Happy Sunday – I am bumping this one back up to “sticky” (meaning it will sit at the top of the blog today). New content below this post.
Jon Strubel wrote about how “Fans, bloggers and media are all falling into the same emotional trap regarding this debate.”
I’m one of the blogegrs specifically quoted (thanks!).
Is it emotional? Yep.
New York Mets fans are a tribe. We think alike. We dress alike (sort of). We sing the traditional songs (Meet the Mets) and do the traditonal war chant (Let’s Go Mets!) to let the other tribes know we are ready for battle.
We stick up for our own.
The story can be whatever we want it to be.
If we want it to be about Gary Carter, then make it so.
There’s no rule for why a number should be retired or not. Sometimes it’s emotional. Let me be curt for a second.
Gil Hodges died. a 14 went up. Where’s Davey’s 5?
A cutsey old man broke his hip. A 37 went up. 175 and 404 gets you on the wall.
Baseball decided to do a publicity stunt and take a number out of circulation. A 42 went up. A worthy honoree to be sure, but an attention getting stunt none the less.
I know that was harsh, but that’s what happened right?
So there’s Gary Carter and a bunch of us have gotten emotional. Yes we have. Same as what happened with 75% of the numbers on the fence.
One of the many many complaints about this franchise is the lack of history and tradition.
The Mets can create their own history and tradition.
It does start with a look. Fix that next year and actually look like the Mets not the latest trendy thing to sell at Modells. See the DODGERS or the Yankees for ways to approach this.
Let Gary Carter become one of the fabled characters in Mets history. Let’s tell our children about his opening day home run and the time he didn’t let Game 6 end. Whatever else happened doesn’t matter. He’s the guy who got the single.
Next year honor his co-captain, the true captain, #17.
Let our children go to Citi Field and ask about 8 and 17. My son knows who Casey Stengel is – want to guess why?
As time goes on maybe there are other numbers to be retired. The reason doesn’t really matter. Not everyone has to hit 600 home runs and win 300 games. The numbers don’t mean anything any more anyway. 600 is the new 400 and 250 is the new 300.
There are now 50 seasons of stories to tell. Why are two of the stories from before Watergate and the other from Brooklyn?
The world won’t end if there are fewer numbers to issue.
In the craziest scenario the Mets would go bananas and eventually retire 5, 7 (twice), 8, 16, 17, 18, 31, 36, 45 (twice) and now I am even seeing 4/10 being discussed for Rusty. I’m pretty sure the Mets will be able to field a team with the 80-something numbers left.
50 years. Time to stop thinking like an expansion team. Embrace the history.