From Saturday’s News
Who cares if Doug Flynn wasn’t the greatest second baseman of all time? Let him throw out a first pitch every once in a while. I’d walk to Queens for Dave Kingman bobblehead night.
Awesome suggestions! Exactly the kind of thing they never do. There are days I swear Mets history starts with Mike Piazza in a black jersey.
• Put the Mets Hall of Fame on public display at Citi Field. I’m not talking about the lobby of some restaurant (that’s where it was at Shea), it should be on full display for every fan at Citi Field to see. The fact that the Mets Hall of Fame didn’t have a home on Opening Day at Citi Field is extremely maddening.
• Rename the Ebbets Club: The only clubs at Citi Field not named after a sponsor – or level – are the Ebbets Club and the Promenade Club.
Ebbets is named after the former home of the Dodgers (wasn’t it enough that the new park looks like Ebbets Field?) and promenade is the fancy name for the upper deck. Why not call one the Shea Club and the other the Hodges (Gil, not Ron) Club, which would serve both the Dodgers and Mets? See how easy this is?
• Name the food court after a Met great: It’s currently called Taste of the City. Why not call it Harrelson’s House or Koosman’s Kitchen or Mookie’s Mall? Fans – excuse the pun – would eat that up.
The rest of these I’ve brought up before.
Retire some numbers. The Mets have only retired three numbers – and two of them were worn by managers. The other belonged to Seaver.
While I respect the Mets for not going overboard and retiring every member of their championship teams (see the 1994 Rangers), they should at least think about retiring Keith Hernandez‘s No. 17 and Gary Carter‘s No. 8.
The Mets could go so far as to retire Gooden’s No. 16 and Darryl Strawberry‘s No. 18, but with the way both guys left the organization, you couldn’t blame the Wilpons for not doing that.
And if the Mets think the honor of a retired number should be reserved for Met immortals, at least have a day for Carter, Hernandez, Straw or Gooden. I’m not talking about a day for the 1986 team – they already did that – but a day for each individual. I guarantee all the seats in Citi Field would be full.
• Bring back Banner Day: It’s the one original idea – other than the Apple – that this franchise has had. I know playing doubleheaders is out of the question these days, but the Mets could still hold the parade before a game.
• Bring back Old-Timers’ Day: True, the Mets can’t compete with the roster of Yankee Old-Timers, but who cares? I would love to see Craig Swan pitch from a mound in Queens just one more time. Heck, Doug Sisk might even get some cheers for once in his life.
• Erect a statue of Seaver: The dude is the franchise. How about a likeness of him in front of Citi Field? And what about one of Jesse Orosco in his famous pose after the final out of the 1986 World Series?
Cleary Bill Price understands the fanbase. It’s amazing to me that the Mets don’t. I was out there yesterday and heard Sweet Caroline get loudly booed. Don’t they get it? Read the rest of Bill’s article here.
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I like all these ideas. A weekly random ex-Met night. Let Howie Rose pull a name from his head of some random former NY Met to come out and throw out the first pitch.
I like banner day, but I’d be a bit afraid of what the fans would put right now. I get the sense from a few blogs that not all fans are happy and would like a very public forum to express themselves.