UniWatch on the '86 era Mets Home Unis

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: The Nathan's in Oceanside in the early seventies was more of a palace than a restaurant. Visiting there, as a kid, was more event dining for me than even the Coney Island one.

Though not a Long Islander, I'm pretty sure I ate there a few times during my elementary school years. Did that Nathan's have like a small kiddie-themed amusement park with rides?

[seawolf17]

The Chuck E Cheese's in Commack became a Nathan's at some point in the late 80s, but kept the video game/ball pit aesthetic. They just got rid of the animatronic entertainment.



Odd memory: met Islander Billy Smith there in the early 80s. My friend's dad recognized him, and I have his autograph (on the back of my friend's dad's business card) somewhere in the basement.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

=G-Fafif post_id=58263 time=1616378827 user_id=55]
Sport magazine c. 1987 ran a best/worst uniforms piece, back when you had no idea people thought about such things. I remember the Mets were panned for their “War Eagles be damned” ensemble, an Auburn University reference. At the time I was insulted because how dare anybody criticize anything about the Mets, but I thought about it and the stripes plus stripes thing did seem a bit excessive.



Still love ‘em for the reasons Phil Hecken cites in the above excerpt. They had a good run.

[whippoorwill]

=G-Fafif post_id=58270 time=1616380717 user_id=55]
When the Mets adopted the side stripes, I thought, “Oh, like the Expos have.”

[Edgy MD]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Sport magazine c. 1987 ran a best/worst uniforms piece, back when you had no idea people thought about such things. I remember the Mets were panned for their “War Eagles be damned” ensemble, an Auburn University reference. At the time I was insulted because how dare anybody criticize anything about the Mets, but I thought about it and the stripes plus stripes thing did seem a bit excessive. Still love ‘em for the reasons Phil Hecken cites in the above excerpt. They had a good run. I had that issue and have never forgiven either. I could barely understand the frame of reference which to me indicated how little perspective on New York the writer had. I thought, people here don't even care about college football

I was at the premier for Rudy. I was working for J. Crew and one of the big shots in the family who ran the company was trying to make it in film. Inexplicably, the big wig chatted me up at the premier and asked what It thought. I hemmed and hawed and lied a little, though I thought any movie with Roc couldn't be all bad. He told me that he was kind of counting on this film to save his standing in the business because his last film was So I Married an Axe Murderer, and that had tanked. He really wanted my input but all I could think was, "Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person?"

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I thought the blue tops were pretty good looking, mostly as a fashion look, and I like that they incorporated the gray-silver into the numerals in the 80s. That was something of an underrated rare innovation with the Mets, using road grey in a new way and I was pleased they brought it back.



I've always believed the Mets were capable of better looking duds, especially home jerseys. Never been all that big on pinstripes, for example. It's just that the Mets have never really had a design that does it all for me. I'm not even convinced they couldn't utilize black (or the grey-silver) if they just did it right.



Hard to beat 75 Record Breaker road look though.



https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71XK0bYnMWL._AC_SL1000_.jpg>

[batmagadanleadoff]

Tom Seaver just missed the Mets two-button pullovers on both ends of the deal and never wore them in an actual regular season MLB game. Lucky for him. He was traded to the Reds a few months before the Mets would debut the two-buttoners. And he returned to the Mets for the first season in which the two-buttoners were totally ditched for good.



Though he did appear in the two-buttoners in several promotions and photo ops just before the start of the 1983 regular season.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Sport magazine c. 1987 ran a best/worst uniforms piece, back when you had no idea people thought about such things. I remember the Mets were panned for their “War Eagles be damned” ensemble, an Auburn University reference. At the time I was insulted because how dare anybody criticize anything about the Mets, but I thought about it and the stripes plus stripes thing did seem a bit excessive. Still love ‘em for the reasons Phil Hecken cites in the above excerpt. They had a good run. I had that issue and have never forgiven either. I could barely understand the frame of reference which to me indicated how little perspective on New York the writer had. I thought, people here don't even care about college football I was at the premier for Rudy. I was working for J. Crew and one of the big shots in the family who ran the company was trying to make it in film. Inexplicably, the big wig chatted me up at the premier and asked what It thought. I hemmed and hawed and lied a little, though I thought any movie with Roc couldn't be all bad. He told me that he was kind of counting on this film to save his standing in the business because his last film was So I Married an Axe Murderer, and that had tanked. He really wanted my input but all I could think was, "Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person?"

I don;t think you've ever mentioned your J Crew career before

[Fman99]

That's where Edgy and I met. I was modeling men's trousers that featured a prominently roomy crotch bulge. For those of us who don't pack so light

[G-Fafif]

Nathan's in Oceanside was Mecca. It had everything. A game room that was a veritable arcade. Gumball machines that dispensed untold treasures, particularly these gelatinous humpty dumpty type figures WITH HATS. Indoor picnic benches and tables. Rides, including a merry go round. A private room, with stained glass windows, for use by fraternal organizations who perhaps gathered to watch Met highlight films. Tuesday nights attracted motorcyclists from everywhere. And the menu went on forever. Shrimp boats (my sister and I saved the boats and convert them to vessels for the hatted humpties). Pizza. Chow mein on a bun. Frog's legs. Fried chicken. Schaefer. And that was before the burgers and franks and signature French fries. Jesus, it's stirring to think about. Nothing on the menu was expensive. All of it was listed so you could learn math: 94 cents + 6 cents sales tax, total $1.



Classic Nathan's of Oceanside lasted until about 1977. Scaled-down Nathan's, which was fine until you got misty-eyed for the original, hung in for a long time thereafter, with a lesser menu and a lesser game room and still the motorcycle crowd. No plastic Mets batting helmets, however. Mine, too, didn't withstand horseplay, but our announcers always warned us they shouldn't be considered protective against live pitching.



A Nathan's currently resides up Long Beach Rd. from the previous site. Needless to say, it ain't what it used to be.

[G-Fafif]

[G-Fafif]

"Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person??”

I'm not an enormous college football fan, likely a symptom of being a New Yorker.



When I got into it to degree, I decided I loved The U (Miami) and detested Notre Dame.



But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

[MFS62]

=G-Fafif post_id=58311 time=1616419321 user_id=55]

"Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person??”

I'm not an enormous college football fan, likely a symptom of being a New Yorker.



When I got into it to degree, I decided I loved The U (Miami) and detested Notre Dame.



But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

[Edgy MD]

=G-Fafif post_id=58308 time=1616418775 user_id=55]
Nathan's in Oceanside was Mecca. It had everything. A game room that was a veritable arcade. Gumball machines that dispensed untold treasures, particularly these gelatinous humpty dumpty type figures WITH HATS. Indoor picnic benches and tables. Rides, including a merry go round. A private room, with stained glass windows, for use by fraternal organizations who perhaps gathered to watch Met highlight films. Tuesday nights attracted motorcyclists from everywhere. And the menu went on forever. Shrimp boats (my sister and I saved the boats and convert them to vessels for the hatted humpties). Pizza. Chow mein on a bun. Frog's legs. Fried chicken. Schaefer. And that was before the burgers and franks and signature French fries. Jesus, it's stirring to think about. Nothing on the menu was expensive. All of it was listed so you could learn math: 94 cents + 6 cents sales tax, total $1.



Classic Nathan's of Oceanside lasted until about 1977. Scaled-down Nathan's, which was fine until you got misty-eyed for the original, hung in for a long time thereafter, with a lesser menu and a lesser game room and still the motorcycle crowd. No plastic Mets batting helmets, however. Mine, too, didn't withstand horseplay, but our announcers always warned us they shouldn't be considered protective against live pitching.



A Nathan's currently resides up Long Beach Rd. from the previous site. Needless to say, it ain't what it used to be.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I wore mine through the fall of 84. I remember that because I met a Met fan on freshman move-in day from another dorm who was also wearing one.



It turned out that we were not only both into plastic Met replica helmets but we each had a unicycle. He was much more skilled in the clowning arts than me (I was only a dabbler) but often I'd see him on campus as he led the Juggling Club and other stuff like that.



Sure enough https://michaelrosman.com/he went pro. Book him at your next party!

[batmagadanleadoff]

=G-Fafif post_id=58311 time=1616419321 user_id=55]


But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

[G-Fafif]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58316 time=1616421147 user_id=68]
=G-Fafif post_id=58311 time=1616419321 user_id=55]


But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I could talk about the stuff in this thread all day. Like I care what anybody thinks Drew Ferguson might do this year. He sounds like a quarterback, anyways.



Back to Nathan's -- while I was food shopping a few weeks ago, I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with a Nathan's behind-the-counter employee a few years ago. He said that the fries Nathan's sells are the exact same fries you could now buy in the frozen food section of your basic supermarkets. Makes sense, once I thought about it. I mean, those fries must arrive at Nathan's's's frozen in gigantic bags. No way Nathan's restaurants are peeling potatoes from scratch on the spot and then crinkling them up before frying them.



So when I remembered that conversation, I bought a bag of Nathan's fries. I never, I mean never, buy frozen food fries for home, otherwise.



Anyways, I made them. In the oven, as per the instructions. They were on the soggy or mushy side. After, I noticed that the bag said that for crispier results, frying is recommended.



Zvon woulda loved this thread. I bet he had a Nathan's 1971 Mets batting helmet, too.

[Fman99]

We oven bake our fries here at my house. Too much oil in the pan fry process.



The key is finding the right cut of fry and using a non-greased, non foiled cookie sheet. You can get a crispy fry if you do it right. We go with the https://shop.wegmans.com/product/25694/wegmans-crispy-friesWegmans brand 'Crispy Fries', cooked at 425 for 18 minutes and turned once midway through.

[Edgy MD]

=G-Fafif post_id=58311 time=1616419321 user_id=55]

"Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person??”

I'm not an enormous college football fan, likely a symptom of being a New Yorker.



When I got into it to degree, I decided I loved The U (Miami) and detested Notre Dame.



But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

[whippoorwill]

Now I'm hungry for hot dogs

[whippoorwill]

We oven bake our fries here at my house. Too much oil in the pan fry process. The key is finding the right cut of fry and using a non-greased, non foiled cookie sheet. You can get a crispy fry if you do it right. We go with the https://shop.wegmans.com/product/25694/wegmans-crispy-friesWegmans brand 'Crispy Fries', cooked at 425 for 18 minutes and turned once midway through.

I forget if it's M cCain or OreIda but that is exactly the same cooking instructions for the frozen fries we get and they are quite tasty

[G-Fafif]

Zvon woulda loved this thread. I bet he had a Nathan's 1971 Mets batting helmet, too.

We would've had an entire series of Topps 1971 replica Mets batting helmet cards by dawn, including coins celebrating the Nathan's menu.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Zvon woulda loved this thread. I bet he had a Nathan's 1971 Mets batting helmet, too. We would've had an entire series of Topps 1971 replica Mets batting helmet cards by dawn, including coins celebrating the Nathan's menu.

For sure.



Getting back to the original post, I agree with Hencken's UniWatch critique of those Davey Johnson era Mets home unis. But I have a soft spot for the unis, nevertheless. So many wonderful Mets stuff is connected to those unis. The Mets most dominant period. It's the home uni my all-time favorite Met - Keith Hernandez - wore. It's the uni Dwight Gooden wore when not even God could touch Doc. And how exciting was it to watch Doc in '84 and '85? Was there ever anything more exciting in Mets history? Tuning in to a Mets game after missing the first coupl'a minutes of the game and like clockwork, I'd see the Mets leadoff hitter already on second base and the #2 hitter on first. Sid Fernandez so often looking like Sandy Koufax for the first three or four innings. And on and on and on. I guess that's what the writer was referring to about fans liking unis mainly because of how the team performed in them.



And speaking of dominant untouchable era Doc, what hardly anyone ever mentions, if at all, is how Doc was so unjustly robbed of the '84 Cy Young award. He was untouchable in '84 and nobody was even remotely close, including Rick Sutcliffe, that year's winner. But Rick had the wins and his team made the playoffs, and it being 1984, you knew how that would turn out. Doc's legacy, as uneven and troubled as it is, should include winning the CYA in his first two seasons -- winning his first one while pitching the entire season as a teen-ager.



[FIMG=444]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81BZ9PSFRrL._AC_SX425_.jpg[/FIMG]

Edited March 22, 2021 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Like with Rookie of the year, they didn't really factor work volume into CYA voting back then, so Sutcliffe not showing up in the National League until the middle of June wasn't really held against him.



He was terrific, and carried the Cubs to the title down the stretch, but he was probably the fourth best pitcher in the league that year, and the second best on the Chicago roster.

[G-Fafif]

1983

“Try this uniform on.”

“What, with the stripes on the side? Isn't that a little much?”

“Just put it on. You'll find yourself imbued with powers you've never felt before.”

“I don't feel any different.”

“Give it time.”

“Nope, I still can't...hey, wait a second, I just did something I didn't know I could do!”

“Keep the uniform on.”



1984

“Hey, I had no idea you were this good!”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Sure.”

“It's the uniform.”

“The uniform? With the stripes on the side? Isn't that a little much?”

“That's what I said, but I have to keep wearing it if I want to keep getting better.”

“Keep the uniform on.”



1986

“Congratulations on another big win. Can you tell our audience your secret?”

“It's the uniform.”

“This? With the stripes? Isn't it...”

“A bit much? Doesn't matter. I put it on three years ago and I keep getting better.”

“Sounds magical. Say, what's this?”

“Oh, a special patch. I thought it added a little flair.”

“Well, you know what you're doing, I guess. Good luck and keep the uniform on.”



1992

“I don't understand. I put the uniform on like you told me.”

“And you did very well in it.”

“But now I suck again!”

“Did I tell you to add buttons?”

“I just thought it could use a little freshening.”

“TAKE THE UNIFORM OFF! Put this one on instead.”

“With the tail? Will it make me play better?”

“It will make you play as well as you deserve to.”

“I wonder why he cackled when he said that.”

[batmagadanleadoff]

I decided to google the 1971 Nathan's Mets batting helmet having rekindled old memories of the thing. I spent about 10 minutes or so, looking and looking. And looking.



Just one sole entry is what I came up with. Just one. It's from 2005. No pics.



Excerpt:

May 8, 1971: My dad bought me a replica Mets batting helmet at Nathan's in Oceanside. The availability of such a treasured item at a local outlet had obsessed me. Other than a crappy cap that fell apart in day camp a year earlier, it was probably my first legitimate piece of Metsiana (not counting cards). It was billed as the very same one you could buy at Shea Stadium, something I had to take on faith since I was still two years from my first Mets game. My parents were basketball fans, not baseball fans. I loved that helmet. I would've worn it that summer in Pee-Wee League had it been regulation. Some years later, when tomfoolery finally did it in, I committed to buying a new one on my next trip to Shea, which came August 10, 1977. I gave the fellow at the concession stand on the third-base side of field level a twenty and he gave me back change for a ten. You have to understand that I was giddy to be at this particular game because it was the first one I ever went to without adult supervision (midweek afternoon against the Cardinals, ticket paid for with proceeds from my Newsday route which I outsourced for the day), so I wasn't necessarily keeping good track of my money. I wasn't but a few steps away when the vendor called me over and gave me back the rest of my change. I've still got the replacement helmet. Not only that, but the vendor who was honest enough not to take advantage of a starry-eyed 14-year-old (starry-eyed for the 1977 Mets, yet) is now my brother-in-law. In one of the top five Small World events of my life, my sister brought home her new boyfriend from NYU the following winter. He had been talked up to me as a Shea Stadium employee, me to him as a big Mets fan. And damned if we didn't recognize each other in an instant. Mark claims that he must've liked me because most of the time he kept the change.

If i didn't already know who wrote the piece from googling it and then copying and pasting it to this forum, I'd still know who wrote it just from the clues in the piece. ,Youse would, too.

[G-Fafif]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58380 time=1616473394 user_id=68]
I decided to google the 1971 Nathan's Mets batting helmet having rekindled old memories of the thing. I spent about 10 minutes or so, looking and looking. And looking.



Just one sole entry is what I came up with. Just one. It's from 2005. No pics.



Excerpt:

May 8, 1971: My dad bought me a replica Mets batting helmet at Nathan's in Oceanside. The availability of such a treasured item at a local outlet had obsessed me. Other than a crappy cap that fell apart in day camp a year earlier, it was probably my first legitimate piece of Metsiana (not counting cards). It was billed as the very same one you could buy at Shea Stadium, something I had to take on faith since I was still two years from my first Mets game. My parents were basketball fans, not baseball fans. I loved that helmet. I would've worn it that summer in Pee-Wee League had it been regulation. Some years later, when tomfoolery finally did it in, I committed to buying a new one on my next trip to Shea, which came August 10, 1977. I gave the fellow at the concession stand on the third-base side of field level a twenty and he gave me back change for a ten. You have to understand that I was giddy to be at this particular game because it was the first one I ever went to without adult supervision (midweek afternoon against the Cardinals, ticket paid for with proceeds from my Newsday route which I outsourced for the day), so I wasn't necessarily keeping good track of my money. I wasn't but a few steps away when the vendor called me over and gave me back the rest of my change. I've still got the replacement helmet. Not only that, but the vendor who was honest enough not to take advantage of a starry-eyed 14-year-old (starry-eyed for the 1977 Mets, yet) is now my brother-in-law. In one of the top five Small World events of my life, my sister brought home her new boyfriend from NYU the following winter. He had been talked up to me as a Shea Stadium employee, me to him as a big Mets fan. And damned if we didn't recognize each other in an instant. Mark claims that he must've liked me because most of the time he kept the change.

If i didn't already know who wrote the piece from googling it and then copying and pasting it to this forum, I'd still know who wrote it just from the clues in the piece. ,Youse would, too.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=G-Fafif post_id=58381 time=1616475330 user_id=55]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58380 time=1616473394 user_id=68]
I decided to google the 1971 Nathan's Mets batting helmet having rekindled old memories of the thing. I spent about 10 minutes or so, looking and looking. And looking.



Just one sole entry is what I came up with. Just one. It's from 2005. No pics.



Excerpt:

May 8, 1971: My dad bought me a replica Mets batting helmet at Nathan's in Oceanside. The availability of such a treasured item at a local outlet had obsessed me. Other than a crappy cap that fell apart in day camp a year earlier, it was probably my first legitimate piece of Metsiana (not counting cards). It was billed as the very same one you could buy at Shea Stadium, something I had to take on faith since I was still two years from my first Mets game. My parents were basketball fans, not baseball fans. I loved that helmet. I would've worn it that summer in Pee-Wee League had it been regulation. Some years later, when tomfoolery finally did it in, I committed to buying a new one on my next trip to Shea, which came August 10, 1977. I gave the fellow at the concession stand on the third-base side of field level a twenty and he gave me back change for a ten. You have to understand that I was giddy to be at this particular game because it was the first one I ever went to without adult supervision (midweek afternoon against the Cardinals, ticket paid for with proceeds from my Newsday route which I outsourced for the day), so I wasn't necessarily keeping good track of my money. I wasn't but a few steps away when the vendor called me over and gave me back the rest of my change. I've still got the replacement helmet. Not only that, but the vendor who was honest enough not to take advantage of a starry-eyed 14-year-old (starry-eyed for the 1977 Mets, yet) is now my brother-in-law. In one of the top five Small World events of my life, my sister brought home her new boyfriend from NYU the following winter. He had been talked up to me as a Shea Stadium employee, me to him as a big Mets fan. And damned if we didn't recognize each other in an instant. Mark claims that he must've liked me because most of the time he kept the change.

If i didn't already know who wrote the piece from googling it and then copying and pasting it to this forum, I'd still know who wrote it just from the clues in the piece. ,Youse would, too.

[Edgy MD]

Can we speak about the other side of replica helmets? The four points which held the adjustable straps in place were of such a firmness and concentration of leather-colored plastic, that if anything should, by chance, ricochet off your head, it not only failed to absorb the impact, but instead painfully concentrated it at a shocking level



This of course, didn't keep them from becoming a prized possession which could make any stupid kid the envy of the playground. But God help you when you wore it in a stickball game and the tennis ball came veering off at your head.