Burton dropped a comment saying that he couldn’t find a photo of the actual ’79 Mets mascot Mettle the Mule anywhere. Neither can I? Can you? I may have to dust off my old yearbooks and scanner this weekend.
There’s next to nothing on the internet – Faith & Fear mentions it a few times, and there’s a reference in a Times article if you search the Google news archives.
Has Mettle become a non-person, I mean non-mule? It happened. If we’re going to pretend it didn’t then we have to pretend Richie Hebner didn’t either.
Based upon my one minute on Google, it appears that mules only live to be about 30, so it is likely that Mettle is no longer with us. Perhaps a new Mettle could arrive in 2010. I definitely feel that a mule is a fitting mascot for the franchise, and a petting zoo isn’t the worst idea….stay with me.
Will the mule get us mocked? Yep!
Will a petting zoo get us mocked? Yep!
Stay with me.
David Howard I know you’re reading. Learn from the Clinton administration. Change the story. Right now the talk is about how the Mets stink, Madoff, ticket prices and that the Mets legacy is choking. Change the story.
Let everyone make fun of the mule. Let my kids come out to Citi and I guarantee you they’ll wanna hit the petting zoo. Position is as a piece if team history. Put a Mettle display in the new museum. Put a mule on the sleeve (see A’s).
The Mets brought Mr. Met back from oblivion to be this new corny incarnation (yes kids, Mr. Met was gone for quite a few years) so why not Mettle?
Change the story, David. You’ll be laughed at but you’ll be the one laughing in the end…and stop the cover-up.
(Anyone got pics of Mettle?)
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Mettle was originally named Arthur: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080319&content_id=2444907&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym