Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

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Mets Yearbook 1963

I decided to stop being a slacker and catch up on the episodes of Mets Yearbook that piled up on my DVR   As I’ve done in the past I’ll just type whatever comes to mind as I watch.

I was enthralled by the opening to Mets Yearbook 1963.   The shots of NYC, where the Empire State Building truly dominated the skyline.  The Grand Concourse actually looked nice (as my parents often told me).  There’s a neat shot of the Verezanno being built.

The film has fake Mets fans!   Hey ma’am can you say “we talk about Mets at our dinner table every night.”  You sir, can you say “we used to be Dodger fans..but now that the Mets are here blah blah.”  So so rehearsed.    And oh the “New York” accent.  Awesome, real, and something you don’t hear these days except in poorly written sitcoms.

Casey Stengel made 80 grand in 1962 bucks.   That seems like a lot, no?

There’s an interesting Mr. Met bobblehead where Mr. Met is wearing a two-tone cap (blue and orange of course.)

The hot dogs actually look edible!

I love how the owner is “Mrs. Charles Payson.”  And of you old guys when women would be known as Mrs. Man’s First Name?

It’s fun listening to the GM (missed his name) trying to BS Lindsey Nelson about how this team is close to winning (this is in the offseason between 63 and 64).

I haven’t seen much film of the Mets at the Polo Grounds (neither has Fred) so that’s always fun.

Holy cow Bob Murphy is young in this!!! I mean it makes sense if you do the math, but it’s a young Bob with dark hair and a few extra pounds.   I didn’t catch much of Lindsey Nelson but it comes through on this film that he was good.  Ralph is at his best stiff self, without the charm that comes from being old and having been on for 50 years.

Next time we whine about advertising on the fence we should look at the walls of the Polo Grounds.  Apparently it’s a Mets tradition that skipped Shea.

Now I’m getting annoyed looking at the Polo Grounds.  The Mets played there, and use the old Giants style NY – so the Mets build a replica of the Dodgers’ stadium and shun the one thing they borrowed from Brooklyn: the blue.    They got everything backward!

Nelson just told me they had a day for Willie Mays!   The active player in San Francisco??!!! And Stan Musial – sure he’s about to retire but he’s a Cardinal.  Why not have a tickertape parade for Sammy Sosa?  Get the time machine – the Mets Police have a newsletter to type in 1963!!! (you can subscribe by sending me a self-addressed stamped envelope, and you should expect issue #1 sometime in December 1963 unless I get distracted.) Continue reading “Mets Yearbook 1963”

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New York Mets St. Patrick’s Day attire Part 1

This will be a multi-part series since there’s a lot of green Mets stuff around this year. St. Patrick’s Day must be a big seller for MLB since there is green stuff for seemingly every team – but we’ll focus on the Mets.

I like the jacket.  I don’t know if you’d get much use out of it after the 17th though.  When and where would you wear it.  Maybe if Ray Knight invited you to The Masters?

I like the idea of the hoodie but it isn’t working for me.

The polo – it’s like you’re trying to be cool and don’t know how.   If you’ve got the itch for something Irish come back tomorrow for a suggestion.

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Plenty of good seats available..and I am tempted to buy them

Let’s get right at it:  I’m tempted to buy a 15 game Saturday plan.

You may be surprised.  Heck, I’m surprised.

How did I go from spending the winter saying “no way” to “maybe?”

As I write the blog every day I write from the heart.  From the feedback I get I see that you Mr. Reader “get it” and get me.  You know where I’m coming from: a mix of love and frustration.

My big fear for the Mets Police is that it becomes Mets Bitchfest (and I sure do my share) and my big hope is that it becomes a force for positive change.  I don’t know if MP actually had something to do with the ticket plans being renamed, or a new Hall of Fame being considered, or anything else – but I’m pleased that these things get discussed, and I do know that the site is read out there on 126th street.

Monday night I went out to McFadden’s.  It felt good walking around the ballpark.   Then when I got home I found the cool brochure the Mets sent me.

During our ticket discussions last week, a lot of us chatted about how the best seats might be the Promenade Infield seats.   I decided to click on the 15 game pack and sure enough there’s good seats right behind home plate.  I have some extra bucks, and Junior likes going to games and maybe it would be cool to have Saturday seats the equivalent of Shea Uppers Section 5 (especially long-term) and….I feel flaky.  Then I remember, I actually want to like the team. The goal of all this Mets Policing is to have a good time rooting for the Mets, not to sit on righteous mountain.  How did I get to a place where I am embarrassed to tell my internet friends that I might buy seats?

This is an individual decision for all of us.   Some of you renewed, many of you didn’t.   As of now I have a six-pack, but I am tempted.

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I was in McFadden’s Citi Field (pics)

Over the weekend I made a new friend.  His name is Shawn and he is the General Manager of McFadden’s Citi Field.   He was kind enough to invite me out so we could chit-chat about some ideas.

This was more of a business meeting then a reporter session, but Shawn was great and showed me around and told me all about the place – what I am sharing here is from memory and because I’m honorable I asked if he minded if I shared what I saw and he was all about it.  I think the quote was “we have no secrets.”

I”m very very excited about having McFadden’s at Citi Field.  It will give us Mets fans a place to meet before games and a place to hang after games.   Shawn even floated the idea of watching the last two innings of a blowout on the TV feeds in the bar…I can totally see it.  They’ll have the SNY feed and the raw in-house feed that you see at the concession stands.

The bar is on 126th street, to the right of the bullpen entrance, and the space is very big.  Surprisingly so.  I asked what was there before.  Nothing.  Shawn said there’s similar space on the other side of the stadium (I believe he  meant the right field side but I might be wrong).

When you come in they’ll make an educated guess about where to send you – so when I show up with Mrs. Mets Police and the kids, they’ll profile us toward the tables – and when three 28 year olds in black Franco jerseys show up they’ll be pointed to the bar.  Makes sense to me!

Although it somehow got in my head that they’d have batting cages, Shawn mentioned that they might do pitching games instead.  If I owned the place I would go for the option that omits bats.  Either way it sounds like fun.

As I spent time in the huge unfinished space, I could totally envision the possibilities beyond game day.  I lived in Queens for a long long time, and I could see McFadden’s being a great place to gather for a big road game, or even just to hang if you didn’t have tickets for a playoff game.

Now on to the pictures – you’re going to look at the unfinishedness and wonder how they’ll be done in time.  Relax.  Ever remodel your kitchen?  It’s amazing what construction guys can do in two days.

Thanks to Ben (metsiesandothermusings.blogspot.com) for two of those pictures.

Some answers to questions that came up when I mentioned I made a trip to Citi Field:

  • no David Howard did not have coffee with me.
  • I did not see a blue outfield fence.  I wasn’t inside-inside, but I think a blue fence would have been reported by now.  In theory there could be a yellow fence or no fence at all.
  • I was not inside the Mets museum.  I openly would love to be invited to the sneak preview of that.

I’ll have more about McFadden’s very soon.  In the meantime, sign up for the Blue Cap Army if you haven’t.  It’s helpful for meetings like this if I have an actual quantifiable number of “followers” – hopefully some cool BCA announcements soon, a website for it, and I did set up the twitter @bluecaparmy.