Mr. Met: A Life in Pictures

[dinosaur jesus]

I've been digging into the history of Mr. Met. I'm sorry if a lot of this is familiar to you guys, but it's new to me, and I thought it might be fun to share it. And if anyone has their own Mr. Met pictures over the years, I'd love to see them.

One thing I was surprised to discover is that his name really is Mr. Met! Well, Mr. Metz, actually. But that's pretty close. Here's his senior yearbook picture (Rockford North, 1962).



When I found this, I figured it was just a coincidence--the big head, the stitches (or is that a little beatnik beard?), the name. It's a long way from the Illinois woods to Flushing, after all, and there are lots of kids who look like that (I remember two from my high school). But then I found an interview with Linda de Roulet that filled in a bit of the story. Apparently after graduation he went to work for his uncle, who was a plumbing contractor in Long Island. The Paysons were having some trouble with their septic system, and they called in Metz Plumbing (Joan, who of course had a great sense of humor, insisted that it had to be Metz Plumbing). Willard showed up, and it was obvious that if he knew how to flush a toilet, that was the extent of his plumbing skills. But the Paysons took a liking to the shy kid from the Upper Midwest, and offered him a job in the Mets organization. And the rest, for lack of a better clich�, is history.

The next picture is from 1965--August 28, to be exact. That afternoon, Mr. Met helped cheer the Mets on as Galen Cisco and Al Jackson combined to shut out the Giants. Then he changed into his street clothes and headed down with Lady (soon to be Mrs.) Met to catch Bob Dylan at Forest Hills. The couple enjoyed the first half of the show, which was just Dylan with his guitar, but were much less pleased with the second, when his band joined him on stage. The extreme volume and the riotous crowd upset Lady Met, and the couple left before it was over. "I enjoy songs with a beat as much as anyone," Mr. Met told the Daily News, �but you couldn't even hear the words!�



The third picture takes a big jump forward in time. It's 1979, and Mr. Met is on his own. The Mets have let him go, and so has Mrs. Met. But for the moment he�s still on the A-list (or whatever list it is that Yul Brynner is on), and determined to enjoy it while he can. Here he is with the gang at Studio 54. (He and Liza joked about his cap matching her dress, but she was not happy about it, and a rift developed between them that wouldn't be healed until the post-9/11 game.)



Maybe next time I'll go back to the Seaver years, or forward to the lean years (I've got a couple of screen shots from his infamous infomercial).

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

[Zvon]

lmao, this one could go on forever. I'll have to look through my extensive Met image files. I'm sure I must have some Mr Met pictures.

[Guest themetfairy]

[Guest themetfairy]

Mr. Met meets cooby -

[Guest themetfairy]

With Kase and KB -

[Guest themetfairy]

[Guest themetfairy]

Mr. Met loves Banner Day -

[Guest themetfairy]

First through the turnstiles -

[Guest themetfairy]

T-Shirt launch without the gun -

[ashie62]

The poor play is getting to him however...

[Zvon]

lol. He gets around. Thats a classic Ashie.



This is Willard Metz very first
day on the job, April 18th 1963.

I did not doctor this image in any way.

[Zvon]

When Willard got the job as Mr Met he became an overnight sensation. Extremely popular throughout the world, Metz was offered a job by Walt Disney to be Disney Lands' ambassador of baseball. He did not take the job, saying "I'm just a simple plumber from Smithtown whose head looks like a giant baseball. I am nothing special. Neither are the Mets. I belong here in New York with this team, Mr.Disney. I'm sorry, I have to regretfully decline." There was no internet in those days but widespread phone usage passed this legendary tale around the globe in a matter of months.



It has been learned since that Walt Disney had big plans for Williard Metz, as shown here in a newly discovered architects model for the World Baseball Pavilion, which never came to be.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Guest

[Fman99]

Fboy, Mr. Met and I, taken last summer.

[metsmarathon]

this is the most terrifying thread imaginable for minimm. keep up the good work!

[Zvon]

I wanted to use this post for more about Willard but I came across this Mr Met coloring book. I've seen pages of this online. I was never sure if it was for real or a joke by someone. Because if this is real it might be the worst coloring book ever.
This is the entire thing:

Starts off weird. Mr Met does not do sarcasm.


Really. Is that what we get from this scene?


I suppose he could do slapstick.


But not well.


I can see the Colosseum. Where's Shea?


Really.


Road kill


There are no quiet days at Shea. anymore *sob


The artist might be psychic, predicting
1) a Met TV station
2) Jane Jetson and
3) Woody from Toy Story.


Whats are those, grenade hats?


Yea, lets steal someone elses slogan!


WTF does he mean by that?


Oh, that's the problem.


m m m m m m m m m kay


Some things never change.


Ahhh, so he's the reason kids are do fat these days.
I'd hate to see Bloomy ban him.


lmao. aw come on, how did you get away with making this coloring book?


Another Mr Met is introduced, but only to run into the other one.

This is one horrendous wacky coloring book. This complete book is on Flickr and I believe it is an actual thing from the past (I didn't doctor any of these images). How did this ever see the light of day?

Edited June 12, 2013 by Guest

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Glorious!

[G-Fafif]

Funny, he doesn't look sphere-ish.

(Better book than it has a right to be.)

[Zvon]

That book is full of lies. See, this, the true story of the real Mr Met (Willard Metz) is not common knowledge. This is his secret history. You can consider DJ and I whistleblowers.
*books a flight to Hong Kong

see crazy coloring book in my last post^

[batmagadanleadoff]

I came across this Mr Met coloring book. I've seen pages of this online. I was never sure if it was for real or a joke by someone. Because if this is real it might be the worst coloring book ever. This is the entire thing: .... This is one horrendous wacky coloring book. This complete book is on Flickr and I believe it is an actual thing from the past (I didn't doctor any of these images). How did this ever see the light of day?

I checked out the set on Flickr and the Flickr set is incomplete. I know because I own a copy of that coloring book. It exists. The coloring book is refreshingly innocent and wonderful in that it also depicts an ownership group that can laugh at the Mets' struggles on the field. My favorite page (not included in Flickr) is an illustration of Mr. Met upside down standing on his big baseball head and reading the standings. The caption reads "First place, Mets style". (I'm paraphrasing, going by memory) Contrast this self-deprecation with the current uptight and humorless owners, including Jeff Wilpon and his perpetual sourpuss, as if someone just farted in his face. The Wilpons once controlled one of baseball's most coveted players, Jose Reyes, in his walk year and, knowing that they couldn't re-sign him, let him go for nothing, squandering a big opportunity to help the team, because it was more important for the Mets owners to massage their public images by pretending that they could afford him all along. Those megalomaniacs would never license such a coloring book.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Absurd media reaction to Willie Randolph firing:

[dinosaur jesus]

Zvon wrote: That book is full of lies. See, this, the true story of the real Mr Met (Willard Metz) is not common knowledge. This is his secret history. You can consider DJ and I whistleblowers. *books a flight to Hong Kong see crazy coloring book in my last post^

"Full of lies" is a bit strong. Reilly is telling the truth, just not the whole truth. It's actually a Tony Clifton kind of thing, with Reilly as Bob Zmuda. At the beginning, Reilly would step in occasionally when Mr. Met was overbooked or under the weather. Both of those things came to happen more and more often, and after a while Reilly was doing at least half of Mr. Met's gigs. He was good at it, too; even people in the know could never be sure which one it was. (Well, Mrs. Met could tell, but even she had her doubts sometimes.) The two of them got into some pretty sick mind games, like that time in Sarasota with Greg Goossen and the two hookers. I think Ralph tells that one best.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

I came across this Mr Met coloring book. I've seen pages of this online. I was never sure if it was for real or a joke by someone. Because if this is real it might be the worst coloring book ever. This is the entire thing: .... This is one horrendous wacky coloring book. This complete book is on Flickr and I believe it is an actual thing from the past (I didn't doctor any of these images). How did this ever see the light of day? I checked out the set on Flickr and the Flickr set is incomplete. I know because I own a copy of that coloring book. It exists. The coloring book is refreshingly innocent and wonderful in that it also depicts an ownership group that can laugh at the Mets' struggles on the field. My favorite page (not included in Flickr) is an illustration of Mr. Met upside down standing on his big baseball head and reading the standings. The caption reads "First place, Mets style". (I'm paraphrasing, going by memory) Contrast this self-deprecation with the current uptight and humorless owners, including Jeff Wilpon and his perpetual sourpuss, as if someone just farted in his face. The Wilpons once controlled one of baseball's most coveted players, Jose Reyes, in his walk year and, knowing that they couldn't re-sign him, let him go for nothing, squandering a big opportunity to help the team, because it was more important for the Mets owners to massage their public images by pretending that they could afford him all along. Those megalomaniacs would never license such a coloring book.

You haven't spewed your anti-Wilpon drivel in the Oktoberfest thread yet. Hurry before it slips to page 2.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Drivel? And all along, I was congratulating myself for the clever way I segued from a childrens' Mad Men era coloring book into another dig at eff n jeff. Howie Megdal would be proud. Because the Wilpons are broke.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Megdal would be proud. I'm bored.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I could see your point.

[G-Fafif]

dinosaur jesus wrote: Well, Mrs. Met could tell, but even she had her doubts sometimes.

Kinda like Sigourney Weaver in Dave.

[G-Fafif]

I have been ruminating on a piece about how the Mets can't help but be the Mets right now but, per Mr. Bat M. Leadoff's point, they could do themselves a PR favor by presenting a more humble/human face about it. Mr. Met (or Willard Metz) is a great asset in that regard, but a sense of "look, we know we're not there yet, but honest to god, we're trying, hang in there with us," would be better than just the condescending blandness they put out there as a matter of course.

Also, only tangentially related, every promotional spot this team produces is amateurish. In 1999, USA Today Baseball Weekly ranked every teams' commercials and slotted the Mets last. The ads haven't improved (or changed) an iota since. If it was done with a smile and a wink, it would come off as homespun. Instead it just looks cheap.

Either way, that's quite a comic book.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: I have been ruminating on a piece about how the Mets can't help but be the Mets right now but, per Mr. Bat M. Leadoff's point, they could do themselves a PR favor by presenting a more humble/human face about it. Mr. Met (or Willard Metz) is a great asset in that regard, but a sense of "look, we know we're not there yet, but honest to god, we're trying, hang in there with us," would be better than just the condescending blandness they put out there as a matter of course. Also, only tangentially related, every promotional spot this team produces is amateurish. In 1999, USA Today Baseball Weekly ranked every teams' commercials and slotted the Mets last. The ads haven't improved (or changed) an iota since. If it was done with a smile and a wink, it would come off as homespun. Instead it just looks cheap. Either way, that's quite a comic book.

I like the Citi/SNY promotional spots. I think they're well done, but granted the specifically just the Mets stuff isn't great. There's more MLB oversight/whitewashing going on, but that's no excuse either.

But I dunno, the way the media/public is these days, I'm not sure you could pull off that goofy 'hang in there we're trying' bit these days.

[G-Fafif]

The Mets will be LOL'd at by the usual suspects no matter what they do. Once they accept that, strive for better angels and win some goodwill. Those ads for "family packs" or whatever (to use an example that leaps to mind) could be made by an unimaginative high school junior.