You own this Mets jersey: seemingly bootleg Mays

13 Replies to “You own this Mets jersey: seemingly bootleg Mays”

1. I’ve seen the other bootleg one’s on ebay. You know the one’s styled like the jerseys they wore in the late 70’s at home ? They call it “Willie Mays coach’s jersey” or something like that. I think they all come from China and have phony Mitchell and Ness labels on them. Some w/misspellings and some with the labels upside down.

2. Today is Mays’ 80th birthday. With the Giants in town the past three days, the Mets should have, finally, retired #24. It is waaaaay past due.

   1. I don’t think it is the Mets’ responsibilty to retire #24. I don’t even like the unofficial uncirculation, especially when they could sign ME and they’d give me #17.

      Mays belongs to the Giants.

3. Why should they retire Willie’s number? What did he ever do for the Mets? Just because he retired as a Met doesn’t make him an all-time Met.

   If you retire Willie’s number then why not Duke Snider? He played for the Mets at the end of his career.

   Better yet, Richie Ashburn – he was after all the first batter in Mets history.

   Or Yogi? He played and managed the Mets after all.

   Not to mention Warren Spahn, Eddie Murray, Nolan Ryan, and Ricky Henderson – all HOFers who played for the Mets.

   One other HOFer who played for the Mets who doesn’t have his number retired – Gary Carter. Now there you have a case.

4. I almost think the bigger crime is that he has the jersey tucked in, and pants pulled up well above his waist. Oh yea, and the fact he’s wearing it with a black hat and undershirt.

   1. Joe you made me laugh

   2. Easy there, Joe. According to the Mets’ Official Guide to Uniform Combinations, he matches perfectly.

5. Mays and Snider are special cases, because even though their numbers were retired by the Giants/Dodgers respectively they meant so much more to NYC, especially during that great era. As hard as it is to believe the San Fran fans never fully embraced Mays, and loved their homegrown McCovey and Cepeda more. Hard to believe, but true. I would like to see the Mets not retire, but recognize their numbers and names on the wall like a ring of honor, but not a retirement since their contributions to the Mets were minimal at best, but their contribution to NYC NL baseball was huge.

   PS – I will be wearing my Duke Snider jersey to tonight’s game and proudly showing it off in sec 428 !

   1. Agree with you regarding Mays/Snider being bigger to NYC than just the Mets/Dodgers/Mets. Absolutely true about SF not embracing Mays. But I still think that Willie Mays with a NY on his cap should mean retiring #24. His best years, and also his last years were spent wearing a NY logo on his cap. Arguably, he was the best all-round player to ever play the game. He was a major contributor during the 1973 season to the Mets going to the World Series, so even though his best years were behind him, without him they would not have made it there. So I say retire #24.
      I have advocated in the past for the Mets to have some sort of recognition for Giants and Dodgers greats who played in NYC prior to 1958 and don’t think that the “Ring of Honor” is a bad idea. Perhaps something with their name and the respective club logo (with proper attention being paid to the era of the player; in other words the NY for Christy Matthewson would be different in color (i.e. is black/white) from that of Mel Ott (blue & red NY logo) and Bill Terry (black & orange NY logo); the logo for Duke Snider (blue & white B logo) would be different from that of Wilbert Robinson & Zack Wheat (Blue B logo on a white & blue checked pattern from 1916)).
      To look up players uniforms by year, look at http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm

6. To me, Willie Mays was a NY Giant. The NY Mets are, to me, representative of the Giants, by virtue of Payson, and the logo, and the fact that Mays played for them.
   We’re talking about WILLIE MAYS here, I think there’s no question but that the Mets should retire his number.

   1. Totally agree. Emphasis on “New York”. Retire #24 NOW!

7. If you ever see Willie do an interview he wears a “G” on his cap for Giants. He doesn’t wear a SF or NY. He considers himself a Giant. He was most fond of his early years here in NY and a chance to say goodbye in his latter years with the Mets. I think the “ring of NYC NL Baseball honor” is the best way to go. Then we can see both Willie and the Duke on it along with all other NYC NL baseball greats that California doesn’t and never will care about.

8. i agree that willie may s#24 should be retired, why not ? willie wass a small contributor to the mets ride to the world series in ’73.
   it looked like when he was in the line up in the games,it looked like the “right thing to do” because he is willie mays.a younger and stronger don hahn and george theodore should have been plaing in every game, to give the mets a little more offense bwecause the games were so close.
   the mets did not retire his number after the 1973 season.
   i attened the mays statue ceromony in 2000 in san francisco.
   giants owner larry baer said “willie never was really a met”

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