The Mets Party

[G-Fafif]

The Mets, as some of you probably have noticed in your lives, win more under certain prevailing political circumstances than others.

Since the Mets began play in 1962, Democrats have held the presidency for 23 years�and the Mets have had losing seasons in 19 of them. Conversely, in the 28 years in which a Republican has been president, the Mets have had 19 winning seasons.

This should not be construed as an endorsement of those circumstances, but there is a story about in the Wall Street Journal today and I'm quoted apolitically in it.

Greg Prince, who cowrites the Mets-fan blog Faith and Fear in Flushing, said he has "absolutely no idea" what the trend means. When it comes to the Mets, "there are no red states and no blue states," he said. "For us, there is only the orange-and-blue state." Prince also noted that the Mets "actually did very well during the Johnson administration and were never better than when Carter's toothy grin was a sight familiar to all Americans." Of course, he means former Mets manager Davey Johnson and catcher Gary Carter, who led the Mets to their last World Series title in 1986�when Republican Ronald Reagan was president.