You Can Stop Searching

[G-Fafif]

The greatest thing that has ever existed has been found.

[youtube:2ndyqyjg]Rq3Sxaw-bYU[/youtube:2ndyqyjg]

The 1977 New York Mets Old Timers Day ceremonies and game, as aired on Channel 9.

All of it.

Willie. Mickey. The Duke. Everybody.

It is glorious.

[Edgy MD]

It's great because it's metanostalgia. "Thrill to the joys of 1977 as we harken back to the salad days of 1955. Let's cast our minds back 38 years to a time when folks were casting their minds back 25 more years."

[G-Fafif]

The Mets came into this world a 58-year-old man when that was old enough for true codgerdom. They were born to dwell on the past every bit as much as they were to peer into future.

The beauty part, aside from any thousand individual aspects of this, is how non-denominational this OTD is. They rounded up as many Mets as one possibly could given the theme "great World Series moments" but there are loads of everybody else for no other reason than the Mets had been in only two World Series. MFYs from the '40s. Two Boston Braves from 1948. Moe Drabowsky. Roy Campanella. Denny Somers and Tom Burgess who never got near a World Series. 86-year-old Bill Wambsganss. Freddie Lindstrom, spry as hell. Carl Erskine the Brooklyn Dodgers in a Mets uniform and LA cap. Monte Irvin, who today turns 96. And the moment that gave Terry Cashman's career a second wind. Plus Mel Allen just chillin' in the field boxes and a moment of silence for everybody who ever died and Stan Lomax in the booth and Bill Shea and Chub Feeney having a grand time chatting it up over Lindsey Nelson's shoulder for 45 minutes. And the national anthem presented without additional fanfare because Jane Jarvis is all the fanfare you need. And something about Joe Torre managing in the World Series real soon. And Ralph Kiner dressed as a vintage Pirate but Hal Smith and Bill Mazeroski dressed as Pirates from like two years earlier and the current Pirates dressed the way they dressed in 1977, which was so bizarre, even then, and a bunch of Mets wearing last year's NL centennial caps and Tom Gorman with his 1976 umpiring shirt and nobody mentioning he was behind the plate for the first game in Shea history and those Diamond Club hostesses and the Sea Cliff fire engine and Ed Charles's gag with the screen at third base and...

Oh my goodness.

[Edgy MD]

Really, you should mention Bill Wambsganss twice. Who in the Mets front office was kicking back at the Old Timer's Day meeting and said, "You know, we should really give Wambsganss a call"?

[G-Fafif]

Bill Wambsganss.
Bill Wambsganss.
Bill Wambsganss.

He did, after all, record three outs.

[G-Fafif]

According to Murph, we can thank the late Loren Matthews, director of promotions, for putting this day together. A month after Tom Seaver was traded and three days after New York City was blacked out, he produced one of the sunniest days in Mets history.

I love that the theme of the day has nothing to do with anything, exactly. It's baseball, we'll find World Series participants, it'll be great. Done.

[Edgy MD]

I don't have the time, of course, sit back and view this all like I'd want to.

I recall the gentlemen being introduced and escorted by young women dressed as gentle-ladies from the late reconstruction/early industrialization period. White ladies escorting black gents and black ladies escorting white gents may belie the era, but everybody rolled with it.

[G-Fafif]

Ed Charles was the only Old Timer to rate two escorts.

No, you do not hang a slider to the Glider.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm watching the same guy's 1979 OTD reel. I think I was at this game, when the Mets beat Vida Blue starting for the Giants.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Was that the year Willie, Mickey and the Duke and DiMaggio walked out of the centerfield gates together?

I'll watch to find out!

Loving seeing the original Mr. Met there!!!

Edited February 25, 2015 by Guest

[batmagadanleadoff]

That guy[crossout:2f1wbuvl]'s uploading[/crossout:2f1wbuvl] uploaded a whole bunch of other Mets OTD's: '79, '82, '83 & '88.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

He's going to get a knock on the door any minute now.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: He's going to get a knock on the door any minute now.

Can you download youtube videos? maybe someone should contact him and get some copies of these files out there.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ceetar wrote: Edgy MD wrote: He's going to get a knock on the door any minute now. Can you download youtube videos? maybe someone should contact him and get some copies of these files out there.

I haven't tried to do this in many years, but when I was interested in downloading youtube videos, I'd scour the internet for programs that claimed to be able to do this, and they worked or didn't work with varying degrees of success. youtube, on the other hand, is actively trying to prevent this, and so they're constantly reprogramming their site to essentially disable or stop those programs from working -- in a game of leapfrog. The way the internet works today, I'm very leery of downloading any program. I suspect that most of them have malware and my PC will be bombarded with unwanted ads and popups if I download anything.

[Ceetar]

I mean the resolution isn't going to be great anyway so you can probably run it with a screen capture program and capture it that way.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I remember that fashion trend from those Summers. (partial view of kid to the left). I wore it, too. Shorts and "tube" socks pulled all the way up to just below the knee.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[fimg=733:1bwuu9yt]http://i.imgur.com/kkS2fVy.jpg[/fimg:1bwuu9yt]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Bruce and Charles were mellowing out and not anticipating the beating soon to be dished out by the Teamsters from FXI.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Probably because of that Terry Cashman song, I totally forgot that Joe D. was also there.

[dgwphotography]

Something got in my eye during the standing ovation for Campy...

[Guest d'Kong76]

Can't wait to watch this, thanks for posting it.

[Guest themetfairy]

Am I the only one having a problem with the audio?

I'm at work now - maybe something is blocked here (although I can listen to other things, including other YouTube clips, without any problem).

OE - FWIW, the 1983 video is coming in loud and clear for me.

[Guest cooby]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: [fimg=733]http://i.imgur.com/kkS2fVy.jpg[/fimg]

Hunka hunka burnin' love....is that you Batmag?



And this broadcast is awesome! It's funny how when we were kids watching this in real time, I don't know about you, but though I admired DiMaggio, etc, I didn't recognize how very precious just being able to see these guys really was, even if they were retired.

[batmagadanleadoff]

cooby wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: [fimg=733]http://i.imgur.com/kkS2fVy.jpg[/fimg] Hunka hunka burnin' love....is that you Batmag?

If you want him to be me ...

[Guest cooby]

Well by this time, I'm a little old for him (either of him) LOL

[batmagadanleadoff]

He's probably older, too. I'm probably older than when I was younger, too.

[Frayed Knot]

Personally I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

[Guest themetfairy]

themetfairy wrote: Am I the only one having a problem with the audio? I'm at work now - maybe something is blocked here (although I can listen to other things, including other YouTube clips, without any problem). OE - FWIW, the 1983 video is coming in loud and clear for me.

It must just be something wonky with my work computer - it's coming in fine at home.

Great stuff! I remember loving the Old Timers Day festivities when I was a kid. And hearing Lindsey again is such a treat

[Guest cooby]

Oops! I got all caught up in the sock boys and forgot to mention that it sounded okay to me Glad it works for you at home. Yes, it's always great to hear Lindsey!

[Zvon]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: [fimg=733]http://i.imgur.com/kkS2fVy.jpg[/fimg]

The cigarettes in the sock is a powerful fashion statement. I wore that style.
There was really no other place to put the pack.

The OTD vid is freakin' awesomely classic. Thank you for sharing that Greg.

I was so pissed at the Mets after they moved Seaver I wouldn't even open the sports pages for a loooong time, not to mention tuning in.