Mets Yearbook 1976

Man oh man I love this show.   It’s 1976 and the 15th season for the franchise, and the 13th at well kept Shea!

As usual, here’s some notes I jotted down while watching.

Great shots of the Mets in the 1976 pillbox caps!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen video of these caps.   So weird!  (As is often the case, thanks Uni Watch.)

Always great to hear Bob Murphy, in this case calling Seaver’s 200th strikeout of the season.

Weird to see Joe Torre as a Mets player (hitting .306!)  I’m surprised he got benched for Roy Staiger (who?).

This is the sentence where I observe the blue uniforms with pinstripes look better, especially with blue undersleeves.  Oh, and no  names on the back. You can’t read the names from the Promenade and on TV they’ll tell you who it is with chiron.  No need for names.  If you don’t know who #7 is just find another team to cheer for.

I like the Phillies blue road uniforms, but the Cubs blue looks poor.

Apparently Felix Millan is underrated, so says Lindsey Nelson.

I know I repeat myself, but every time I see Bud Harrelson I feel bad we booed him out of town.  We as fans need to encourage Buddy to come back into the fold.

Much like I said about Mets Yearbook 1975, Dave Kingman seems really nice.  He had a very poor reputation in the press.  He seems nice in these videos.

Very cool to see Shea’s original coloring (orange seats in the loge?)

Cool to see Ron Hodges, whose #42 has been retired by the Mets.

John Stearns asked to be assigned to AAA Tidewater so he could play every day, after spending 1975 in the big leagues.  I defy you to show someone like that now.

Check out the ushers in their red sportscoats and policeman type hats.   That’s a nice classy look.  I’m going to time travel to 1976, invent blogging, and complain that they are wearing Phillies red.  I guess I’ll have to mail you a carbon copy of what I type on a typewriter.

The Mets have some really ugly numbers on the back of their helmets.

Long time fans of the Mets Police know I got my jollies when Yearbook 76 got to the long Lee Mazzilli section.  So odd to see him wearing #12.  Everyone knows his true number is #16.  Yes I have a man-crush.  Deal with it.

There’s a great shot of Tom Seaver pitching for the Jacksonville Suns.  During that section, Mets Police Junior walked in.  I told him that #41 was the Best Met of all time.  “How many home runs did he hit?”  “I don’t know.  He was a pitcher.  He won 300 games!”  “Only 300?”  Sigh.  Don’t worry, I’m teaching him well.  Someone’s gonna need to bust the chops of Jeff Wilpon’s kids.

Kiner just rattled off the names of some young pitchers, many of whom I’ve never heard of.  He’s excited about Roy Staiger.

Ralph recaps the giveaways: fan appreciation day (looks like they gave stocking caps), jacket day, and some days called “Banner Day” and “Old Timer’s Day” which sound interesting.  Real Mr. Met was at this Banner Day.

As I said this morning, I’m really excited about 1977!  With all this pitching, Kong in right and all these great young players, I bet 1977 turns out to be an unforgettable franchise-changing season!  What could go wrong?

I’ve been a slacker and haven’t watched 1963 or 1968 yet (they were on right before Christmas) but if you care here’s my recap of 1975, 1984 and 1971

If someone from SNY reads this, please show these and not a dopey “game show” during rain delays.  Nobody cares about that show guys.

Now that I’m feeling good I’m going to watch Omar on Hot Stove off the DVR.  I just started the file and man those BP caps look lousy.   Omar time…I suspect I’ll be posting again soon.