Over at Amazin’ Avenue, James offers (his title) A tepid defense of the black jerseys.
I enjoyed the article. I get his point that “his” Mets wore black. It’s a real point, and one that increases my sense of urgency. Black needs to stay a dumb aberration, not the norm. (I imagine the A’s Police losing a similar battle against green, after all the great Philly teams wore blue.)
I agree that black looks nice on some civilians. No problem. Sell whatever, but the baseball team should look like a baseball team. Insert my “Yankees sell plenty of stuff” argument and my “Have ‘Anything Goes’ Sunday” where the Mets can wear black, green, shorts, throwbacks, Mercury or whatever they feel like selling. In fact I think that quirky Sunday jerseys could become a tradition and actually increase both merchandise and ticket sales. I might show up at Hawaiian Shirt Jersey Sunday and would probably buy the jersey.
As for black honoring the Giants? Puh-leez. That’s right up there with the green seats honoring the Polo Grounds. Next you will try to sell me the Shea bridge.
What’s most important is that my day in day out constant compaining about this issue has started a discussion….and actually important people are having similar discussions.
Every now and then I hear a tidbit or two, and with the 50th anniversary celebration coming up I am very hopeful that sometime later this year I will post the long-awaited article that starts with the VJ Day photo of the sailor kissing the woman in Times Square.