The wall looks much better filled in, doesn’t it?
It’s still missing a 17.
Thanks to kjs, Media Goon and Googling God for these.
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For all that there was a distinctive lack of Mets stuff around Citi Field, those championship signs on the outfield wall are cheesy to the nth degree.
It used to be that the Mets flew the actual pennants at Shea for the '69, '73, and '86 teams. '88 didn't deserve a mention, since they didn't go to the World Series.
Then came '99, when the Mets finally made the playoffs again and started trying to appeal to a new generation of bandwagon fans (rather than having kept the ones who fled in the early 90s. So they had to put something up to commemorate having been "Wild Card Winners," never mind that to get the wildcard means you haven't actually won anything at all.
After the '99 season, the pennants went into storage, and the team put these ugly faux-pennants above the Shea outfield wall. Of course, they added ones for each time the team made the postseason, despite not making it to the World Series other than in 2000.
Upon moving to Citi Field, the ugly faux-pennants went in the back, near the bullpen gate, while the actual flags for 1969, 1973, 1986, and 2000 went up on flagpoles above the Pepsi Porch, where they belong. No, there were no flags for 1988, 1999, or 2006, because the Mets didn't win the pennant in any of those years.
Somehow, amidst the legitimate lack of Mets stuff, people seem to think that those ugly faux-pennants from Shea deserved to make an appearance instead of the actual flags. The actual flags have been above the Pepsi Porch every time I've made it out there this year (including today). Given that the flags are there, the signage is redundant, but has apparently silenced a bunch of people who think that it's important to celebrate not winning.
As for the retired numbers, 17 and 1 should definitely come before 31. (And when you retire 31, John Franco should be given the same treatment the Yankees gave Bill Dickey when they retired his number for Yogi Berra.) A reasonable argument can be made for 24 before 31, as well.
"69"
You've got to be joking, right?
Who Madoff with the "19"????