G-Fafif

I have a 1976 MFY program and the party line appears to want it both ways. Much talk of celebrating "new Yankee Stadium" and welcoming you "to the 'new' Yankee Stadium," one "reconstructed" between October 1973 and April 1976 and "can now boast of the greatest features in comfort and enjoyment for fans while still retaining the historic character..." In one sentence it is referred to as "the same ballpark [from 1923] -- with the added benefit of playing in a park built for the fans' comfort." As for Opening Day, at which "the beautiful 'new' home of the Yankees" was dedicated, it "truly was an historic day as all remembered the events in the old Stadium, and it was made even more memorable by the 'new' Yankees christening the 'new' stadium with a win." Quotes around "new" seem to indicate ambivalence. Why stadium isn't Upper Cased on the final reference implies rare humility. I have a picture of Joe DiMaggio (not easily scanned) watching the renovation take place. The field is gone, the stands from roughly first to third are stripped down to their skeleton.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: ...the guy has been U-S-E-L-E-S-S since September of 2005. Point that Pedro hasn't been the man of steel since then taken (and assessment of his training methods not necessarily disputed at the moment), but the stated time frame seems a little off, literally speaking. First eleven starts of 2006, when the Mets were building their impenetrable lead: 5-1 2.50 ERA 75.2 IP 44 Hits 17 Walks 88 Strikeouts He had six starts that May that resulted in one loss and five no-decisions: PIT 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 K (Wagner BS in 9th) PHI 7 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 10 K (walkoff loss) MIL 7 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 10 K (walkoff loss) MFY 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K (Wagner coughs up 9th) FLA 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 10 K ARI 8 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 8 K (Scoreless duel with Webb) If he comes out of that May 8-1, which seems conservative and reasonable all things considered, I think we remember Pedro 2006 and the whole Pedro tenure a little more kindly. The bullpen did not perform up to early '06 standards in any of those games except the last one. Since then, given his various maladies, I'd add that he's been intermittently very useful, though not as useful as he could be were he healthy. Whether his health has been hindered by how hard he is pushed or pushes himself, I could not say. But I would not say he's been useless since 9/05.

Irish, I was cursing out the Cooperstown cap equation halfway down the scroll when I realized what was or wasn't going on. Well done!

I'm sorry I gave away my collection of Baseball Digests years ago because, from the mid-'70s on, whenever they listed ballparks by year they opened, Yankee Stadium was snug between Royals Stadium and Olympic Stadium. It was a stunner to me in the late '90s when the narrative was rewritten to make it all one long seamless romp in the playground from 1923 on. I have a Sporting News book of ballparks from around 2000 which features illustrations of each then-current park and the events that took place in them. YS is drawn to 1976 scale yet there are denotations for where Joe DiMaggio played and other such inaccurate rot. It's not like a lot hasn't happened there since '76. All animus aside, 33 seasons with six world championships is pretty impressive. Why that can't be enough for them, I have no idea.

Citi Field deserves a clean slate, but the scent of a great idea for 1994 or thereabouts permeates the concept. Making it look like something out of a World's Fair is intriguing, though I suppose that's what Shea Stadium was kind of for. Thanks, Mr. Zero, for the link. Food for thought, and not from Aramark either.

Well, MLB has struck again, smothering the free promotion of its product by invoking its copyright protection for stuff it doesn't appear to have any intention of ever showing on its own. According to Neil Best, they pulled the plug on the awesome archives of jphilips41, so I hope you got a good look at those '77 and '79 Old Timers Days and the '73 World Series and whatever else John put up there. Small consolation that jp tipped his cap toward CPF (or KPF) in giving Neil the skinny: http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/blog/2008/03/farewell_tony_kubek_ralph_kine.html

The producer blogs on the documentary: http://www.wnbc.com/news/15713452/detail.html She got in touch with us rather late in the game, too late for us to be involved, but certainly seemed sincere enough about Shea.

Time has lent Sue Simmons gravitas unimagined a quarter-century ago. Ditzy competition doesn't hurt either. But never mind that. She's a huge Mets fan.

Parts I and II of the Mets' cheap-ass but fascinating 1979 Old Timers ceremonies have been added to YouTube by the greatest person who has ever lived, jphilips41. Part I: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDVF9erP2A Part II: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XhRGOLc6cwc I'm hoping Part III is in the offing, wherein audio messages from Seaver, Koosman, McGraw and Harrelson are played over the loudspeaker.

Didja catch the first OT introduced by Lindsey? Bill Wambsganss. BILL WAMBSGANSS! Not that the Mets do OTDs anymore anyway, but that was the way to do it, by bringing in a) OLD timers and not submitting them to purity tests. If there was one day of the year I could stand to look at an MFY, it was OTD.

themetfairy wrote: Mario Cuomo spoke at my college graduation. He was a pretty new governor at the time, but he should have been recognized nonetheless (even with Koch hogging the spotlight). Election Night 1982: Ralph kicks back and relaxes with a cocktail in Palm Springs (it is guessed here). Misses the many ample opportunities provided by the likes of Dan Rather to pick up on pronunciations of newly elected officials. Probably doesn't get his own freshly minted governor, George Deukmejian, either. Well, maybe the George part...

First catcher to see duty besides Hodges was the late Mike Bishop, who started the eighth game of the year. Ronn Reynolds didn't make his '83 debut 'til April 27. Lots of bad weather that April (recall the spate of makeup doubleheaders that came in late June).

My Flushing-raised brother-in-law vended as well. It is the reason he hates baseball.

I must be really Mets-cocooned, because the notion that there is, as Myers puts it, all this talk about YS and not enough about Shea, I'm thinking, "Yankee Stadium? Is that having a final season, too?"

Daily News football writer Gary Myers kicks ass, takes names and remembers his and Shea's youth: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/03/26/2008-03-26_its_hard_to_shea_goodbye.html?page=0

Ortiz wouldn't join the platoon 'til the middle of June. His acquisition (for Marvel Wynne) was kind of lost in the Mex shuffle. jphilips41 is the gift that never stops giving, as evidence by 1977 Old Timers Day (aka, the day that inspired Willie, Mickey & The Duke): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwt-hA4Z9Hg

Future almost-Met Nelson Briles, the 1973 Oakland A's and your 1973 National League Champion Mets...grab yourself a Natural Rheingold and pull up a chair for Game Four of the World Series! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8NyeixpPuo&feature=related

I went with only closer who ever closed out a Game 7 for the Mets. Great hypothetical in the tradition of who'd win a fight, Rocky or Rambo?

Great job on a great subject. I hope Howie realizes the honor where his book intro is concerned is at least half his.

]my vote would be for Tony Randall singing "Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love" Let's hit Heilman where he lives... Love "You Gotta Have Heart" for the stretch. Any other Washington baseball-themed musicals?

Heard at fine retailers all across the Tri-State area: "No, but we have plenty of Schneider Schardonnay -- and I can let ya have it for like five bucks."

MLB would also like all fans to stop thinking about the game they just saw 72 hours after it is over. You are stealing their intellectual property. It's stuff like this that can make a lifelong acolyte and customer begin to think he can do something else with his time, money and passion. I can understand if somebody's making money off MLB images that they'd be nasty and try to get their claws on every last cent. But to the average blog -- ours or anybody else's -- that is merely about sharing the joy of the game, it's just one more way to illustrate how much we care about baseball. E-fucking-gads.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't know if this is anything new, or if it's significant in any way, but... This morning I got a promotional e-mail from MLB.com Shop about their Cooperstown Collection. I clicked on the link, clicked around, and landed on the Mets caps section. The blue cap is listed as the "home cap." The black cap with the blue brim is listed as the "road cap." And the all-black cap is the "alternate cap." Have they always had these designations, in name if not in practice? Or might this be an indicator of how the caps will be used in 2008? The Mets have stuck to these as their default settings on caps all along, even as real-life experience has indicated otherwise.

Frayed Knot wrote: ="vtmet"]As long as Lastings is hanging with college age women, Paulie will probably be nice & tag along as his wingman.... College age women would be a big step up (5 or 6 years) for Lastings from what we hear. Lastings gets older. They stay the same age.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Unless, of course, it's C.J. Nitkowski. In which case, i would retract.