G-Fafif

Football Giants were losing to the Football Cardinals in the Meadowlands en route to the 0-5 start that would open the door to rookie Phil Simms. They led, 14-0, only to lose, 27-14, behind eternally embattled QB Joe Pisarcik. In the late game, Jets were about to get pulverized at Foxboro, 56-3, and fall to a disappointing 0-2. Matt Robinson's thumb swelled up in the opener and the team never recovered. First full week of eleventh grade followed the next day. Three weeks of active Ed Kranepool remained.

Shea in action, close to the the end of the de Roulet era (9/9/1979), looking as it won't again very soon. Quite surprised to find such quality video, not to mention the voices and the opposing batter.

This baby takes us inside the remnants of the clubhouse with Bobby Thomson — and the other clubhouse with Ralph Branca. Bill Shea shows up late to pay homage. A beautiful Howard Cosell-produced enterprise.

Just posted to YouTube, a 1964 Channel 7 documentary celebrating the Polo Grounds at its end. I've only watched the first few minutes and I'm seeing all kinds of angles I've never seen. https://youtu.be/rp0RqfbhNwIhttps://youtu.be/rp0RqfbhNwI

Lindor keeps homering, which is probably a good idea when negotiating a large contract.

That clever young man of a statistical bent (a fellow USF Bull, per his profile) is at it again, this time toeing the rubber.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58380 time=1616473394 user_id=68] I decided to google the 1971 Nathan's Mets batting helmet having rekindled old memories of the thing. I spent about 10 minutes or so, looking and looking. And looking. Just one sole entry is what I came up with. Just one. It's from 2005. No pics. Excerpt: May 8, 1971: My dad bought me a replica Mets batting helmet at Nathan's in Oceanside. The availability of such a treasured item at a local outlet had obsessed me. Other than a crappy cap that fell apart in day camp a year earlier, it was probably my first legitimate piece of Metsiana (not counting cards). It was billed as the very same one you could buy at Shea Stadium, something I had to take on faith since I was still two years from my first Mets game. My parents were basketball fans, not baseball fans. I loved that helmet. I would've worn it that summer in Pee-Wee League had it been regulation. Some years later, when tomfoolery finally did it in, I committed to buying a new one on my next trip to Shea, which came August 10, 1977. I gave the fellow at the concession stand on the third-base side of field level a twenty and he gave me back change for a ten. You have to understand that I was giddy to be at this particular game because it was the first one I ever went to without adult supervision (midweek afternoon against the Cardinals, ticket paid for with proceeds from my Newsday route which I outsourced for the day), so I wasn't necessarily keeping good track of my money. I wasn't but a few steps away when the vendor called me over and gave me back the rest of my change. I've still got the replacement helmet. Not only that, but the vendor who was honest enough not to take advantage of a starry-eyed 14-year-old (starry-eyed for the 1977 Mets, yet) is now my brother-in-law. In one of the top five Small World events of my life, my sister brought home her new boyfriend from NYU the following winter. He had been talked up to me as a Shea Stadium employee, me to him as a big Mets fan. And damned if we didn't recognize each other in an instant. Mark claims that he must've liked me because most of the time he kept the change. If i didn't already know who wrote the piece from googling it and then copying and pasting it to this forum, I'd still know who wrote it just from the clues in the piece. ,Youse would, too.

1983 “Try this uniform on.” “What, with the stripes on the side? Isn't that a little much?” “Just put it on. You'll find yourself imbued with powers you've never felt before.” “I don't feel any different.” “Give it time.” “Nope, I still can't...hey, wait a second, I just did something I didn't know I could do!” “Keep the uniform on.” 1984 “Hey, I had no idea you were this good!” “Can you keep a secret?” “Sure.” “It's the uniform.” “The uniform? With the stripes on the side? Isn't that a little much?” “That's what I said, but I have to keep wearing it if I want to keep getting better.” “Keep the uniform on.” 1986 “Congratulations on another big win. Can you tell our audience your secret?” “It's the uniform.” “This? With the stripes? Isn't it...” “A bit much? Doesn't matter. I put it on three years ago and I keep getting better.” “Sounds magical. Say, what's this?” “Oh, a special patch. I thought it added a little flair.” “Well, you know what you're doing, I guess. Good luck and keep the uniform on.” 1992 “I don't understand. I put the uniform on like you told me.” “And you did very well in it.” “But now I suck again!” “Did I tell you to add buttons?” “I just thought it could use a little freshening.” “TAKE THE UNIFORM OFF! Put this one on instead.” “With the tail? Will it make me play better?” “It will make you play as well as you deserve to.” “I wonder why he cackled when he said that.”

Zvon woulda loved this thread. I bet he had a Nathan's 1971 Mets batting helmet, too. We would've had an entire series of Topps 1971 replica Mets batting helmet cards by dawn, including coins celebrating the Nathan's menu.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58316 time=1616421147 user_id=68] =G-Fafif post_id=58311 time=1616419321 user_id=55] But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

"Why are you screening this in Manhattan, where anybody who gives two shits about big-time college football is clearly a pod person??” I'm not an enormous college football fan, likely a symptom of being a New Yorker. When I got into it to degree, I decided I loved The U (Miami) and detested Notre Dame. But the ONE movie for which I will drop everything when I find it's on and obsess over is Rudy. He showed them.

Nathan's in Oceanside was Mecca. It had everything. A game room that was a veritable arcade. Gumball machines that dispensed untold treasures, particularly these gelatinous humpty dumpty type figures WITH HATS. Indoor picnic benches and tables. Rides, including a merry go round. A private room, with stained glass windows, for use by fraternal organizations who perhaps gathered to watch Met highlight films. Tuesday nights attracted motorcyclists from everywhere. And the menu went on forever. Shrimp boats (my sister and I saved the boats and convert them to vessels for the hatted humpties). Pizza. Chow mein on a bun. Frog's legs. Fried chicken. Schaefer. And that was before the burgers and franks and signature French fries. Jesus, it's stirring to think about. Nothing on the menu was expensive. All of it was listed so you could learn math: 94 cents + 6 cents sales tax, total $1. Classic Nathan's of Oceanside lasted until about 1977. Scaled-down Nathan's, which was fine until you got misty-eyed for the original, hung in for a long time thereafter, with a lesser menu and a lesser game room and still the motorcycle crowd. No plastic Mets batting helmets, however. Mine, too, didn't withstand horseplay, but our announcers always warned us they shouldn't be considered protective against live pitching. A Nathan's currently resides up Long Beach Rd. from the previous site. Needless to say, it ain't what it used to be.

[FIMG=444]https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/print/10.5/14/break/images/artworkimages/medium/2/texas-rangers-bump-wills-march-28-1977-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg[/FIMG] One imagines on The Jeff Burrows (or perhaps Toby Hurrah!) Forum, threads with “Bump” have a different meaning than they do here.

[FIMG=555]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51060655228_999fd50a55_o.jpg[/FIMG] To square the topical circle, finding an Official Mets Yearbook away from Shea matched the thrill of being able to buy a Mets replica batting helmet, like the ones seen here, at Nathan's in 1971. All of New York was Mets Country.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=58281 time=1616382409 user_id=68] =G-Fafif post_id=58278 time=1616381668 user_id=55] Man, was I ready for the 1978 Jersey update. To my adolescent mind, everything about the Mets was tired rather than traditional. It's the same reason I welcomed Steve Albert with open ears. I seem to recall Bob Murphy being very approving of the new look, what with the two buttons keeping it from being a pure pullover. (Trying to imagine Murph being virulently against something.)

Man, was I ready for the 1978 jersey update. To my adolescent mind, everything about the Mets was tired rather than traditional. It's the same reason I welcomed Steve Albert with open ears. I seem to recall Bob Murphy being very approving of the new look, what with the two buttons keeping it from being a pure pullover. (Trying to imagine Murph being virulently against something.)

Never mind. You were back home in Mets country in May. You got it. I can still see that yearbook in that magazine rack in that particular luncheonette on the Saturday night I spotted it and can still feel the giddiness of it being available somewhere besides Shea. I noticed the 2021 MFY yb for sale at a local chain drug store the other day. That seems wrong on many levels.

Clarification: after returning home for the summer (in May). Racing stripes were good http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2016/04/11/seaver-and-the-hendersons/throwback fodder almost five years ago.

When the Mets adopted the side stripes, I thought, “Oh, like the Expos have.” Because I was away at college the first month of the '83 season, I don't think the update really sunk in for me until I saw the yearbook on sale at my local newsstand in May and it was featured in cartoon form on the cover.

Sport magazine c. 1987 ran a best/worst uniforms piece, back when you had no idea people thought about such things. I remember the Mets were panned for their “War Eagles be damned” ensemble, an Auburn University reference. At the time I was insulted because how dare anybody criticize anything about the Mets, but I thought about it and the stripes plus stripes thing did seem a bit excessive. Still love ‘em for the reasons Phil Hecken cites in the above excerpt. They had a good run.

Piazza owns the vodka brand in question, though not in the same sense he owned Roger Clemens's despicable ass.