Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.27 1968 vs 2012

[Benjamin Grimm]

1968



2012

[stevejrogers]

Mullin-ized Hodges over 50 years of covers.

[Edgy MD]

I love that Mullin incorporates the price into the artwork.

[MFS62]

This competition is turning into a Willard Mullin love fest.
As it should.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

This 1968 cover is my favorite, and it's the one cover that I know I'll never vote against, no matter the competition.

It's also the first yearbook (I mean "year book") that I ever acquired as a back issue.

[Frayed Knot]

Of course you could justify voting for 2012 on the basis that it contains the 2012 cover AND the 1968 cover.

[Guest 41Forever]

That's my favorite of the Mullins covers. I do like the year book montage, too. But 1968 is fantastic.

[G-Fafif]

In the essential 2013 book that collects so much of his baseball work, it was said Mullin scoffed at being called an artist, that he was happy to go by cartoonist. Yet he was in his element on the 1968 cover, creating an artist portraying art. Fifty years later, this art reminds us what an outsize figure Gil Hodges was before he became known for his singular feat of leading the Met to a land so totally unforeseen that it couldn't rightly be labeled promised. Yes, yearbooks have been known to hype new managers as if you've been wondering when they'd arrive to rescue us from the morass the last guy left behind, but this feels different. This feels like Gil Hodges was somebody we were in fact waiting for. The Mets fan knew Gil and loved Gil already. This cover amounts to a housewarming and homecoming present for all concerned.

All the accoutrements of the studio are on point. The purposeful cartoonishness of the presentation keeps us in the age of innocence, which probably wasn't the easiest sell in a year of turmoil everywhere else. The Mets runt probably would have spooked me out when I was five, but that's Mullin's style, and I accept him even if I'd probably cross the street to avoid him. Willard does draw a weird "s" at the end of "Mets," but that, too, makes things unique.

Thanks to the 2012 cover, we can see that as the era of the Mets competing as a legitimate major league entity is commencing in earnest (because we understand what Hodges and 1968 signify), we also see another era closing. This was the last of the Mullins -- save, of course, for the 1969 World Series program -- but the years and the yearbooks would roll on. Unless you're participating in some sort of tournament to select the best covers, you'd have a hard time eyeballing just about every one of them (minus a couple of revivals/originals) from a fifty-year span. But the 2012 yearbook gave us that opportunity, and I appreciate it. It's quite the trip through changing aesthetics, through prevailing values, through the annals of Metsiana for sure. One snapshot after another makes for a compelling family album. I should note I'm a sucker for this kind of collage. I'm also always surprised to learn the Mets bother to remember anniversaries let alone celebrate them. The 2012 commemoration got off to a promising start -- the logo, the yearbook cover, the yearbook cover display in the team museum, season tickets that spotlighted 81 different franchise greats, bringing back Roger Craig for a first pitch on an April afternoon -- but as usual kind of forgot about it over the course of six months. (I'm convinced a 50th anniversary reunion of Original Mets was kiboshed as a concept because management feared the easy-shot 1962 comparisons to 2012 that hack columnists and lazy beat writers would have typed.) Oh well, they sort of tried. Yearbookwise, though, they tried and succeeded. Framed in gold, it's a classy half-century keepsake.

A work of art versus the sweep of history. I'm a history guy, mostly. But the art here is so enchanting. Hold it, 1968 .... I think you got me!!

[Guest d'Kong76]

I don't think I've ever seen that 2012 cover. I like it a lot. I left the
ocd world of yearbook/programs completion-ism around 2010 deciding
I was a Shea Mets collector and not a Citicorp Dodgers collector. (yes
I'm aware that might be a little twisted but I never claimed to be en-
tirely normal)

1968 is in my final four in the bracket pool, although I'm starting to
think I have five covers in the final four.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: ... we also see another era closing. This was the last of the Mullins -- save, of course, for the 1969 World Series program --

A coupl'a other Met themed Mullin covers, post that 1968 yearbook:

[fimg=555]https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimedotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F10%2F1101690905_400.jpg%3Fw%3D400%26h%3D527%26crop%3D1&w=800&q=85[/fimg]


[fimg=555]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KVIAAOSwzaJX4Daz/s-l1600.jpg[/fimg]

[G-Fafif]

"The Mets are hot! Get me Mullin!"

[batmagadanleadoff]

Mullin's Met went from kid (Time mag cover) to adult (Mets WS program) in about one month's time. Some growth spurt! But then he devolved back into a pre-pubescent David against the Goliath Orioles.

[G-Fafif]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Mullin's Met went from kid (Time mag cover) to adult (Mets WS program) in about one month's time. Some growth spurt! But then he devolved back into a pre-pubescent David against the Goliath Orioles.

I wonder if somebody drew the first bottle of PEDs.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Mullin's Met went from kid (Time mag cover) to adult (Mets WS program) in about one month's time. Some growth spurt! But then he devolved back into a pre-pubescent David against the Goliath Orioles. I wonder if somebody drew the first bottle of PEDs.

.

You may be on to something. Were the '69 Mets baseball's first growth hormone cheaters? Lookit Time Mag Mets' way oversized head relative to his child-sized body. That cover portends Big Barry's Big Steroid Head and David Wright's oversized Great Gazoo batting helmet.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Mullin's Met went from kid (Time mag cover) to adult (Mets WS program) in about one month's time. Some growth spurt! But then he devolved back into a pre-pubescent David against the Goliath Orioles. I wonder if somebody drew the first bottle of PEDs. . You may be on to something. Were the '69 Mets baseball's first growth hormone cheaters? Lookit Time Mag Mets' way oversized head relative to his child-sized body. That cover portends Big Barry's Big Steroid Head and David Wright's oversized Great Gazoo batting helmet.

I'm wondering if Mullin was in on it. Maybe he got a hold of ol' Doc's DeLorean time machine and drove 40 years into the future to get the PED's and David Wright's Gazoo helmet to cover up kid Met's suddenly oversized head. This might be the most logical way to explain the Mets going from whatever they were in 1968 with Phil Linz and Jerry Buchek to winning 100 regular season games and beating the O's in the WS.

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: I love that Mullin incorporates the price into the artwork.

Right? Just terrific.

Plus, 50 cents vs. $12? Can't beat that price!

[G-Fafif]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: This might be the most logical way to explain the Mets going from whatever they were in 1968 with Phil Linz and Jerry Buchek to winning 100 regular season games and beating the O's in the WS.

Not only is it as logical as any other explanation (beyond lights-out pitching, airtight defense and extremely timely hitting), but I was earlier today down a research rabbit hole that brought me into contact with Linz and Buchek (among others).

[Edgy MD]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: ... we also see another era closing. This was the last of the Mullins -- save, of course, for the 1969 World Series program -- A coupl'a other Met themed Mullin covers, post that 1968 yearbook: [fimg=555]https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimedotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F10%2F1101690905_400.jpg%3Fw%3D400%26h%3D527%26crop%3D1&w=800&q=85[/fimg] [fimg=555]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KVIAAOSwzaJX4Daz/s-l1600.jpg[/fimg]

Note how David's toe is throbbing with the score of Game 1, but each of the stones clobbering Goliath's head represent the scores of the subsequent games.