“I’d like to see them give that number 37 to some young player so it can go on and do some good for the Mets.”
– Casey Stengel as quoted in Ken Burns’ Baseball Inning 8
I do think the Mets got a little enthusiastic and sentimental hanging up the 37.
My case for unretiring comes from the words of the man himself. He was graceful, well as graceful as Casey got, at the ceremony – but wouldn’t it be neat to see someone like Ike Davis or the next true phenom to honor Casey’s wish by doing some good?
I agree with you. To a lesser degree, I think that Gil Hodges #14 should be un-retired too, if it was retired because of his managerial years. The counter-argument to this is that although he did manage the Mets to win the ’69 series, the only justification for the Mets to have retired his number is due to his eleven years playing with Brooklyn (and two seasons playing for the Mets, including hitting their first-ever homerun) in addition to his four years managing. Moreover, Hodges has unjustly been overlooked for the HOF on a regular basis. If managing the Mets to a World Series title is the only criteria for retiring a Manager’s number, Davy Johnson should also have his number retired by the Mets.
I find it sad that in the nearly half century the Mets have been around, they have retired only one player’s number. The Mets have had some great and many good players over the years. Now is the time to retire #17, #31 (although I think this will happen when Piazza is put into Cooperstown), and #24 (for Willie Mays criteria similar to the Mets retiring #14).
My argument isn’t Casey sucks or anything – I’m just saying what he said. It is in the Ken Burns video.
I think they should leave it retired. Hodges should stay retired because he had more of an impact; under dogs who over achieved with our greatest player.
Johnson’s teams underachieved significantly; I know drugs and alcohol took there toll, but as magical as it was, they only won 1 in what should have been our golden era.
I gotta give Gil a slight nod over Davey.
Also, awesome blog. I check it everyday, but don’t post.
I like the black jersey, hate the dropshadow and hybrid hats. I also wish they would wear cream w/ pinstripes at home, that jersey is great.
Great to hear from you. It’s always nice to hear from people who dig the site. It really does mean a lot.
I think it needs to stay retired!…Casey was the Mets at the start!
Suppose you give it to the next phenome and he bombs?
I will email you next week about meeting up in PSL next Saturday for a cold one!…You still going?
I thought the same…let’s take a look at a few phenoms:
Strawberry and Gooden…2 guys that started spectacular and threw it away.
Gregg Jefferies…nothing to say
Generation K…never amounted to the hype
D Wright and Reyes: Great at times, so so at others.
Lastings Milledge…flamed out quickly.
Just an idea, how about #37 is permanently assigned to the Manager? Kind of a living tribute.
I think this organization has a problem with not retiring enough numbers. No matter how I feel about his broadcasting, every time I see #17, I think of Keith, and his number should be on the wall. Same with #31.
PS- Scrap the black jerseys and snow whites. Use the hybrid hats with the road greys and the blue hats with the pinstripes at home.
to un-retire a number is not fair.
it was retired for a reason to begin with.
if u retire favorite players numbers because they were popular. is twice as bad.
straw,gooden and tug were popular favorites.
they simply did not play that long for the mets or impact base ball for at least over a 20 year career.
davey johnson ?
good manager with a bunch of damn good talent-for 4 or 5 years.
I don’t think that you un-retire a number, period.
Keith, Mike Piazza (and hopefully D Wright one day) should be reitred; perhaps Gary Carter as well.