Category: uniforms

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Best “Most Popular” Ever: tons of pictures, uniform news and more (April 11 edition)

Good morning – looks like I accidentally fired off a rough draft of Tuesday’s big uniform article, a few early risers got to see it…fellas I want to save that one for Tuesday because it’s the day after an off-day and it will get more attention.  For those who saw it, it’s pretty interesting isn’t it?   That’s what I get for sleeping in for once.  Such is life…

As I laid in bed this morning I started wondering what made the conversation go so quickly from “the museum is awesome” to a major black uniform discussion and then I remembered that (as we go through the week’s most popular…)

First I was so excited about Citi Field’s modifications that I floated my own personal theory that since there is so much focus on blue and orange that maybe the black uniforms might go. That got a big reaction in the Metsosphere, but then both Matt Cerrone at Metsblog and I both heard that there might be changes to the 2011 Mets uniform, but not what I wanted.

That lead me to propose my Uniform Treaty of 2010 which seems more popular than unpopular, which is part of a new trend where I apparently don’t complain enough about the Mets….

…and all that leads to Tuesday’s guest post where Brian relates a conversation he had with a marketing executive over the winter, which is the article that early risers saw this morning but will be up on Tuesday.  Here’s a sneak peek.

Whew… the site had another record week for traffic (I thank you!) and continues to be noticed (heard another anecdote that an insider is familiar with my work).   Again, all this is just a fat guy blogging, meant to be entertaining, hopefully demonstrates that both you and I love the team, and I encourage you to go buy some tickets and enjoy how awesome Citi is this year!

As if all that wasn’t enough, what about all the pictures of the musuem and the first week in general:

Museum: Broadcast Legends Exhibit

Museum: other assorted pics

Museum: Seaver’s quote pictures

Museum: pictures of the team history timeline

Museum: pictures of the Tom Seaver exhibit

Museum: pictures of the uniform history display

Some links to other sites with museum pictures

McFadden’s pics

Pictures of the reconfigured bullpens

Pictures from the April 4th workout

59 Pictures from Opening Day

23 other Pictures from the April 4th workout

Pictures of Shea Bridge and other interior tweaks

Museum: 30 assorted pictures

Museum: original Mr. Met

The plaques at the Hall of Fame

Seaver gate, Hodges gate and a total of 21 pictures form outside

The best picture from Opening Day..so good that MLB asked about it

Here are some good photos of the return of Jose Reyes.

58 other pictures from Saturday’s game

Here’s video of Jose’s first at-bat

Here’s a nice Citi Field 2010 video that Media Goon made

Very popular: Media Goon’s article about knucklehead behavior at Citi Field. Let’s all band together to encourage people to act civilized.

The Apple they gave away

The scarf they gave away

The worst Mets cap of all time and it’s even blue!

Randy’s ridiculous Mets cap collection

Previous very poplar articles:

We were mentioned in the New York Times! There’s tangible evidence that all this blogging actually changed something for better – and that was that the Mets quickly responded in repairing the errant Game 7 brick.

The new correct Game 7 historical brick, and the now-removed incorrect version.

Very popular: the Mets Police guide to being cheap about parking near Citi Field

Shea Scoreboard 1965 (pic)

Have the 1973 Mets lost their place in team history?

A guest post suggested Mets fans stop the booing.

Give Osh41 props, he does a good job with uniform articles.

Here are some pictures of some other new historical fanwalk squares.

Yankee Stadium Demolition pictures: 14 of them, 14 more and a video.

If you’re new, this regularly gets clicked: It might make financial sense, but it sure is annoying to think Bobby Bonilla will get $1 million a year from the Mets from 2011-2035.

Pictures from the 1986 Tickertape Parade

From last fall, the Mets respond to a letter from The Mets Police

Again, I’m feeling really good about the team right now both on and off the field.  While I am very interested in the “black” debate, and since it is hot I will continue it, I don’t want it to take away from the fantastic job the Mets did making Citi Field the home of the New York Mets, and let’s not get bored with the museum after a week.  It is amazin’

Coming up this week:

Lots of more pictures.  I have so many to get to.

A good Banner Day rant in the morning (was bumped from Friday)

Museum pictures of the fan-related exhibit

Some ideas for when statue technology comes to Citi Field

..and of course the uniform piece which the early risers saw.  That one goes up Tuesday morning.

I’m going to go for a run, coach soccer, and then Howie and I will mow the lawn together.  Enjoy a sunny warm day and put the computer away.  We can all kill time at work tomorrow.

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Do the Mets bosses really think this uniform looks good?

I was working on this on Friday, then the Reyes thing happened, but I’m still fired up about this.

I had to stop watching the game on Thursday because I was getting mad.

Do Fred and Jeff look at this uniform combination and think – hey those high black stirrups look good?  How about that black undershirt?

I sort of understand that a civilian might want to wear black, but the white and blue color scheme of the Mets is so wonderful, why do they mess around?  I’m a fan of high stirrups, but these black ones look terrible.  The black undershirt?  Terrible!

I just need someone to explain it to me.  Is it sales?  Do wearing the hybrid cap and black socks really move the profit margins?  I thought Jeff loved the 1980’s Mets…you’re the boss dude, just tell everyone “we’re going back to blue.”   Just do it.  Everyone who wants a black John Franco jersey has one.  Sell the blue.   I gave in on the pinstripes, now meet me half way and wear blue.   Eve the BP version of the blue (which has black) would look better if you could lose the orange and black underarm clutter.

Thanks to Aaron Doster who has been taking great photos down at spring training, and hooked me up with this shot.  You can find more at flickr.com/teamdoster.

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A Plan For Neo-Retro New York Mets Uniforms

Today’s lead-off spot is a another great guest column from Carlo .

So as Mets fans (and announcers) continue to complain about the black uniforms, and rumors are swirling of changes coming next year, I thought I’d give my two cents on how the Mets can make new alternate jerseys, and still keep baseball traditionalists happy (and even buying them!)

In order to not make it seem gimmicky (As the blacks do. Do we really want to seem as desperate as the Marlins, A’s or Blue Jays?) keep the uniforms as an homage to New York’s baseball past, as the Phillies and Indians pay homage to their past. This will show that New York has a rich National League baseball history, AND make everyone want to buy one.

So what to do? Here’s my suggestion:

Since our home uniforms (since we wear them the most, I’ll refer to our home uniforms as the “snow” whites with blue caps, script lettering) seem to pay homage to the Dodgers of old, and the away uniforms (greys with black caps, “old style” lettering) seem to pay homage to the Giants, switch them up a bit. Make an alternate home that pays homage to the Giants, and an alternate away that pays homage to the Dodgers. The trick is to make them both more “Mets” than Giants or Brooklyn.

Let’s start with the homes. Since the Giants still wear the same uniform that they have since the 50’s the Mets can’t go back and wear those. So I suggest we go back even further to the blue and red New York Giants uniform, which they wore in the 1940’s .

Keep the same font, but change “Giants” to “Mets” and it will still remain Mets enough (everyone today associates that NY logo with the Mets, not Giants anymore) and yet pay tribute to New York’s first (sorta, sorry Mutual of New York) National League baseball team. Obviously, we put no numbers in front, no names on the back. 
Pair them up with the 1940’s New York Giants caps.  And boy, oh boy, will you have a winner.

I promise you these will FLY off of shelves, with young and old alike buying them. And everyone, from announcers to baseball purists, will talk about how great the Mets look.

Now, for the aways. Here, I take the old Brooklyn Dodgers grey aways before the red numbers on the front and keep them basically the same, including the same material, with one big exception. In place of the “Brooklyn” script, use “Queens” in the same font. Same with the hat , keep the old style white lettering on the blue hat, but take the “B” and make it a “Q”.
Can you imagine? The entire borough of Queens, New York city’s most populace, will want to buy these uniforms. They’ll be a huge hit, and again, they’ll keep baseball’s traditional fans happy (and buying).

Now the key is to wear these as alternates, that is, one day a week. Have “Throwback Sundays” wear the Mets wear these only on that day, home and away.

I think it’d be a rousing success, widely popular, and show everyone the Mets care about history and tradition. (Because right now, everyone is really doubting that)

(Stick the Citi field concessions staff in the black hats and unis, and they’ll still sell.)

I think these will make everyone happy, and do the opposite of the black uniforms do, which make us look like an expansion team: gimmicky and without any history or tradition. These alternates will do the opposite. Mets fans can wear them, glance over at their buddys in Yankee pinstripes and say, “Hey guys, don’t forget, National League baseball was in New York long before you guys came along.”

So what does everyone think?


I think he’s on to something with the home uniforms.  I wouldn’t want to introduce red as a new color, but maybe a dark orange would work.   As for the roads, I’m not sure “Queens” or a “Q”  would work but maybe something similarly themed with “New York” – and like Carlo said, only on Sunday.


I will also throw out there that the Mets are selling Mr. Met caps (see the sticking cap left which is not a cap but all I could find.) that might make for an interesting Sunday alt-logo, like how Boston is using the double-socks cap.




Forgive me if this article doesn’t look so pretty.  The formatting was tough with several pictures.

www.metspolice.com
@metspolice

Please visit www.metspolice.com and help stop black uniforms.
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Starfleet Mets to Play in Binghamton

This Friday the Binghamton Mets will hold a Star Trek Night when they host the Connecticut Defenders. Here is the press release –

Star Trek Night, June 5
“Star Wars” promotional nights have been steadily growing in popularity over the past several years; is it now Star Trek’s time to shine? The B-Mets sure think so, as they are celebrating the enduring sci-fi series Friday. The team will wear sleek and stylish Star Trek-themed jerseys during the game, perhaps signifying the players’ desire to get “beamed up” to a new level of play. All in-game contests will be Trek-themed, and head shots on the videoboard will be doctored so that the players resemble characters from the series. Perhaps most hilariously, the B-Mets’ staff will wear replica “Star Trek” uniforms of various colors so that fans can immediately determine their rank in the front-office hierarchy.

B-Mets catcher Josh Thole models the Star Trek jerseys his squad will wear Friday. (Binghamton Mets)

To be honest, I am completely torn by this. For the most part I hate themed uniform experiments. Most come off looking ridiculous (see Mercury Mets, or any Hawaiian Night promotion). However, I will admit I am a big Star Trek fan and so there is a part of me that loves this.

Minor league teams ultimately get more leeway when it comes to quirky promotions than major league teams. That’s what the minors are all about really.

I will say that I appreciate that the jersey is not over-the-top. They could have easily gone with pullovers that looked like Star Fleet uniforms. By limiting the design changes to the lettering and the small Star Fleet insignia I think they struck a good balance.

And yes, I do want one.

www.metspolice.com
@metspolice

Please visit www.metspolice.com and help stop black uniforms.
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99 Is Not A Baseball Player’s Number

If you’ve spent any time ever here at Mets Police you’ve probably noticed that I get picky about what the Mets wear.

I not only hate the black uniforms, I hate when stupid numbers are assigned.

If Rey Ordonez asked me for a zero I would have punched him in the face.

This year’s offender is Jose Valentin.  He’s walking around camp wearing a #99.   99 is a football number.  99 is Wayne Gretzky.  Even the Yankees who barely have 25 available numbers left don’t need to use 99.

The always awesome Mets by The Numbers has a list of players and numbers in a posting today.

Why 99?

Why not 8?  What’s that you say – 8 is being held for Gary Carter?  You may have a point – they haven’t given it out since 2002, and they don’t hand it out to every Tom, Dick and Fernando like they do with 17.  (Again check out this awesome site:  http://mbtn.net/number/8)

How about 24?  The Mets need to get over this 24 avoidance they have.  Either retire it or use it.   (They have a Willie Mays fetish, just letting you younger kids know).

31?  If you’re holding it for Mike Piazza day then just have Mike Piazza day and be done with it – but you better have Keith Hernandez day first.

45.   Why are they holding 45?  Do they want to honor the bad half of John Franco’s career?  Is it a tribute to a pitcher that really did nothing for the franchise after June 6, 2006?   Do they think Pedro is going to wow them in the WBC?  Knowing this franchise they’ll probably have Pedro Day before the 17 goes up on the fence.

Fine, you want to hold on to all those, fine.  How about 51, 52, or 55?

Lose the 99.  Wear 51 until you either get cut or make the team and then can steal a number like 30 from Rocky Cherry.  Yes the Mets have someone named Rocky Cherry.

www.metspolice.com

Please visit www.metspolice.com and help stop black uniforms.