We welcome and encourage guest posts, just drop me a line at [email protected]. This one comes from Carlo and it’s a good one. Thanks!
So after two nights in a row of having to see our Mets wear their dated, unprofessional looking black uniforms next to the Giants timeless, classic uniforms, I came up with an idea that can help persuade the Mets to stick to their roots rather than fashion trends, and do some good at the same time. We start a website where Mets fans can sign up on a roster where they agree to pledge $1 everytime the Mets wear the pinstripes and blue hats at home, and the greys and blue hats away. At the end of the season, we take the total amount donated, and give it a charity of the Mets choosing. If we set a goal of 100 people to sign up and agree to pledge, and the Mets cooperate and wear the uniforms for, let’s say, 100 of the games a year, that would be $10,000 for a charity by the end of the season. It would cost each person roughly $100 for the year, which, if you ask me, is a small price to pay to see the Mets dress like the professionals that they are.
A charity gets help, Mets fans get the see the classic, timeless pinstripes and blue and orange, and the Mets organization gets good publicity. Everybody wins.
We all know by this point that the purpose of the black uniforms was due to market research in the 90’s that showed that black sports merchandise sold better. People, irregardless of what team they rooted for were more likely to purchase and wear a black baseball hat. And thats fine, people can wear black Mets hats and shirts all they’d like (I’m not going to argue with you that blue and orange are easier to match with street clothes than black is). But as you’ve mentioned before, the Yankees and other organizations sell plenty of “alternate” colors without actually wearing them. On the field, you respect the history and tradition of the organization.
What uniforms never look dated? Uniforms like the Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, and Red Sox. They’re the same (more or less) as they’ve always been, and they’ll never go out of style. They look as good now as they did in the 1940’s and as good they will in 2040. What uniforms are the most embarrassing? When teams follow fashion trends, only to be left with horribly outdated uniforms ten years later (see the White Sox and Astros of the 80’s). To me, there’s a big difference between teams who take their history seriously, from expansion, small market, or small budgeted teams who are desperate to sell merchandise anyway they can (see also: Rays, Marlins, Blue Jays).
I look back on the 47 years of Mets pinstriped photographed history, from the first team picture in the Polo Grounds, to the ’69 and ’86 championship teams, and feel immense pride. The blue caps with the best logo in baseball, the orange NY, a symbol of New York’s National Leauge baseball tradition started in 1883 by the New York Giants, that we continue on today. Then, I look at today’s team in black and blue caps, and solid white and black jerseys in an effort to look trendy and cool, and feel confused and saddened. I’m not an old man. In fact, I’m too young to even remember the Mets winning a World Series (I was three in 1986), but its the sense of history and tradition that makes baseball so special. We as baseball fans are lucky to have it. We as New Yorkers are even luckie than most. Why deney ourselves of it?
The Mets are a first class baseball organization, both with our play on the field, and our continuation of over 125 years of National League baseball in New York City. Let’s start acting, and dressing, like it.
Here’s a nice picture of the 1969 Mets: http://www.jerrygrote.com/
And of Santana in pin stripes: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/
On a side note: Glad to see you were as annoyed with ESPNs announcers as I was. Least professional broadcast I can remember seeing.
Cheers,
Carlo
www.metspolice.com
@metspolice
