What Metsies Were Wearing, 2010

[HahnSolo]

As a bit of a Met uniform traditionalist who was about sick to death of seeing the Mets in black, I decided to track each Met home game this year, to see just how often they wore each uniform combination.

In 2010, the Mets wore four standard uniforms:
- Traditional pinstripes
- Snow whites with blue caps
- Snow whites with black caps and blue bills
- Black jerseys and all-black caps

It gives me some pleasure to say that black was not as prevalent this year as I had feared. Here is your breakdown:

28 games - Snow whites with blue caps. Mets went 14-14 in those games.

23 games - Traditional pinstripes. The Mets wore the pinstripes on Opening Day and in 10 of their last 17 Citi games (including the entire 4-game sweep of the Pirates) to pull them into second on the list. The Mets were 14-9 in the pinstripes.

21 games - Snow whites with black caps and blue bills. This combination was second in appearances for most of the season, but they were only worn for two of the final 17 Citi games. Metsies were 12-9 in this combination.

8 games - Black jerseys and all-black caps. Was pleasantly surprised how low this number was. After getting embarassed in the black on Hall of Fame day (Aug 1), the Mets only wore the blacks once in their final 29 Citi games. For the season, they were 8-2 in the blacks.

The final game was September 11, in which the Mets wore special white caps (along with the snow white jerseys). The Mets did not wear any throwbacks this year--as they did with their NY Giants throwbacks from 2009).

So what does it all mean? Heck if I know, but it seems like the black is being slightly de-emphasized.

One final note: while taking the Citi Field tour in August, the guide mentioned that the starting pitcher each day chose the music in the clubhouse and which uniform would be worn. I don't know if this is true...have not heard it anywhere else, but did anyone else who took the tour hear that?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Good work. May I borrow it?

[HahnSolo]

Of course.
I didn't bother to do road games, not sure why. I guess the black didn't bother me so much away from home.

[metirish]

Excellent work indeed.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Nice diggin', Hahn.

But shouldn't that be "traditional" pinstripes?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Check out the first post in this thread:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?97172-Official-2010-Mets-Uniform-Log

[HahnSolo]

Damn, did all that work and all I really needed to do was click on that link all year.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I feel more disappointed than I should that the Mets let slide the tradition of wearing the service department hats on September 11. It was everything a tradition should be, starting off spontaneously and heartfelt and somewhat subversively, and it was unique to the team.

Boo to everything that makes teams similar, and hurray to everything (even stupid stuff) that makes them dissimilar.

[Ceetar]

HahnSolo wrote: One final note: while taking the Citi Field tour in August, the guide mentioned that the starting pitcher each day chose the music in the clubhouse and which uniform would be worn. I don't know if this is true...have not heard it anywhere else, but did anyone else who took the tour hear that?

Shannon @ MetsPolice confirmed this with someone as well. I still suspect the Mets 'strongly urge' a choice sometimes, and that sometimes the pitchers don't care/don't pick.

Also, Mets are undefeated at home on Tuesdays.

[HahnSolo]

It did seem odd about the pitchers making the choice, since ballplayers are usually such creatures of habit...if it were truly their choice I would figure that they would pick the same uni each time, but that's really not the case.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Mets wore black and black for a very large percentage of Tom Glavine's starts, it seemed.

[Benjamin Grimm]

So they never wore the pinstripes with the black-and-blue caps this year? I know I've seen that combination in previous seasons.

Nice to see that the blue cap was worn 41 times. (More than half of the home games and more than a quarter of the overall games.)

I'd like to see them revive the grey uniform/blue cap combo on the road like they did for that one game where Carlos Delgado came back to life in 2008 at Yankee Stadium.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: The Mets wore black and black for a very large percentage of Tom Glavine's starts, it seemed.

"With a little squinting, they almost look navy-blue."

[HahnSolo]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: So they never wore the pinstripes with the black-and-blue caps this year? I know I've seen that combination in previous seasons. Nice to see that the blue cap was worn 41 times. (More than half of the home games and more than a quarter of the overall games.)

Might have something to do with the tweak to the cream-color pinstripe jersey? They didn't think the black caps went with it?

[Gwreck]

HahnSolo wrote: Might have something to do with the tweak to the cream-color pinstripe jersey? They didn't think the black caps went with it?

I think so. When the Mets wore the white pinstripe jersey in prior years, they occasionally wore the blue/black hats. But I believe every wearing of the cream pinstripes had the blue hat.

[Centerfield]

Edgy DC wrote: I feel more disappointed than I should that the Mets let slide the tradition of wearing the service department hats on September 11. It was everything a tradition should be, starting off spontaneously and heartfelt and somewhat subversively, and it was unique to the team. Boo to everything that makes teams similar, and hurray to everything (even stupid stuff) that makes them dissimilar.

When did this happen? Was it just this year? (Missed the Sept. 11 game)

This is one of the few things I felt the organization did right. Figures if they fucked this up.

[Gwreck]

MLB stepped in and forced every team to wear those ridiculous "stars and stripes" hats.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Started last year.

[Centerfield]

Really? I can't believe I missed this. Fuck MLB. If I'm the Wilpons, I'd pay whatever fine they want and tell the Mets to continue wearing the hats.

Where's the team captain on this one? I need someone to be like "Fuck it, I'm wearing it anyway."

[Centerfield]

This would never have happened if Bobby V were managing. He'd dare those fuckheads to enforce a forfeit before giving up those hats.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Agreed. It's worth recalling that the captain that started the tradition was Rey Ord��ez.

I'd love to put a pair of bugs in David and Jos�'s ears about this.

[HahnSolo]

David, in particular, considering his dad's background.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This is another one of those things the club is just tone deaf to. Of course, Fred and his well-meaning foundation for veterans is one of the heavies behind the leaguewide stars-n-stripes hat movement, I guess on memorial day and July 4. If it came to this I'm sure Fred would go along with the others on 9/11 if they went his on Memorial Day.

[metsmarathon]

how does the uniform selection correlate with the day's starting pitcher?

[Guest Edgy DC]

The thing is, in New York, the impact September 11 wasn't on the beautiful and flawed abstraction that is America, but on the lives and ultimate deaths of actual concrete people. And it was good and right that the Mets made their tribute about those people and not one more orgy of ineffectual flagwaving.

[HahnSolo]

metsmarathon wrote: how does the uniform selection correlate with the day's starting pitcher?

I only started monitoring the starting pitcher with the uniform choice since the last PHillies series (and I can also throw in the games I saw live, and the first homestand). Here is what I got (VERY INCOMPLETE):

Niese:
Snow white blue cap: 2 starts
Pinstripes: 3 starts
All Black: 1 start

Gee:
Pinstripes 2 starts
All black: 1 start

Pelf:
1 of each of the four

Santana:
First two starts of the year were in pinstripes

Dickey:
Snow whites blue cap: 3 starts
Pinstripes: 1 start
Snow white black/blue cap: 1 start

Mejia:
Pinstripes: 1 start

Misch:
Pinstripes 1 start