Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.18 1969 vs 2011

[Benjamin Grimm]

1969



2011

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I never got the disembodied head thing. The helmet-day thing might work better without them.

Is that like a splatter underneath the Mets logo in 2011?

[Lefty Specialist]

I chose 1969 for the creepiness of the Koosman, Grote and Seaver dirigibles. And because, hey, 1969.

Interesting how similar the covers are outside of that, though.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Although I have more affection for Shea than for Citi, I went with 2011. It's a better photo, and 1969 loses points for the creepy floating heads. Both are about the fan experience at the ballpark, but I think 2011 does it better.

[MFS62]

1969 was the better year, but not the better cover.
Later

[dgwphotography]

I don’t get the floating heads thing either, but 2011 loses points for the citi logo, and Shea will always beat shitty field

[Guest 41Forever]

Interesting that in 1969, we get a view from the upper deck, but in 2011 it's the expensive seats behind home plate. And it's nice that that kid is is saluting the disembodied heads of his heroes. It's like no one can see them but him.

Bobby: "Mom -- Jerry, Jerry and Tom are talking to me again! They're, like, right here!"

Mom: "That's nice, Bobby. Eat your ice cream."

Jerry: "Don't worry, Bobby. She can't see us. We're just an hallucination from the thin air up here in the last row of the upper deck. Have some more Yoo Hoo. Let's Go, Mets!"

[stevejrogers]

I’m going with the first instance of color photography on the cover, Shea, and first player photos.

[RealityChuck]

Two excellent examples. I finally went for 2011 since disembodied heads are creepy.

[Valadius]

2011. 1969 would have had my vote if not for the creepy heads that look like they've been clipped out of a magazine by a serial killer or a teenage fangirl.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I don't find the floating noggins creepy but rather goofy looking. 1969 is
easily the worst cover of the decade and that picture looks like it was taken
with a Kodak Instamaticâ„¢. 2011 all the way.

[G-Fafif]

Three 1968 All-Stars are rising over Shea Stadium and with them our hopes. At least that's my interpretation of the floating heads. It's the first time the Mets have featured players on the cover of their yearbook. Maybe they wanted to hedge (or head) their bets by doing it this way. They weren't yet established veteran stars, so let's not use their bodies.

It's a beautiful image of Shea, a beautifully packed house, a beautiful perspective in a 55,000-seat stadium, a beautiful day to hand out batting helmets, I'm guessing (when they had only a handful of giveaways, they really drew), but whoever commanded, "Bring me the heads of Koosman, Grote and Seaver!" had to be trippin', yo.

Whereas things were looking up entering 1969, things couldn't have been much grimmer approaching 2011, the first year of Collins and the only moments of Emaus, Hu, Boyer...the whole Dollar Store gang. But they really made the most of making Citi Field look like a fun place to be, albeit from the Blackwater Club. This was the last year in which the Mets tried their hands at a marketing slogan: "Stand With Us Now, Make The Stands Roar." What, you don't remember that? The subtle message was we're not featuring any new stars, and we don't have much to say about the old stars, but we do have a ballpark and baseball, and Mets fans have been known to enhance that experience. (They were coming off a very good home record, from which they fired the manager.) Good cover conveying that vibe, I guess. It's hard to get warm and fuzzy about 2011. But the cover is sunny and folks appear to be having a swell time.

1969 is 1969, an essential component of which was making hay from the improvements of 1968. Still, the heads...so weird. Perhaps if I'd experienced its cover in real time I'd feel more invested in it. As something I caught after the fact, despite piecing together the All-Star backstory, I can never get past the bizarre design element.

2011's cover plays error-free ball. I feel compelled to reward its effort.

[Guest cooby]

69 for the sheer hilarity of it

[batmagadanleadoff]

The floating disembodied heads don't bother me as much as they seem to bother some of youse. Still, they don't mix well with rest of the design cover. I would've voted for the '69 cover if not for the heads. It's a nice enough shot and I like the effect that the film stock gives off, which Is reminiscent of the photography of its time and doesn't remind me of a Kodak Instamatic.

In the end, I voted for the 2011 yearbook, but only by default. The long shot of Citi Field does nothing for me. I have no love or any emotional attachments to the Mets current stadium, which, to me, is a cheesy mashup of mismatched parts, essentially copied from every other stadium that recently preceded it. The stadium is dead to me. And that hideous, embarrassing, ugly monstrosity of a scoreboard.

[G-Fafif]

The protective screen behind home plate seems to have been magically removed from the 2011 cover. Enjoy sitting close at your own risk.

[Guest d'Kong76]

It's there, look at the sky to the left of CitiField on the scoreboard and
you can see the top of it and how the color of the sky subtly changes
below the cabling.

[G-Fafif]

d'Kong76 wrote: It's there, look at the sky to the left of CitiField on the scoreboard and you can see the top of it and how the color of the sky subtly changes below the cabling.

Ah, OK, I see it. Thanks for the guidance.

The 2011 Mets: We wouldn't pretend something that's there isn't.

[Benjamin Grimm]

2011 has a healthy 13 to 5 lead. I have a hunch that it may end up being the only cover from the current decade to advance to the second round. (2010 and 2017 have already been eliminated, and 2013 and 2016 are currently in dire straits.)

[Guest cooby]

Damn. Isnt there some way we can keep the 1969 one in play? It's just too funny to forget

[Benjamin Grimm]

It will live forever in our hearts.

[Zvon]

41Forever wrote: Interesting that in 1969, we get a view from the upper deck, but in 2011 it's the expensive seats behind home plate. And it's nice that that kid is is saluting the disembodied heads of his heroes. It's like no one can see them but him. Bobby: "Mom -- Jerry, Jerry and Tom are talking to me again! They're, like, right here!" Mom: "That's nice, Bobby. Eat your ice cream." Jerry: "Don't worry, Bobby. She can't see us. We're just an hallucination from the thin air up here in the last row of the upper deck. Have some more Yoo Hoo. Let's Go, Mets!"

lmao. This is just classic.

If 2011 didn't include the best logo known to man and the universe to offset the DOMINO'S FIELD LOGO I would have gone with '69. Yea, it's only on the scoreboard, and the '69 does have the logo as well, but that beautiful image of Shea get's me.
The disembodied heads look so creepy. If they decapitated the entire team and floated 'em it may have come across better. Picture those old Topps team cards for the Chicago Cubs. For a number of years it was only just their heads pictured.

[fimg=300]https://pulpephemera.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/1971-topps-chicago-cubs-team-502.jpg[/fimg]

[Edgy MD]

dgwphotography wrote: I don’t get the floating heads thing either, but 2011 loses points for the citi logo, and Shea will always beat shitty field

I take a back seat to no man in my love and defense of Shea, but I want to go on record with my position that Shea with the guillotined heads of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jerry Grote suspended from the rafters does NOT beat Citi Field.