All-Star Statues

[soupcan]

If anybody's interested this might be fun.

Go find a statue in the City, snap a pic and post it here. see how many of these we can get.

These two are in lower Manhattan near my office. Got 'em this morning...

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I came across (not literally) the Detroit Tigers statue in the Chelsea Market the other day.

I don't go around carrying a camera like you tourists however.

[Guest AG/DC]

It's not like me to care that much, but it's a little disconcertingly kitschy treatment of Lady Liberty, is it not?

[soupcan]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I don't go around carrying a camera like you tourists however.

Time to upgrade from your rotary phone. Many cell phones have cameras these days...

[Valadius]

What are they going to do with these things after the All-Star Game?

[soupcan]

AG/DC wrote: It's not like me to care that much, but it's a little disconcertingly kitschy treatment of Lady Liberty, is it not?

Agreed.

[soupcan]

Valadius wrote: What are they going to do with these things after the All-Star Game?

I'm guessing they'll auction them off for absurd amounts of money.

[Valadius]

Which begs the question of who the hell is going to buy them.

[batmagadanleadoff]

="soupcan"] These two are in lower Manhattan near my office. Got 'em this morning...

If you're on lower Broadway, there's a Brooklyn Dodger statue in front of the Topps Baseball Card building (One Broadway? OE -- One Whitehall Street).

I saw the Florida Marlin statue in front of Modell's on Broadway the other day, before I knew what this statue stuf was all about. I wondered why a sporting goods store in Manhattan would highlight the Marlins.

[Benjamin Grimm]

They did the Brooklyn Dodgers?

That's nice. Are they also doing the St. Louis Browns, the Montreal Expos, and the Seattle Pilots?

[Guest AG/DC]

I'm guessing no.

[batmagadanleadoff]

No. There is a New York Giants statue, however. I suppose that if the Pilots ever played in NYC (boroughs included), there'd be a Pilot statue. There are also statues for Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium.

[soupcan]

No - but they have one for the New York Giants.

[Guest AG/DC]

Well, why stop there?

Other lost area teams:

Brooklyn Gadiators (1890), American Association
Brooklyn Tip-Tops (1914-1915), Federal League
Brooklyn Ward's Wonders (1890), Players League
Newark Pepper (1914-1915), Federal League
New York Metropolitans (1883-1887), American Association
New York Mutuals (1876), National League

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's the MLB.com link to a map and list of all the statue locations.

[Guest 86-Dreamer]

the Mother of them all:

http://photos.imageevent.com/melanieclaire/metphotos/websize/Met%20Statue%20of%20Liberty.jpg

and, more impressive than the Lady Libert statues IMHO, was this vehicle which I spotted last week parked in East Rockaway. The interior had three rows of orange box seats.

http://photos.imageevent.com/melanieclaire/metphotos/websize/7%20Train.jpg

[stevejrogers]

Metly one is right out side 2 Penn Plaza on the corner of 33rd and 7th

The Shea one is right outside the SNY sidewalk studios alongside The Avenue of The Americas.

[Guest AG/DC]

How much is wrong with this?

1) There are five buroughs, last I checked.
2) They make those look like some outsider has come into our city and tagged the statue, desecratign it.
3) In true MLB style, they're all more or less variations on the same, rather than letting the teams come up with their own idea. One team might replace the tourch with a firstbaseman's glove or something.
4) Its' a variation on the late ninties/early aughts theme of second-tier cities encouraging tourism by placing fiberglass statues from the same mold --- but painted differently --- in different tourist quadrants of the city, so Moms and Dads can photograph Bucky and Cindy Lou hanging off the statue. Should be beneath New York.
5) It perpetuates the "Yankees = New York" mythology.

Philadelphia can dress William Penn in a Flyers jersey, and I'm sure we can do the same with the Statue of Liberty, but it's kind of too good for that. It either represents everybody or nobody, and, yeah, I guess each team getting a version kind of means "everybody," but it doesn't seem that way.

(Removing grumpy old man mask from face, disturbed to find out I kind of look like one under the mask.)

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

If you get bored, I blogged on this topic a little this week.

My beef is that they didn't do it correctly -- treating the statue as an object and not as a person.

If you slapped logos all over something that didn't depict a person, it would look OK. Say the game was in DC. You could do this type of thing to mini Washington Monuments and it would be OK, but not to mini versions of Daniel Chester French's masterpiece of Lincoln.

They should have just painted jerseys on the little statues, which would have looked cooler.

Painted versions of what Detroit did in 2006 (and does anytime one of its teams in a finals) would be cool.

[Guest attgig]

soupcan wrote: ="Valadius"]What are they going to do with these things after the All-Star Game? I'm guessing they'll auction them off for absurd amounts of money.

yup. exactly what Chicago did with their cog statues they had throughout their city a few years ago. That started a trend, and baltimore had some decorated fish and decorated crabs that they did that too as well. All ended up being auctioned off and raising a bunch of money for the city. I can't imagine who would buy them though.... heh.

[Fman99]

="metsguyinmichigan"]If you get bored, I blogged on this topic a little this week. My beef is that they didn't do it correctly -- treating the statue as an object and not as a person. If you slapped logos all over something that didn't depict a person, it would look OK. Say the game was in DC. You could do this type of thing to mini Washington Monuments and it would be OK, but not to mini versions of Daniel Chester French's masterpiece of Lincoln. They should have just painted jerseys on the little statues, which would have looked cooler. Painted versions of what Detroit did in 2006 (and does anytime one of its teams in a finals) would be cool.

Tough to believe that MLB marketing would kick this one around like A-Rod trying to field a grounder. Those guys are boobs (not the good kind).

[batmagadanleadoff]

No one should be surprised to learn that you can buy your own nine incher for $24.99 if you're priced out of the big statues. See, e.g.:





These statutue designs are garish enough to remind me of the 1999 Century 21 Turn Ahead the Clock promos.

[Guest AG/DC]

I've got my own nine-incher, thanks.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

AG/DC wrote: I've got my own nine-incher, thanks.

Does it have the Shea logo or the Mets logo?

[Frayed Knot]

Then there's the All-Star statute where Jeter gets to bat #2 even in lineups where he's the worst offensive player on his squad, and even when his manager isn't calling the shots, and even though some mid-lineup guys always have to take the 8 & 9 slots, and even though ....

Oh wait, it says S-t-a-t-u-e-s ... Never mind.

[Gwreck]

soupcan wrote: ="Valadius"]What are they going to do with these things after the All-Star Game? I'm guessing they'll auction them off for absurd amounts of money.

Indeed. Starting at $5000 each I believe.

[Gwreck]

No pictures, but the Cubs one is outside the Stock Exchange; the Padres one is at Union Square North and Broadway.