G-Fafif

Matt Stairs, after NLCS Game Four, regarding his pinch-homer: ]Not that I don't feel like I'm part of the team, but when you get that nice celebration coming in the dugout and you're getting your ass hammered by guys, there's no better feeling than to have that done. Matt Stairs plays with the Philadelphia Phillies, so those would be the guys hammering his ass and giving him the best feeling, FYI.

The grain of truth in Matthews' admittedly idiotic article is the Mets, I believe, have spent two years trying to make up what management seems to perceive as a one-game deficit: the one game they lost to the Cardinals for the pennant. Signing Moises Alou; shuffling non-entities around the bullpen; not making allowances for the age-driven deterioration of the four- and five-spots in the rotation; depending on injury-riddled players to heal and resume playing at their highest level; plugging in a pair of mediocre catchers this year; never taking seriously the hole at second base. I don't know that that's "entitlement," but I do think it indicates a reticence to address a reality that this team has been more than one game away from the World Series. Santana was a big and great move, but you're still stuck with a team that has decidedly fallen off from when it was, literally, one game from the World Series. It indicates a lot of short-term, "we just need to win one more game" fixes. If the Phillies, plenty talented and definitely deeper than the Mets, were as great as Matthews says, they would have finished ten games up these last two years. It may be a half-baked theory on my part but that would make it about 50% closer to fully baked than Matthews'. In Newsday's Shea Goodbye special section, Matthews penned a heartfelt tribute to the old ballpark, remembering his childhood trips there with great fondness and displaying unusual (versus the standard claptrap in local media) insight into the appeal of the park and the team as they both stood in the 1960s. Toward the very end, he betrays bizarre bitterness -- disappointed that they fell off after 1969, angered that they went to the trouble of winning in '86 -- and we get a little peek inside a very tortured soul. ]I had to look up the date - Aug. 14, 1964 - on a Web site, but I can remember the day as if it were yesterday. The Mets played the Phillies in what used to be known as a "twi-night" doubleheader, two more losses in what would turn out to be a 109-loss season. But the results didn't matter. Some guy named Ed Kranepool hit two home runs in the nightcap and my brothers and I figured he must be one of the best players in all of baseball. That was my first visit to Shea Stadium, and the place has never looked better than it did through 7-year-old eyes that day: the dizzyingly high escalators, the dazzling blue sky, the seats that went on forever and the impossibly green grass so far below. I'm told I am the only man in New York who will miss the stinking, rusting junkheap along the banks of the lovely open sewer known as the Flushing River after they close it down, but I don't believe that. I'm just one of the few who is not ashamed to admit it. After all, that stinking, rusting - and did I mention noisy? - junkheap was my field of dreams. It may be a dump now, and it may have been a dump then, but to me and those of my generation, it will always be what Bob Murphy told us it was: Big Shea. Beautiful Shea. Not a bad seat in the house. If you're in the neighborhood, stop in for the second game. Plenty of good seats left. What did we know from beautiful? What did we know from good seats? Thank heavens, we had never heard of luxury boxes or PSLs. If we had, we wouldn't have believed it any more than we would have believed that within five years, a man would walk on the moon. All we knew was that there was a ballfield down there, and a ballgame, and a team we loved despite its flaws, which were many. We could see the game fine and the prices were reasonable. Even into the 1970s, five dollars bought train fare, a seat in the upper deck, a hot dog, a scorecard and a day to remember. That's how much it cost me to see Willie Mays - in a Mets uniform! - in 1972. Aside from the prices, much of that is still true. So tell me, what exactly is wrong with the place? And why does it have to go? The answer, sadly, is because it does not "generate enough revenue" to keep the Wilpons happy, or offer "the amenities" modern sports fans have come to expect and value, even above the quality of play on the field. It wasn't always thus. In 1964, the Mets truly were New York's blue-collar team, loved by its blue-collar fans, the ones who swore they'd never watch baseball again after being jilted by the Dodgers and Giants. To my brothers and me, sons of a Brooklyn Dodgers fan who considered rooting for the Yankees like rooting for Khrushchev, the so-called Cathedral of Baseball up in the Bronx was enemy territory, dingy and old-fashioned and faintly snooty, the kind of place sissy kids from Westchester and Connecticut went with their bow tie-wearing fathers. The kind of place we wouldn't be caught dead in. "You want a knish, go to Shea," a grumpy Yankee Stadium vendor said to a friend of mine in the 1960s. "This is the home of champions." The Yankees could have their stadium and their championships. We took the Mets and the knishes. In fact, before I became a sportswriter, I had been in the place only twice - once for the Ali-Norton fight, and the second time, admittedly, for a Yankees game, but only because Tom Seaver was pitching for the other team. He was going for his 300th win, and in case you hadn't heard, he got it. To me, Yankee Stadium was never more than a workplace. Shea Stadium was a playground. Yankee Stadium was Lincoln Center. Shea was Coney Island. And that 1964 season, to my mind, was the greatest in the history of the park. In May, the Mets played a 23-inning game against the Giants, the second game of a doubleheader, no less. They lost. Of course. On Father's Day, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game. The Mets lost. Of course. In July, you had the All-Star Game, and Ron Hunt - a Met! - started at second base. And in August, I saw my first game there - and my second. The Mets lost both, of course, but who cared? The sights and sounds and smells of the place are permanently etched into the memory: The Serval Zippers building, the huge neon Delta Air Lines sign, the incredibly ornate RKO Keith's movie house on Main Street in Flushing, all visible beyond the outfield fence. The jets roaring, either on their way up or down but always, it seemed, directly overhead. To us, it seemed as if great, mystical things always happened there. In 1967, a fastball left the hand of Nolan Ryan, glanced off the bat of Johnny Bench and somehow wound up under our loge seats, where my brother Chris came up with it. We saw Seaver and Koosman and Gentry and Grote and Jones and Clendenon and Harrelson. Those were our Mets. The 1969 championship was our championship. Shea Stadium was our ballpark. Admittedly, after that miracle season, the place never seemed quite the same. The crowds grew more demanding of victory, more impatient with defeat. Gil Hodges died, Seaver was exiled to Cincinnati, Banner Day was abolished, Karl Ehrhardt - the guy with the silly Oktoberfest hat and the perfect sign, it seemed, for any occasion - was run out of the ballpark by the new, crass Mets ownership. They put up some cheesy apple behind the wall and brought in mercenaries like Hernandez, Knight and Carter to bully their way to a second world championship. Soon, Shea, too, became nothing more than a workplace, and a not very pleasant one at that. When I look around it now, I can see why so many will be glad to see the place go. It is dirty and smelly, rusting and noisy, and to a generation brought up on iPods, HDTV and luxury suites, hopelessly antiquated. But to me, it's always 1964 there, when the park was new, the fans and players relatively innocent, the ballpark experience what it originally was intended to be. Fun.

David Blaine's a magician. David Wright's team keeps making playoff spots disappear.

David has certainly had the time these past two Autumns to explore the city to its fullest.

soupcan wrote: I don't think that advertisement was there this year (or last?). Just replaced by the three letters. It had the strength to be there until the final homestand, the day after AIG was bailed out. It was then replaced with a second AIG logo.

="batmagadanleadoff":1mub057a]About 10 years ago, M&N did make a 1973 Mays Mets jersey. Sometime thereafter, M&N became a wildly successful vintage uniform manufacturer ... particularly with the hip-hop crowd. That segment favors unreasonably large sized jerseys. M&N caters to their hip-hop customers. Hence the 4XL sizes. With respect to Russ Gompers, that would be "Stitches", in Queens. They've been lettering and numbering Mets uniforms since the early '90's. They weren't involved with the Mets when the team wore their two button pullovers. The last name lettering on some of those unis (definitely '79 and '80, maybe '81) was the most unique font the Mets ever used for their player last names. Thick, and wide, and each letter noticeably distant from the next, even on long last names. If anyone can dig up a photo of the back of Kranepool's '79 uniform, you'd see what I mean. His last name was a semi-circle, beginning and ending below his armpits. Both the "K" and the "L" were entirely sideways, 90 degrees from upright.[/quote:1mub057a] One of the strangest sensations I've ever had as a Mets fan was tuning in the opener from Wrigley in '79 and seeing names on the back of Met uniforms. It was just so unexpected. It almost felt like cheating. I can see those big clumsy letters arching just as you describe them. Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2008 07:08 AM I even remember the first name I saw on the back of a Mets uniform: CHAPMAN. I think he was the second batter in the first inning, and we saw his name on his back after he singled and rounded first. soupcan Oct 08 2008 07:18 AM I remember thinking how cheap the Mets were that they used 'nameplates' rather then stitiching on each individual letter Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2008 07:24 AM Yeah. That looked especially crummy on the home uniforms, where the pinstripes were interrupted by the nameplate. soupcan Oct 08 2008 07:48 AM Boooo! ]Thank you for your interest in Mitchell and Ness. Unfortunately we cannot make the jersey that you mentioned, that is not an item that we offer for retail sale. Everything that we offer is featured on our website, is there a jersey on there that you might be interested in? Andrew Basenfelder E-Commerce Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 08 2008 07:50 AM I got two words for you: Santino. Rice. That guy could make anything! metirish Oct 08 2008 07:53 AM ="soupcan"]Boooo! ]Thank you for your interest in Mitchell and Ness. Unfortunately we cannot make the jersey that you mentioned, that is not an item that we offer for retail sale. Everything that we offer is featured on our website, is there a jersey on there that you might be interested in? Andrew Basenfelder E-Commerce Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. If you were Jay-Z and not Soupcan they would make it for you. Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2008 07:58 AM Wasn't Doug Flynn wearing the very same jersey you're coveting when he was at Shea for the closing ceremony? Maybe you can find a way to contact Doug Flynn and see if you can pry it away from him somehow. You could even swap him a fresh "Wonderful Woody" t-shirt. John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 08 2008 08:01 AM ="Benjamin Grimm":6k2qn0rw]Wasn't Doug Flynn wearing the very same jersey you're coveting when he was at Shea for the closing ceremony? Maybe you can find a way to contact Doug Flynn and see if you can pry it away from him somehow. You could even swap him a fresh "Wonderful Woody" t-shirt.[/quote:6k2qn0rw] We should send Dougie a WW shirt anyhow. Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2008 08:03 AM It might bring back some sad memories. Woody has to be in that great backyard in the sky by now. Doug has probably moved on to a new dog and could be walking around in a "MAGNIFICENT MUFFIN" shirt these days. AG/DC Oct 08 2008 08:11 AM Be honest. Has anybody bought a WOODY shirt? Doug Flynn, by the way, sends inspirational e-mails these days: http://www.metstoday.com/mets-2008-games/2008/doug-flynns-inspirational-email/ soupcan Oct 08 2008 08:15 AM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":30e2j3u5]I got two words for you: Santino. Rice. That guy could make anything![/quote:30e2j3u5] Who is that? ="metirish":30e2j3u5]If you were Jay-Z and not Soupcan they would make it for you.[/quote:30e2j3u5] Absolutely right. And you know they'd personally deliver it to my house tomorrow. ="Benjamin Grimm":30e2j3u5]Wasn't Doug Flynn wearing the very same jersey you're coveting when he was at Shea for the closing ceremony? [/quote:30e2j3u5] YES! That's why this is killing me! ="Benjamin Grimm":30e2j3u5]Maybe you can find a way to contact Doug Flynn and see if you can pry it away from him somehow.[/quote:30e2j3u5] That's where I am now - trying to find out who his agent is. I'm on a mission. ="Benjamin Grimm":30e2j3u5]You could even swap him a fresh "Wonderful Woody" t-shirt.[/quote:30e2j3u5] Excellent idea! AG/DC Oct 08 2008 08:15 AM If anybody wants to hook Dougie up with a tee, or buy his jersey, he now works with the Central Bank of Lexington: Central Bank P.O. Box 1360 Lexington, KY 40588-1360 Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2008 08:22 AM Their Internet domain is centralbank.com. You can derive a list of his possible e-mail addresses. dflynn, doug.flynn, douglas.flynn, doug_flynn, douglas_flynn, wonderful_woody, etc. Send out a bunch of e-mails to those various addresses and you may actually get through to him. John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 08 2008 08:24 AM ="AG/DC"]Be honest. Has anybody bought a WOODY shirt? Doug Flynn, by the way, sends inspirational e-mails these days: http://www.metstoday.com/mets-2008-games/2008/doug-flynns-inspirational-email/ I'm about 250% sure that's a joke. Note the Billy Joel lyrics quoted. ]Santino. Rice. That guy could make anything! Who is that? Santino was the all-time reality show villian from Project Runway! A complete riot, and he could make clothes. soupcan Oct 08 2008 08:29 AM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":30ox43z3]="AG/DC":30ox43z3]Be honest. Has anybody bought a WOODY shirt? Doug Flynn, by the way, sends inspirational e-mails these days: http://www.metstoday.com/mets-2008-games/2008/doug-flynns-inspirational-email/[/quote:30ox43z3] I'm about 250% sure that's a joke. Note the Billy Joel lyrics quoted. [/quote:30ox43z3] And Jesus Jones. AG/DC Oct 08 2008 08:35 AM Yeah, I worked that one out for myself. The Central Bank address: not a joke. You can go there tomorrow and stalk him like the crazed fan you are. HahnSolo Oct 08 2008 08:53 AM Have you tried contacting Paul Lukas at UniWatch? He might have an idea or two. mario25 Oct 08 2008 08:54 AM I can check in my book that I have that has baseball players home addresses in them...I will check when I get home from work if you would like. I bought the book on the web and I used it to get autographs on cards from Mets players. Kranepool, Charles, Harrelson, Maine, Cameron, Piazza, Dyer, Garrett, all signed cards and sent them back. It is worth a shot...maybe he will give you the jersey...SIGNED dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 06:40 AM New member here I stumbled upon this discussion doing a search on Doug Flynn.He was my favorite Met in the late 70's early 80's.The jersey he wore at the ceremony was manufactured by Majestic athletic and they were only a one time thing.I own his ceremony jersey and his Game Worn Expos jersey from 1984 plus some gamers from 79 80 81 and 2 Mitchell and Ness one the Willie Mays and one I stripped and had 18 for Joel Youngblood.The Mitchell and Ness are hard to come by anymore but do pop up on ebay.Anyways here is my collection from that era enjoy plus his ceremony jersey..Any questions feel free to ask my email is dcrules01@msn.com John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 21 2008 07:09 AM A Hubie Brooks 62 from 1980? Fascinating. How'd ya get it? Valadius Dec 21 2008 08:31 AM That's pretty damn cool. Welcome a-bordick! dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 09:09 AM The Brooks was a spring training jersey the Flynn came directly from the Mets The Piagnatano came from another collector,The Brooks and Taveras Ball Park Heros and the Cubbage another collector and the 2 Mitchell and Ness jerseys ebay metirish Dec 21 2008 09:43 AM Very nice collection. soupcan Dec 21 2008 11:09 AM Wanna sell me that Flynn one...? Edgy DC Dec 21 2008 11:52 AM The Brooks62 is a glass slipper. dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 12:46 PM No way I have been looking for some kind of Flynn Game Used jersey since I started buying game worn jerseys a few years ago.This is one of my prized possessions now. dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 12:58 PM Guys thanks for the compliments..Here is my man room it needs work.I love the Brooks im trying to find photos of him wearing the jersey its like looking for a needle in a haystack lol..Here are my Gamers I have some negro league gamers from the turn back the clock games.Id like to see everyones collection.. Edgy DC Dec 21 2008 01:01 PM The stuffed hippo ties it all together. dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 01:06 PM You like the hippo thats my wifes touch lol Who has the Willie Montanez id like to see pics.I remember that one from ebay when it sold.. Zvon Dec 21 2008 01:22 PM incredible jersey collection dcrules01! batmagadanleadoff Dec 21 2008 01:25 PM Welcome a-Bordick, drcules. Nice jerseys, too. I mostly lurk on the GU forum, but I must have missed your Flynn TBTC acquisition post. I've got some pretty neat game used Mets jerseys as well. I was wondering if after you converted your Mays Mitchell & Ness, whether the old #24 stitch marks were still visible. Thanks in advance. [u:2uyf57gy] On Edit:[/u:2uyf57gy] By the way, I just noticed that the back of your Brooks jersey has mismatched number fonts. The "6" is sans serif, while the "2" is serifed. In 1980, the Mets wore sans-serifed numerals on the home unis. Check the provenance on that Brooks jersey. Either the Mets got sloppy with Brooks' first uni ... or something else. dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 01:56 PM The pinstripe Was actually a MItchell and Ness Valentine I think I mistyped that I was up all night googling lol..No it looks gen nint the numbers came right off now I tried stripping the road because I wanted that to be a Flynn but the glue was bad and the numbers would not come off at all so I had it re sewn at Stitches.On the gamers the Cubbage and Taveras nameplates were restored which I think is a good possibility with the Brooks also since a ton of these were recycled in the minors from what I understand...Do you have your collection on line id like to see it.. G-Fafif Dec 21 2008 02:55 PM Flynn's Expo top blows my mind. The road New York Cubans...is that from a turn back the clock promotion? Or authentic Negro League? dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 03:17 PM Its from the tbc promotion its Todd Zeiles jersey he wore it in 04 I also have a TBC NY Cubans from 02 on the way it was worn by Turk Wendell diffrent style Edgy DC Dec 21 2008 03:51 PM Whenever you're ready to talk about the chiseled male torso on your TV screen, go ahead. No rush. DocTee Dec 21 2008 03:57 PM ]Whenever you're ready to talk about the chiseled male torso on your TV screen, go ahead. No rush. Holy shit that's funny! Kong76 Dec 21 2008 04:04 PM He said it was his man room. dcrules01 Dec 21 2008 04:17 PM LOL I belong to a few newsgroups and I posted photos of the room and they were razzing me about it..I was a show on MTV called Made the tv was left on lol..I can take the razzing im the new guy lol I have heard dont lie you were watching Chippendales male review just admit it..All I do is watch tv im outta work with 3 herniated discs which sucks.. themetfairy Dec 21 2008 07:58 PM Very nice collection! Welcome Abordick! soupcan Dec 22 2008 07:22 AM Re: The Flynn Mets jersey. ="dcrules01":14wrfsv5]No way I have been looking for some kind of Flynn Game Used jersey since I started buying game worn jerseys a few years ago.This is one of my prized possessions now.[/quote:14wrfsv5] Yeah I figured but doesn't hurt to ask. I'm not so much into the 'game-used' thing I'd just love to have a Flynn that is true to the style when he was with the Mets. Do you know where I could find one - I've exhausted every avenue I can think of with no luck. Kong76 Dec 22 2008 07:31 AM I got someone you can ask, I'll pm his email address to you. dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 07:33 AM What size are you?? Ill sell you my Youngblood you can strip it or send it to EPS and have them strip it and they can make it into a Flynn.The Youngblood has 3x but fits more like a 2xl..There was just a Mays on ebay size 46 which im confused because they only come s m l xl xxl xxxl xxxxl that sold ..They pop up once in awhile.. batmagadanleadoff Dec 22 2008 11:22 AM ="dcrules01":1pg8w5tc]On the gamers the Cubbage and Taveras nameplates were restored which I think is a good possibility with the Brooks also since a ton of these were recycled in the minors from what I understand.. Do you have your collection on line id like to see it..[/quote:1pg8w5tc] Yes. I didn't think you could've found that Brooks jersey with Hubie's nameplate still intact. The Mets, as you said, recycled their uniforms, especially during that era. An undesirably high number like Brooks' 62 uniform would've ultimately ended up anywhere in the Mets system .. any minor league level, the instructional league, spring training. As an example --among other jerseys I own, I have the uniform that Jesse Orosco wore in his first game ever. It's a #61 uni and it was issued to Orosco temporarily because his regular #47 jersey didn't arrive in time for the Mets '79 opener. That jersey was also recycled -- there are barely visible outlines of a nameplate once affixed to that jersey after Orosco wore it. My collection is not online. It's not even on display. It's all packed up. I have a project (all in my head) to eventually display my Mets collection. One day, I might even get around to doing it. I think that there's at least one other member here who collects Mets jerseys. He has a very good sized collection of game useds, M&N's and retail authentics, if I remember correctly. ="dcrules01":1pg8w5tc]What size are you [soupcan]?? Ill sell you my Youngblood you can strip it or send it to EPS and have them strip it and they can make it into a Flynn.The Youngblood has 3x but fits more like a 2xl..There was just a Mays on ebay size 46 which im confused because they only come s m l xl xxl xxxl xxxxl that sold ..They pop up once in awhile..[/quote:1pg8w5tc] ebay M&N jerseys with numerical sizes are most likely, counterfeits. I'd guess that most ebay M&N's are fakes. Some of the fakes are comically inept. But even the fakes that look reasonably accurate might be made of inferior fabrics. They might not wear well, or last very long. dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 11:29 AM If you ever want the Orosco nameplate restored lmk ill give you my guys info he does great work as you can see from the Cubbage and Taveras nameplate..Yeah I remember that Orosco being for sale that is a gem piece you have and display your items it drives my wife crazy but in a way she says it keeps me outta trouble or so she thinks lol.. batmagadanleadoff Dec 22 2008 11:53 AM ="dcrules01":2iy1cg4g]If you ever want the Orosco nameplate restored lmk ill give you my guys info he does great work as you can see from the Cubbage and Taveras nameplate..Yeah I remember that Orosco being for sale that is a gem piece you have and display your items it drives my wife crazy but in a way she says it keeps me outta trouble or so she thinks lol..[/quote:2iy1cg4g] Orosco never had a nameplate on his #61 uni. The jersey was issued to him for one game only. dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 01:14 PM So was it a carry over from the 78 season? Im confused lol I thought you said you could see where the nameplate was.Interesting Mets wore this style home from 78-82 but changed the road in 82.I have a Zachary and Swan road 82 I love them.. batmagadanleadoff Dec 22 2008 01:53 PM Orosco appeared without a nameplate. And yes, it was a 1978 issue. I suppose that there wasn't enough time to affix a nameplate to Orosco's temporary game jersey. Either that, or the Mets simply didn't care about the aesthetics, knowing all along that Orosco would wear #61 only until his regular #47 arrived. Teams usually carry spare jerseys in case of unanticipated screwups. I know that the Mets do. When the team realized that Orosco's regular jersey didn't arrive in time, I suppose that he was given any old available number. Orosco was a rookie and thus, unlikely to complain about wearing such a high number. He was probably just happy to be there. The nameplate was affixed after the jersey was presumably recycled to a lower league. I was using that jersey to illustrate how Met jerseys were recycled. That jersey, like your Brooks, was worn in only one Major League game. You're right about the '82's. In 1982, the Mets changed their road unis, adding racing stripes and eliminating both the two button pullover front collar and the sleeve end piping. These elements would be added to the home unis the following season. I have two 1982 game useds -- a Mike Scott road and a Joel Youngblood home. dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 02:13 PM Flynn and Youngblood were my guys I would kill to have a Youngblood if you ever consider moving it or if something would interest you in a trade I would do it in a heartbeat.. soupcan Dec 22 2008 02:32 PM He'll trade you Youngblood for Flynn. I'll be the middle man - send Flynn to me and I'll forward on. Can't promise it won't get lost in transit, but I'll do my best... dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 03:11 PM He has seen my collection not sure if anything would interest him..But im envious of the Youngblood big time.Another one of my buddies has a road Zachary from 81 and a Chapman and Pacella and an 82 Neil Allen.And another buddy has John Stearns 81 whole uniform..BPH has more but they won't send a list ive inquired many times.. dcrules01 Dec 22 2008 03:13 PM ="soupcan":1phtnlkt]He'll trade you Youngblood for Flynn. I'll be the middle man - send Flynn to me and I'll forward on. Can't promise it won't get lost in transit, but I'll do my best...[/quote:1phtnlkt] I told you I would sell you the Youngblood and you can strip it or have EPS strip it and get it customized into a Flynn... dcrules01 Mar 18 2009 04:28 PM Just wanted to share a few of my additions with you guys.Baseball is heating up spring is here...Enjoy LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 18 2009 04:41 PM Paul Wilson wonders whether he is chopped liver. (Nice hobbyin', sir.) dcrules01 Mar 18 2009 04:57 PM Im looking for a Paul Wilson Gamer havent had much luck.It took me 3 years to find the Pulsipher and 2 1/2 to find the Izzy.I was lucky a fellow collector sold me his Izzy bat..I love the hunt

Whole telecast available on iTunes, $1.99. Less than a brick!

Some idiot just bought one of the outfield wall bricks. Ah, what a dope! Uh, I gotta run...

If the Mets are in them or weren't anywhere near them during the season, then it's required viewing. Lately to come close and miss out is an invitation to look away. BG, you mention the Durham proto-Buckner play. In '84 and '85 I watched hellaciously closely because I could picture the Mets in and because I figured the announcers would have to mention the Mets as the team that competed against the Cubs and Cardinals. It didn't really work that way, I discovered. The '88 World Series was the first I went out of my way to avoid because it hurt too much to look. Same for '99 and '06.

I haven't been able to watch the first round of the postseason with any greater commitment than Gwreck describes these last two years. A decompression period seems necessary. Hope the Rays win, not rooting for the Sox to lose. I'm so used to seeing Boston as an A.L. East savior that it's hard to not want them to win. The two teams together finally formed an effective MFY barrier this season. Let's give 'em both a trophy.

Whenever I imagine myself playing for the Mets (and ignoring the competitive consequences for the team), that, the '81 uniform, is the one I'm wearing. It's the one they would have had me hold up at the press conference after signing right out of high school. A couple of weeks at Jackson and I would have been good to go. In my dreams.

An asterisk for 10 and 9: that was rescheduled into a doubleheader on Military Appreciation Day and I think they went with military reps both games and HoJo was bumped. I say I think because I got to the opener late but when they brought out a military rep for the nightcap, somebody said "again?" Already the stuff of urban legend.

bmfc1 wrote: I won't be rooting for the Dodgers, I will be rooting against the Phillies. I won't be having an original thought here, I'll be borrowing bmfc's.

I ran back to the '90 yearbook as well and was quite impressed with the collection as well as the photograph. A copy of "Nails" even! I'll bet Lenny Dykstra never read it.

I voted for the Cubs before I'm voting against them. I can't help it. No matter how I try to give them their moment, no matter how big I try to be about the true-blue fans who deserve better (despite the plenty who don't), it always defaults to 1969 in my head and I can't do anything but wish ill on them. I don't like the Dodgers but I'm quite thrilled the Cubs are down 2-0. Then again the Mets have held two-game leads and blown them so I wouldn't write anybody who actually made the playoffs off just yet.

Was watching the Channel 4 news whose helicopter coverage revealed Shea is very much being torn apart as we speak. I was coming to grips with it earlier, but this was a sock in the stomach.

Congrats Johan (and Aaron, I suppose). Thanks BG for dazzling us with both the fronts of these cards and everything that added up onto their proverbial (and actual) backs.

SI's take from this week's issue, not personal, not bad but too much "it's not MFYS II..." angle. Every writer who leaned on that crutch should have been fined five bucks. Then we could take the money and buy Tom Seaver's $41,000 locker and display it somewhere. ]IN CASE you missed it, and many have, Shea Stadium, the big leagues' fifth-oldest ballpark, is to be leveled this off-season. "Overshadowed by Yankee Stadium? You could say that," says Bob Mandt, the Mets' former VP for Stadium Operations, who has worked at Shea since its inception. "That's how it is. It hurts sometimes, but we're used to it." The twin killings are coincidental, though the timing is fitting for Shea, defined over its 44 years in part as the lesser neighbor to baseball's most hallowed ground. There's no area at Shea to browse plaques of Hall of Famers (the Mets, in any event, have just one); no majestic facade; no 26-title tradition. Shea occupies three acres of un-prime real estate in the stepsister borough of Queens, N.Y., smack in the flight path of LaGuardia Airport. ("When I got here," says Mets infielder Damion Easley, "I kept looking up all the time.") This is the house that the boys at Carlin-Crimmins construction built, and if Shea could talk, it would do so in the local vernacular: "Fellas, fuhgeddaboutit. Don't worry 'bout me. I've hadda good run." A few distinctive features may be preserved when Shea comes down. The mini New York City skyline over the scoreboard; the fat red apple that rises frivolously out of a top hat when a Met homers. Yet something important will be lost in the dismantling that begins later this month: a place where an identity�in which tentative hope braces against deep trepidation�was carved. Shea opened on April 17, 1964. Usherettes in seersucker suits greeted fans. Guy Lombardo's band played. The Sporting News reported that "Almost all among the 50,312 in attendance ... could be heard to gasp such tributes as 'beautiful,' 'fantastic,' 'fabulous,' 'miraculous,' 'the best ever.'" Even then, as the Pirates won 4--3, such superlatives for the $28 million stadium seemed excessive. Yet imagine a desert wanderer describing even a lukewarm glass of water. Shea was an oasis for those abandoned when the Giants and the Dodgers bolted for California in 1957, fans weaned on Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays who had minted the phrase "Wait till next year!" and shouted it every October after the Yankees had won again until, in '55, next year finally arrived. Though the losing in the early years was prodigious, attendance grew. Shea was "an alternative to the cold, machinelike excellence of the Yankees," observed Bill Veeck in '64. From the start, folks liked to say, "I've been a Mets fan all my life." Shea has worn over the years. Its cantilevered stands and narrow aisles seem outdated, its sight lines poor. Though Shea is painted the deep blue of the Mets' color scheme, many fans call it, affectionately, "the big purple dump." "But it's their dump," says Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. "It holds their memories." Of this: the Miracle Mets of 1969; the Mets who rallied to the World Series behind reliever Tug McGraw's Ya gotta believe! mantra in '73; the '86 Mets, who with an extraordinary revival in Game 6 of the Series (Mookie Wilson, Bill Buckner) seemed to validate that decade's slogan: The Magic Is Back. Shea is where baseball held its first game in New York after the 9/11 attacks. Mike Piazza won it with a home run that sent a ripple through the sport. "The only game in my career I did not mind losing," says Braves manager Bobby Cox. "That night belonged to this place." The losing has been equally vital to the lore. The Mets are often "Amazin'," an adjective affixed�and meant ironically�by Casey Stengel in the 1960s. At Shea the past is ever present, in corny slogans, in happy-go-lucky Mr. Met walking the stands. There's no pretense. Winning is regarded not as a given but a gift. Shea has hosted others of course. The Jets were tenants from 1964 through '83; Joe Namath's Super Bowl III team sprang from Shea. The Beatles came in '65, playing a 30-minute set before 55,000 crazed fans. "Oh, that was wild," says Pete Flynn, a groundskeeper who drove the band out of the stadium. When Paul McCartney returned to Shea this July, to play at Billy Joel's farewell concert, he needed a ride again, this time to the stage in a golf cart through Shea's weathered tunnels. Flynn, still working the grounds, still keeping the infield three quarters of an inch high, still chalking the base paths, provided the lift. "I told Paul McCartney, 'Welcome back.'" The new park, Citi Field, opens in April and is designed to evoke Ebbets Field, the Dodgers' old home. Fans will walk through tall archways into the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. The seats will be larger, with more legroom. There'll be fancy food prepared by star chefs. The building will cost some $800 million. Ticket prices have soared. "Sure, I'm sorry to see Shea go," says Willie Rodriguez, a sheet-metal worker from Bay Shore, Long Island. Rodriguez is 47, born in Queens. He comes to a half-dozen games a year. "We all grew up here. But I'll go to games in the new place�if I can afford it. I mean, I've been a Mets fan all my life."

Peripherally about baseball, mostly about politics, but totally taped at Shea in its final days (last non-Mets application ever from there?)

Mets [heart] character guys.

I notice Johan outpoints Pelf and Ollie combined (and almost Pedro). BG, is this the most internally dominant Pitcher of the Month performance ever? Has anybody in the history of the august balloting so completely owned the show?

I would have voted for Smith a bunch in September if just for the thrill of seeing another BG card (though I still love the '70 Stokes). The pitcher of the month award may as well be renamed The Santana. And if Schaefer ever starts brewing in New York again, they might want to change the name of their brand to the same.

Gwreck wrote: ="Iubitul"]Selling Seaver's locker? Did they really need the $41,000 that badly? The City of New York is getting a lot of the money for stuff that's being sold, as they own the stadium (not the Mets). They're participating in the scavenger hunt together and I'm guessing arrangements could have been made for certain items. Also, the Mets say their portion is going to their charitable foundation, which is very nice, but somebody could also make a sizable donation from selling The David (the statue, not the third baseman). Doesn't mean you should. As a friend of mine said (and I hate to frame it like this), but do you think the Yankees are selling Thurman Munson's locker?

Not that those A's weren't a pretty tough outfit.

AG/DC wrote: So go Pads. Two-hour distance and not the same ADI. Why don't Staten Island fans start rooting for the Phillies? ]I can't take that away from you, but you didn't have to go. Agreed, but it was an off day for the Mets (Memorial Day '86) and curiosity got the best of me when somebody called and suggested an outing. ]Thudersticks and monkeys and the whole thing was over-scripted like a crap Disney flick, and then Disney turned around and sold high like the cultural corporate raiders they are. The sticks unnerved the MFYs and won my approval. The monkey was no more, no less stupid than the Curly Shuffle. I'm a selective sucker for that kind of stuff. As for Disney, when my glasses, in a case in my hip pocket, broke on the Thunder Mountain Railroad, I went to first aid and they fixed them perfectly, better than they were before. It's easy to bash Disney and it is often merited. But I won't reflexively do it. ]You can look at that as an undermining of the Mets and therefore villiany. Or smart business when the inane management of my team lowballed one of the best players in the game. ]Jack Murphy Stadium was Shea's West Coast cousin. Less an insult to Anaheim Stadium than to Shea. Jack Murphy, despite its name (and it was painted over), was a football stadium more than a multipurpose. A nice place for a picnic, a lousy place for baseball. ]Those nasty pullovers on a championship team? Bite your tongue. We made it up them by hiring Gary Pettis. To replace Mookie Wilson! A matter of sartorial taste. Their togs never bothered me, though I didn't care for the fake vests. Loved the mid-'80s halo cap, bought at MFYS II and worn without retribution in the Bronx. Worn at a Subway Series game in 2006 to psyche out the opposition and it was successful. Worn gleefully in October '02 and '05 during the ALDS. On the other hand, I never asked for Gary Pettis.