Category: mets

Mets fan, I feel your frustration this morning.  

Today is like the day after Christmas the year you didn’t get the bike.  You kind of knew deep down that daddy wasn’t going to get you the bike, maybe couldn’t even afford the bike…but here it is, December 26th and Phil down the block got a bike and you didn’t.

Mets fan, I know that even if the Mets sign two Jasons today (Bay and Marquis) that you will still feel disappointed.   You’ve kind of had it.  What to do?

One of the internal rules of Mets Police is that I do not want to harm the franchise.  I’m out to be an agent of change, an agent of good.  I have an idea which I’ll share in a minute.

As a fan, you have to decide what this product means to you.  If going to a game makes you happy, then buy a ticket.  Personally, I don’t think buying 15 games will make me happy so I’m not going to buy a plan.  I do see myself heading out to Flushing on Opening Day and some early season Saturday games, with my kid, because I like doing that.    On the other hand, I’m the kind of fan who didn’t watch the ’98 and ’99 seasons because I declined to pay Cablevision an extra $10 or whatever it was because they decided to put Sportschannel on a pay tier.  Bob Murphy was just fine those two summers.

I’m not going to be one to start a ticket boycott or something where we all walk out in the third inning.  Those never work, and they don’t help anyone.  However, let’s focus our energy.

Here’s what I want you to do if you are frustrated.  I want you to wear a blue cap to games.   That’s it.

I’ll be there opening day and I will wear a blue cap.  I hope you join me.  Do I expect that my blog is so powerful that there will be 40,000 blue caps there?  Nope.   Maybe 4 of us do it.  Maybe one of the other sites throw a link and 100 of us do it.  Do people wear blue caps to games anyway, of course.   However, if you look at pictures of crowds it isn’t as blue as you’d think – and nothing like what a Cardinals Red crowd looks like.

One thing I’ve learned is that there’s more fans like you and I out there than I thought, so let’s wear a blue cap.  It is a thumb at the nose of the black uniforms, a symbol of all the horribleness that has befell this franchise since Davey left town.  It’s at worst a financial neutral protest, and hey might even sell a few caps for the team.  It’s your choice of orange button on top or blue.   Just no black.   The color of this protest is blue.

Sure this is a little nutty, and it’s a big climb.  There will probably be 12 of us participating…but maybe it will catch.  Ya Gotta Believe, right?

Join the Blue Cap Army, spread the word.

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Some quickies before the 9am post….

Brian Costa in the Ledger suggests that yesterday wasn’t so bad and wisely warns…

Where it hurts the Mets most is from a PR standpoint. There is not a general manager in baseball who woke up Tuesday with more pressure to make a major move than Omar Minaya. If that results in the Mets overpaying for Bay, in years and/or dollars — if they give him a better deal than they were willing to give him 24 hours ago — Monday will have proven costly in that sense. And if the Mets somehow fail to sign Bay, then they’ll really be in a tough spot (Matt Holliday or bust? Scott Boras would love it).

In the News John Harper throws a punch to the belly:

Let’s face it, the Mets are seen in baseball circles as losers these days, a team full of holes going into next season with a lame-duck manager and a GM already on the hot seat.



In the Post, Kevin Kernan says

“The Mets got killed by this move,’’ said one MLB exec.

 WFAN.com has some more sad pictures of Yankee Stadium dying.

Finally, my Yankee friend Mr. Sunshine said I misrepresented him yesterday when I accused him of actually not liking Fake New Yankee Stadium.  He has demanded a retraction.  Here’s Sunshine:

Well, I don’t know about A-Rod’s personal life, but he is a true Yankee now just like Johnny Damon, but I’m sure Mr. Sunshine will love the new Twins ballpark.  Check out New Stadium Insider for more on the Yankee-like design in Minnesota.

I have bigger problems than razzing the defending champions…and we’ll start to change the world in 10 minutes with a crazy idea I have.   Come back at 9.

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I’m deep in the woods here, and let me remind you Mets Police is not 60 Minutes.   I’m just a fan, and I’m not sure anything I’m about to write is accurate but stay with me.

I read this on Metsblog:

i know for fact, that the team is not happy with the price of their tickets, but, for reasons i am trying to better understand, they have no choice due to Revenue Sharing

That caught my eye.  The Mets are not happy with the price (presumably they would lower them, right?) but have no choice.   Really?

John Henry, owner of the Red Sox…

If the Yankees and the Mets spend a billion dollars plus of their investment dollars to build new ballparks, they should be allowed to keep their revenues from that,”

I understand that there’s a central fund and the richer teams have to put money in the pot.   What’s interesting is this suggestion that the Mets can’t cut ticket prices.   Is it because if the Mets (and Yankees and Red Sox…) don’t float the boat for the weaker teams then those teams might fold?  If the Mets can’t cover their end of the bar-tab then the Pirates wash dishes?  Does that mean that you are paying more just so some Pirates fan can enjoy baseball, even if it is always losing baseball?  Is someone or some rule telling the Mets they need to bring in a certain amount of money or the league will have major issues?

I guess the Pirates/Marlins etc are counting on that Mets money.  Why is that the Mets’ problem?  If Fred wants to charge $1 for every seat why can’t he?

I’m not sure what I’m missing, and if you understand it all please post a comment.   The Mets have “no choice” is very fascinating to me.

ESPN recently wrote about revenue sharing here.

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Is Ted Williams right? Are the ’69 Mets the start of a dynasty?

Now the Mets feel that they will be back, too, but search and you will not find a man in the entire organization who thought that 1969 would be a year in which the team would win its division championship, let alone a World Series. This was to be a season in which the club became respectable and might even finish as high as third in the East. Just the year before they had wound up 16 games below .500 and in ninth place, 24 games behind pennant-winning St. Louis.


It was absurd to think that New York could win 100 games. But the Mets did. It is equally absurd to believe that those 100 games were won with luck. If one holds to the baseball clich� that the breaks tend to equal out, then maybe the Mets were repaid all in one season for seven long years of bad breaks.


But, more important, the Mets were a hungry club and gave of themselves as teams do only in novels. Only four of them had been regulars for as long as three years. It was a smart team. Of the 27 men who contributed to New York’s rise, 22 had been to college—a remarkable percentage for a baseball club. And it was a team that was being prodded from underneath. This year the Met farm system produced four pennants in the minor leagues, twice as many as any other organization, which means that more good new Mets are on their way up.


Looking them over last week, Ted Williams said that he saw the possibility of the Mets becoming a dynasty, and it is pretty hard to doubt anything Teddy Ballgame says these days. Although dynasties have a way of lasting for about a year in the National League, the Mets, bless ’em, always seem to defy established principles. With their victory justly acclaimed as a triumph for baseball, it may be hoped that any residual tarnish from the hyperbole of Madison Avenue and New York politicians will soon wear off, leaving only the warm success that is likely to endure and honor the sport.


A seven-year joke and a fraying one at that: the Mets – 10.27.69 – SI Vault

While y’all obsess over Lackey, Holliday, Halladay and Cliff Lee, look what Ethan sent over.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Dear Mets Season Ticket Holder:

Thank you again for your support of the Mets in 2009. We hope to see you back at Citi Field for the 2010 season.

This is a final reminder that the recent payment due date for Season Ticket renewals has passed. In response to many account holder requests for additional time in making payment, we have extended the deadline for payment to the end of the year.

To retain your seat location, payment is due by Thursday, December 31, 2009. You can submit full payment by MasterCard, Visa, Discover or American Express.

Alternately, you may still select the convenient payment plan option to pay just 20 percent of your total invoice amount (including any credits already applied) by December 31. If choosing this option, your same credit card will automatically be charged half of your remaining balance on January 15, 2010 and the final balance on February 15, 2010.

Click below to access your 2010 Season Ticket invoice.

I had heard previously that the deadline was “soft.”


If the Mets are listening to sports-talk this afternoon they may want to extend it until April 1st.

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