Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.28 1975 vs 2005

[Benjamin Grimm]

1975



2005

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I never much liked the 75 cover. It's like they made Seav sit on the floor. And even then I found the round-number celebration was a little weird, overlooking the remarkable consistency. Plus he made it to 9 yet they never did it again.

The 2005 Mets squeezed a lot out of Beltran's press-conference goof, didn't they?

This is Brown vs. Black.

[Lefty Specialist]

I like the little pieces of chewing gum they put on the table to keep the balls from rolling away. And doing a 9 with baseballs is a lot harder than doing a 7.

Dunno, the 2005 looks kinda....eh. Even Willie looks confused. So I went with George Thomas and his balls.

[Guest 41Forever]

It's hard to vote against The Franchise. Ever. But I've always thought that was an odd cover. I'd hope that it was a spontaneous thing and then someone said, "Hey, let's throw that on the year book cover!" Because if that was planned, it's awful. You can see the tape holding down the balls. Then again, you have to almost admire an era when everything isn't marketed to death.

The other one has some flaws. Was that Pedro's first year? If not, he shouldn't be in a batting practice jersey. Willie is on the wrong side -- he's looking off the page. Bad design work.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes, that was Pedro's first year. And Beltran's too. Unlike in 2018, they didn't hesitate to use spring training uniforms on the yearbook cover.

I agree that the 1975 cover is weird. That's the kind of photo that, in its kitsch, would lend charm to the inside pages of the yearbooks of that era. It's not a good fit for the cover, especially as 1974 was a relatively poor season for Seaver. Yeah, he struck out his 200 batters, but I'm sure he was unhappy with his 11-11 record and his career-high 3.20 ERA.

I'm not sure which way I'll vote. I don't like montages, but that 1975 cover is a dud.

[Edgy MD]

The 2005 cover is part of a very consistent look to all their marketing materials around that time. Sleek and serious and a little bit mean. Well executed across the board. The monochromatic blue dulls the dismaying effect of all those uniform variations, but it's really hard to hide Pedro's uggo spring training togs.

But I voted for that over Tom Seaver in a dimly lit basement. Let's be grownups here. There are probably stray Legos and army men and stale Cheetos under that table.

[stevejrogers]

Still hard not to go with The Franchise’s lone solo cover.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Went with Tom's not-so terrific cover. I'd rather forget that orange on
black faze our ball club went through.

[G-Fafif]

I learned early that 200 strikeouts was the mark of a very good pitcher. I learned it because Tom Seaver struck out 200 or more batters every year. But I'm not sure that I was acutely aware Seaver simply pitching as Seaver was the stuff of records until I saw the cover of the 1975 yearbook. It may have been the most informational cover in Mets history.

It's not the most attractive. The wood paneling you can't ignore. The Fun-Tak I'd never noticed. Since I had read every Seaver biography I could get my hands on, I knew Tom saved the balls from all his milestone starts, but there's something about those inscriptions, even when I know they're fake (which is to say not the balls from every 200th strikeout of Tom's), that seems flat inauthentic. The perspective is weird. Is he the mama duck taking a break from hatching his eggs? It always bothered me he wasn't wearing his cap. If they're not careful, one of these years he's going to put on one from the wrong team.

Oh, I'm voting for it. It's from 1975 when I was 12 and the Mets were everything to me and it's got my favorite player ever. He set his strikeout record that year on September 1 versus the Pirates and he won 22 games and another Cy Young. It makes me as happy to note that now as it made me happy to live it then.

Seaver had competition for the Cy in Randy Jones. He has no competition here from the 2005 yearbook. I was plenty excited by the composition of the roster at its upper echelons before I ever saw the yearbook. The yearbook added nothing to the excitement. It's not just dark, it's impersonal. Maybe they felt they had to be all business after the way the Howe era ended. Willie Randolph is going to keep two sharp eyes on everybody (or everybody who isn't on the cover). Pedro's gonna bean somebody off the page. Beltran is laser-focused on Piazza's right ear. Nobody's gonna do anything dopey on The New Mets. We'll smile some other year.

The 1975 and 2005 teams were both bounceback editions, improving from 71 wins the year before to break .500. In 2005, it took the addition of two stars, the maturing of two youths and whatever was left from the resident icon to start winning. In 1975, all it took was Seaver getting over his nagging sciatica. As Jack Lang asked, "Were the Mets eleven games better or was it just that Tom Seaver was eleven games better?"

Sometimes one man can do all the winning that is needed.