Dear David Howard,
Knowing I wanted to write you this letter I just asked my son, “Would you rather go to a Met game or a Yankee game?”
“Yankees.”
I asked him to give me a reason.
“I just like it better.” Since he is 6 years old I accepted that answer. Then he added, “The Yankees are much better.” I can’t argue with him right now, neither can you.
I think you are making a mistake when you talk about Old Timer’s Day as a financial investment.
Maybe it cost the Mets a few bucks back in 1994. Maybe it will cost you a few bucks in 2010, but what about the seeds you sow?
Come October, my kid and his friends are going to watch baseball. They are going to watch the Yankees in the playoffs, and they are going to talk about the Yankees at school.
He’s going to want to go to a Yankee game. He’s my kid. I want to make him happy.
Those 30 tickets I bought in 2009? Since you’ve made it clear that you don’t care about the fans, that makes me hostile. Maybe 15 of those games become Yankee tickets.
That makes my son get even more exposed to the Yankees. Those David Wright jerseys at Modells stays on the hanger and become a Jeter jerseys. Not because I am a turncoat, but because I’m going to buy for my son what he wants.
Some day he will be an adult and he’ll root for whoever he wants, no matter how I steer him.
These are the seeds you need to sow.
Have that Banner Day and let us walk around with a corny handwritten “Give Niese A Chance” sign. The memory of us walking on the field will be one more bit of fandom in his blood.
Have that Old Timer’s Day and let my son learn about Mookie Wilson instead of Reggie Jackson. I can understand the point about not having an actual game – but what if you did something like having the Diamond Vision (I know you don’t call it that but I do) play the Buckner clip, let the crowd go wild, then Howie does a quick intro and Mookie comes out. Surely there’s one cool memory for anyone you’d have back.
The investment is in the long term. A winning team will always result in 3 million frontrunners filling your stadium. You need to worry about the lean years, the 30 caps he’ll buy in his lifetime, the t-shirts, and what he passes along to his kids.
You can worry about the balance sheet in 2010 and make 2020 the next guy’s problem. I just don’t think it’s the responsible thing to do.
Invest in my kid.
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AMEN! When I think about the lifetime of heartbreak I'm setting my kid up for it hardly seems worth it…..and thats just the on the field stuff. Wait till he starts to understand all the other stuff.
Exactly right! As a British baseball fan, my only *real* tie to the Mets is that I visited New York once (back in Nov 08, right after they began to tear down Shea. I shared a flat at university (in Edinburgh, Scotland) with a Yankees fan but decided to support the Mets since they seemed to have more soul. They were the plucky underdogs, the loveable losers, despite having the highest payroll in the NL.
2007 was a bad year to start supporting the Mets; it's been a downhill struggle since then, but I've stuck with them. Right after I saw Castillo drop the ball, I began to have doubts. If I wanted to support an underdog, why not support one who will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat rather than the other way around. If I wanted to support loveable losers, why not support the ultimate losers – the Cubs? The only reason I could think of was I've made my bed with the Mets, and I should lie in it a while before cheating on them with another team.
I'd like to think that I've invested in the Mets these last couple of years. I agree that it'd be nice to see some love come the other way.
well said. print this out and snail-mail it to the Mets in Flushing. we need more of this to make them get the point.
I have an even better idea. Let the kid play shortstop until Cora's thumb is better.
It's unfortunate that your boy's "Yankee Love" hurts you a little as your heart will always be in Flushing. And it's really unfixable, how old were all of us when we "picked our teams"? Mets and Jets right around 1st grade or so when other kids asked you who your favorite team was.
The Mets run the team like a Wall Street firm. Have a profitable year everyone gets a good bonus, it doesn't matter how much bad press they endure. Mets sold a load of seats this year to a new stadium with a talented core. They underperformed but the profits are guaranteed…so Mr Howard has done "a great job". If he has any brains, he will take a promotion to a better position on another team so he won't ride the backslide in '10, when the Mets might have a good season but not turn a profit, which is a bad year per the management.
We have AAA Toronto here in Vegas, and the games are fun, semi-talented, and fan friendly. Go see the Ducks or the Bears depending on where you live, you WILL have a better time.
Isn't it sad we harp on a team that hasn't brought us hope in 9 years (2000 WS) or success in 23, and continue to turn our collective screws talentwise, financially, and a wrong minded front office. At least I have the option to bet against the Mets legally here in Vegas(and the fan that I am, I don't)!!
Here's one for you. Went looking for traditional Mets cap with adjustable back (sold at Shea for 40 years) at Citifield. None! All fitted, $40 plus. Told by supervisor that if I wanted one of those kinds of caps I needed to go to Modells!