows

 

[JS]

Much eloquence in this thread. And much shared history for me.

Dodgers fan morphed to Mets fan. Followed them from the ludicrous adventures of the early years and root, root, rooted for the colorful if inept underdogs.

Lived and worked in the City during its pro sports golden age peopled by the likes of Seaver, Namath and Reed. Spent plenty of time at Shea and the Garden.

Remember the Mets commercial preceding the next Mets championship: Gary Carter parachuting into Manhattan to the delight of a newsstand guy.

The years since then have for me seen a process of gradual retreat into following my favorite teams more loosely -- first by not going to games, then by not sitting through TV games.

But the sound of the games lasted years longer. The droning voices of Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner accompanied me by portable radio as I went about my home and garden projects -- as much associated with the slower pace of summer as the drone of cicadas.

Eventually even the radio fell silent, and I read the game accounts, then just checked the box scores in the morning paper.

Like others here, where once I could cite chapter and verse about the players, I began to lose track of the personnel while still keeping generally informed of the team's fortunes.

And now the narrowing process is complete. Am delighted my Mets are again formidable. But today I follow only one sports team closely. And that one very closely indeed.