The Mets Police

Thank you for reading Mets Police.

Today the site turns six.  I started the blog on April 15, 2008.  I had wanted to start a blog about something to sharpen my new media skills, and didn’t really have an idea, and then the Mets annoyed me.

On that Jackie Robinson night all the Mets wore 42.  But with no names on the back (NNOB is the uni-snob term.)  I prefer NNOB as it looks much better, but if there is ever a time to have names on the back it’s the day when everyone wears the same number, right?  So I fired off a blog post.

Mets Police became an extension of some emails I had been doing with friends for years.  Some of the names may be familiar to long-time readers – Dan @dtwohig for sure.

There’s also a guy I refer to as Osh 41 who I now bust chops as The Chuck Berry of Mets Police.  We might be the Rolling Stones but we sure borrowed a lot of things from Osh 41 especially the hatred of black uniforms and anything Seaver.  There was a protozoan version of Mets Police in the schoolyard in 1983…and I wish we had written crap down along the way.

Keith aka @mediagoon is my cousin and he jumped on board rather quickly.  I needed some backstopping and who better to trust than family.

The site really picked up with the start of Citi Field as people discovered those pesky obstructed views.

From there some fun ball-busting of Dave Howard.  Then haunting about uniforms, nagging about Banner Day.  The great press conference in which the Mets restored the proper uniforms AND brought back Banner Day.

It has been fun to watch folks react to the site.  Some years (2013) I am told I am too negative.  Some years (2012) I am told I am too positive and have sold out.  So far this year I’m finding people really reacting angrily to my penchant for beating twitter jokes into the ground.  (When is Terry going to start Lagares anyway?)  Concurrently, people seem to really dig Halpert Face.

I don’t worry about it.  I just write whatever is on my mind.   I don’t like advanced stats, you do.  (I agree with this guy.)  I don’t kick my dog because you like OPS+ but I do like getting you going on twitter (@metspolice).

The site is fun to do.  There’s less fan advocacy to do then there was at one point – which is a good thing!  It means the Mets have gotten better at a lot of things.  Remember when Citi Field opened and it could have been Mariners Park?  Now it’s blue and orange and there’s a museum and you kinda know the Mets play there.  It’s good that I don’t have to harp on that daily.

The goal remains for the Mets to win the World Series while properly dressed.  Then I will hang up a Mission Accomplished sign and pack it in (after covering the parade).  Media Goon can then continue or not, that will be up to him.

So thanks for reading.  Thanks for understanding that this site is a hang. I’m the first to say it’s “stupid.”  Plenty of fluff and silliness and minutia.  It’s not for everyone.   We had a million plus page views in the past 365 days (1,082,268 if you are curious).  It’s not Mets Blog numbers but it’s a hell of a lot more than two guys in a school yard in 1983.

I’ve glad I have gotten to know you whether it’s in real life or on social media or at the Queens Baseball Convention which was an extension of this site’s vibe and yes it will return in January 2015.

Quick thanks to everyone who writes for the site: Goon, Verceman, the occasional Ceetar.  Thanks to everyone who sends me submissions especially the regulars.  Thanks to Matt Cerrone, Paul Lukas, Darren Meenan, both Faith and Fear, the bloggers I hang with, Adam Rubin and host of others who help the site’s visibility.   (And apologies to whoever I forgot.)

Thanks to the Mets (specifically Shannon and Danielle) for having me over for dinner and being good sports to a major pain in the ass.  No thanks at all to @lagranderusty.  Thanks to everyone who hangs on twitter and gets the gags.

Now go win the World Series while wearing pinstripes or road grays so I can ride off into the sunset.

LGM

Not everyone should wear #42 today.

I am not here to diminish Jackie Robinson.  Quite the opposite.

What baseball has done is turn the 42 into just another stunt.   42 has been watered down into the realm of stars and stripes caps and camo jerseys and that’s terrible.

There is a really good solution which  I read it on the internet a few years back – so credit to whoever came up with this.

Pick ONE player (or in a variant idea a handful of players) and have that player be the one who has the honor of wearing Jackie’s number.

At some point today the Mets will send out the press notes and the beat reporters will read them  You will then see a barrage of tweets about how the players are going to wear 42.  Surprise.  42 is now as important as everyone tweeting the lineup.

On the broadcast 42 will get talked about.  Nice enough.

But imagine if MLB turned wearing 42 into an honor.  What if there were discussions about who should wear the number.

Play this out…

Say the Mets chose Curtis Granderson.  You get a press release about which Met (and Phille and Astro and Mariner…) will wear the number.  Curtis gets the honor but also the responsibility of wearing the number.  Curtis would be the Met chosen to spoke to the media about the importance of Jackie.   Why you Curtis? What does this mean to you?  Why is Jackie important?

In that scenario you get a focused tribute.

(Plus being cynical there’s a better chance of selling Granderson 42 jerseys than generics, but OK maybe that leads to my son asking me why someone at the Mets game has a Granderson 42 jersey.)

 

 

As time heads forward maybe a player with white skin would ask to be the one with the honor.  That would start a discussion of some kind, and maybe we could see how far we’ve come (or not).  If David Wright asked to be the one who wears 42 how would you react?  Is that good?  Does it harken back to Jackie and Pee Wee Reese?  Would it bother some that a white player not a black player wore the number?  I really could argue this one both ways – and that’s quite a discussion to be had.

Instead we’ll take what was originally a grand gesture and check he box.  It’s not bad that they do it, it just could be better.  Discuss!

I stumbled across a really good article about how the Devils are trying to improve their business.  Most people default to “win and they will come” but even that hasn’t worked in New Jersey.  A bunch of cups.  An all-time great.  New building.  Empty seats.  So they hired some guys to improve The Brand. From the profile two things jumped out at me.

 “There’s an old expression: The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” So he’s spent the last six months dropping seeds.

I am going to steal it because it puts to words what I have been screaming about for six years here on Mets Police (our anniversary is tomorrow).

I think a lot of the Mets current problems go back to goofing with the brand since around 1992.  They owned the town in the 80’s but when the losing came couldn’t hold on to the fans.  Then the swoosh jerseys, Mr. Met 1.5, a half-assed Nickelodeon theme park I never understood.  Piazza covered some sins but black jerseys, Omar’s unnecessary marketing that made some of us feel excluded, chasing this hypothetical Asian market…it was always the gimmick of the minute.

Back to the Devils

He is still trying to figure out the culture. “Who are we, really?” he asked. He points to a group of cheerleaders standing on a platform. “Is that really our brand?” he wondered, and it seems clear he already has an answer.

via Politi: Scott ONeil and Hugh Weber want to reinvent the Devils as a business | NJ.com.

Specific to the Devils – yeah that cheerleader thing does always feel weird to me.

So we don’t have a time machine, all we can do is fix things from here out.

What is the Mets brand?

I think The Brand is Pitching (check), Mr. Met (check), stuff I will bundle as “The 7 Line culture” (check), families not Wall Street guys (check-ish), great broadcasting (check), Meet the Mets (organ, original lyrics, check), the original Apple (check), and yes Banner Day (check).  I wish the park had been a little better (many of you overrate it and need to travel to some other parks and/or sit upstairs if you happen to write for a newspaper or host a daily radio show) but it is what it is.

Maybe they have finally figured it out.

Now they need to stick with it.  And stick with it for more than five minutes.  If the Astros switch to lime green uniforms and they sell don’t switch everything Mets to lime green.  If someone starts doing the YMCA Grounds Crew don’t copy it (that did happen in Queens).  Or Sweet Caroline (also happened in Queens).

Be the Mets.  Just be the Mets.  We’re fine being the little brother and the butt of jokes.  It only makes the winning that much sweeter.