The Mets Police – Page 4548 – What Mets fans talk about when not talking about the actual games.

February 22, 2009

Rumorville: You Aren’t Getting Weekend Seats At New Yankee Stadium

Some chatter here: Yankees message board

Some folks are saying that they were downgraded from weekend plans to weekday plans.

Some are saying that instead of being offered cheap tickets they are being offered $100 tickets. One of the challenges of the relocation process is that if you decline whatever they offer you (say $100 seats) you have to go back into “the pool” which I think means the end of the line.

The News got into this a bit on Friday: here

I also highly suggest checking out New Stadium Insider for all things about C-Field and New New Yankee including more information about NYYS relocation.

It’s hard to kill the Yankees for selling season tickets but I do feel bad for folks who were downgraded. I don’t think they were wrong to not buy 41 game packs.

Stubhub’s going to have a good year!

www.metspolice.com

February 21, 2009

Mets Police Accidentally Advertise Human Growth Hormone – And Offend Selves

So I was reading my own blog tonight and I see an ad for Human Growth Hormone!

Google is selling steroids on my blog! Yes I allow advertising on my site and some of the ads come from Google – but HGH?!!! I’ve noticed that the ads are selected based upon what we’ve been writing about – so I blame A-Rod! I’m offended at myself! As soon as I figure out how to get them off I will, in the meantime I will just try to shame Google Adsense.

www.metspolice.com

February 21, 2009

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day With A Green Gooden Jersey

St. Patrick’s Day is coming and if you’re on the mailing list from mlb.com you were invited to get your Paddy’s Day Mets-wear. Now I’m not going to be phony – I like shamrocks, I even enjoy my green Mets hat from time to time (Mets Police rule is that the Mets can sell whatever they want just don’t wear them during games.)

One item that may interest you is the green Gooden jersey. How better to relive 1985 than with this. Who screams Kiss me I’m Irish more than good ol’ Doc. Plus who can ever forget him wearing the traditional Mets green. At only $240 it’s quite the steal!

New York Mets Authentic 1985 Dwight Gooden St. Patrick’s Day Jersey by Mitchell & Ness

Was: $299.99*

Now: $238.97

www.metspolice.com

February 21, 2009

Old Lee Mazzilli Article I Found

So on December 23rd I was hunting around the internet for random things to write about, and for some reason the “Lee Mazzilli” news-tracker went and found this piece from the Baltimore Sun. It ran back in 2003, but some compuglitch made it show up again as “new” on 12/23/08. I’ve been sitting on it since, but with games coming back there’s no reason to keep it for a rainy day. Here ya go…

He grew up in Brooklyn, played stickball in the street and wore tight pants during the disco era, like John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever.

His father is a former professional boxer who still lives in the 3 1/2 -room apartment where Mazzilli was raised in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood near Coney Island.

Once referred to as “The Italian Stallion” by tabloid headline writers, Mazzilli co-starred with an actress who now appears in The Sopranos when he performed in an off-Broadway theater production in the early 1990s.

“Lee had that New York edge about him, and he comes by it naturally,” said Joe Malone, Mazzilli’s baseball coach at Lincoln High School in 1972 and 1973.

Yet you should think twice before tagging him with the simplistic “brash New Yorker” label.

“That’s not me,” Mazzilli said last week, “and anyone who knows me knows that’s not me. What’s that old saying: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.'”

..

I’ve coached a lot of kids over the years, and no one was more unassuming and respectful,” said Sal Cappucci, a Brooklyn teacher who managed Mazzilli for four years on a top club team representing the Gravesend Youth Center. “Lee is anything but a wise guy. His father brought him up right.”

Mazzilli’s grandfather had immigrated from Bari, Italy, and worked in the piano business, a trade he passed on to his son, Libero, who was a piano tuner and a professional welterweight. Libero and his wife had three children – Lee has an older brother and sister – and encouraged them all to skate.

“Skating was something I had always done,” the elder Mazzilli said last week.

Lee Mazzilli was a boy wonder, his strong legs and tenacity taking him far. Competing for the Prospect Park and Yonkers skating clubs, he shared the long track national championship at age 11 and then won outright titles at 13 and 15.

In short track skating, he won or shared the national title every year from 1968 to 1971.

When he shared the short track title in 1970, a younger division winner was 11-year-old Eric Heiden, destined to become America’s greatest speed skater.

..

The Mets selected him with their first-round pick in the 1973 draft, making him the 14th player taken overall. The franchise later drafted other New York-area players such as Bodie, John Pacella and Neil Allen.

“We became a kind of ‘Rat Pack,'” said Bodie, a Brooklyn native. “We hung out together in the offseason, went to the gym, went out at night. We had an affinity.”

Mazzilli became their resident celebrity. He broke in with the Mets in 1976, and the organization, desperate for attention, labeled him a future superstar.

“He was a good-looking center fielder, a local kid, and they made him a teen-age idol,” Bodie said. “We’d buy new pants and take ’em to the tailor and get ’em cut skin tight.”

Mazzilli found the attention unsettling. “That [future superstar] tag was something that was put upon me rather than my choice,” he said.

The pressure was intense. He responded well at first. In 1979, he batted .303 with 15 homers and played in the All-Star Game, where he hit a home run off Jim Kern and drew a bases-loaded walk from Ron Guidry to force in what became the winning run.

..

But his production and playing time dwindled as a new generation supplanted him. Traded in 1982, he played for the Rangers, Yankees and Pirates before returning to the Mets, with whom he won a World Series ring in 1986. A career .259 hitter over 14 seasons, he finished up with the Blue Jays in 1989.

His transition to life after baseball was jarring.

“That was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with,” he said. “Your whole life has revolved around one thing, playing the game. Then, all of sudden, it’s not there. It’s 4 o’clock and you’re home barbecuing when you think you should be going to the park.”

Lee Mazzilli by the numbers
Career batting average: .259
All-Star sppearances: 1
Years as a player: 14
Winning percentage as minor league manager:.527
Years as a Yankees coach: 4

www.metspolice.com

February 21, 2009

Food At C-Field

(Tales of the blogger. Sometimes I write ahead. I try to find something generic that I can use as content on a quiet day. Earlier in the week I decided to revisit the food at C-Field and pre-wrote the first draft of the article below. Then the Mets had to go out and put out a press release on a day when I was busy with my real job. So now I look like I’m late. Dang Mets, you got me this time.)

None of this is new, but as my mind turns to the new season (and I read an article about C-Field on the train) I thought some of the food offerings are interesting.

Gothamist had the following last June (again I’m not saying it’s new info):

Sterling Market: this casual cafe will serve classic, artisanal comfort foods

Sterling Beer & Wine Bar: located inside Sterling Market, this venue will offer specialty brews and an extensive selection of wines from around the world, available by the glass or bottle

Sterling Dining Room: reservations required, with limited seating for walk-in guests, will present a small-plates menu ideally suited to game day dining

Sterling Bar & Lounge: offering guests a view of the large outdoor patio and ball field, the bar and lounge will serve specialty cocktails and small bites

Sterling In-Seat Service: waiter service will feature “Best of Ballpark” food from the outfield concourse

Maybe it’s just my general love/hate relationship with the ‘chise but “Sterling Market” just annoys me. There’s also going to be the Shake Shack, the Taco Place and the fries place.

The Times talked about those:

The taqueria â€” which he will be opening along with a Blue Smoke barbecue restaurant and a Shake Shack stand â€” will have Floyd Cardoz of Tabla as its consulting chef. It will be called El Verano. The Belgian fry stand will be called Box Frites, not Pop Fries, as was previously announced. And Mr. Meyerâ€™s Union Square Hospitality Groupâ€™s will be providing the food and drinks at the Delta Sky360 Club, the premium seating area, including a dining room, beer and wine bar, and cafe.

And the Daily News said:

Blue Smoke is expected to serve up a scaled-down version of Danny Meyer’sGramercy Park restaurant, including Kansas City spareribs and Memphis baby back ribs.

Shake Shack, another Meyer venture, is set to grill up the famed ShackBurgers and vegetarian ‘ShroomBurgers that fans line up for at its Madison Square Parkpost.

Acela is a reservations-required restaurant that Nieporent – also owner of Tribeca Grill – has slotted for a space overlooking the diamond. Named after the high-speed Amtrak train, the fine-dining spot has yet to unveil its menu.

Verano TaquerÃa will feature authentic tacos created by chef Floyd Cardoz of Tabla fame.

Box Frites will serve freshly-cut, Belgian-style fries with a wide selection of dipping sauces.

The Delta Sky360 Club will be another premium-seating dining destination on the Field Level directly behind home plate, offering waiter service and “Best of Ballpark” food.

Wheelhouse Market is expected to be a casual cafe serving speciality brews and “classic, artisanal comfort foods,” which usually means hand-crafted cheeses and cured meats.

Zachys will be run by Westchester wine merchants Andrew McMurray and Jeff and Don Zacharia, offering fine wines from around the world.

Um, do airlines and Amtrak scream “good food” to anyone? Why not go all in and have the Mt. Sinai Grill?

New York Mets Authentic 1985 Dwight Gooden St. Patrick’s Day Jersey by Mitchell & Ness

Was: $299.99*

Now: $238.97

Lee Mazzilli by the numbers