Dwight Gooden signed a wall in the Ebbets Club at Citi Field and the Mets are treating it as if it were "unwanted graffiti".
It's bad enough that there is not enough Mets history on display at the new Mets ballpark. If the Mets tried to remove Gooden's signature from the Acela club, it would still be tone-deaf. But Gooden signed his name in the EBBETS club.
If you are going to have a club honoring an old New York stadium, why not one for Shea? And what about the Polo Grounds, where the Mets actually played?
When the Mets place another team's history ahead of their own, something has to change.
Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog has written about this topic, and while I agree with much of what he has to say, I have a fundamental disagreement with one of his views, a view that, if shared by Mets' management, gets to the heart of the problem.
From Metsblog:
…i can understand the Mets not wanting to leave the signature, but i also like that gooden did it… so, instead, the Mets should take their queue from doc, and the fan reaction, and set something up like this elsewhere in the ballpark, where current and former players can ‘leave their mark,’ so to speak…
So far, so good. But here's the part I take issue with:
…i have seen a lot of complaints from fans who feel there is not enough history in Citi Field… i get that, but, with all due respect to the team i love, the Mets have a subtle history, so i can understand why the team presented in a subtle way…
Subtle? Mets' history is anything but subtle. The most famous teams, players and events can be summed up in a couple of words:
Gets by Buckner!
Miracle Mets
Ya Gotta Believe!
The Franchise
1962 Mets
Nothing subtle about any of those!
Cerrone continues:
i mean, if they went overboard with it, people would probably make fun of them for honoring a checkered past, and if they did what they did, they get ripped for not doing enough… where is the balance… i am not sure… i do feel it’s more than they have, but i think too much would be silly…
I agree with this part, but there are plenty of ways to honor the past without going overboard.
Supposedly the Mets are planning a Mets Hall of Fame. There have also been suggestions about retiring more numbers.
To me, that's where you start to go overboard. It's almost like the Mets planning their own Monument Park.
But just because the Mets have not had a lot of Hall of Famers does not mean they have not had a lot of history. Why not focus on years?
Imagine an area dedicated to 1986. Photos and video of players and games. And an area devoted to 1969. Perhaps these areas could have some historical context as well - the Mets winning at the time of the moon landing, Woodstock and the Vietnam War.
Personally, I am mixed on honoring the 2000 Subway Series, but it is part of the Mets history, and it could be done in the context of other Subway Series. This would also be a way of honoring the Dodger and Giant past without putting it front and center.
Another way to acknowledge the city's baseball past is an exhibit on the birth of the Mets. Rather than only glorifying the Dodgers and Giants, let's show them leaving town, and let's remind fans why Bill Shea's name was on the old stadium. This exhibit could also feature the 1962 Mets, still nationally known as a symbol of futility, but also as a beloved new team helping to heal the broken hearts of National League fans.
The more I think of it, some sort of Mets Hall of Fame does make sense. But you would have to limit the number of players and, well, not have any character clauses!
At least the Apple (both old and new) and Mr. Met are at the new ballpark. And it is great to see the old scoreboard skyline above Shake Shack.
But so far, the only mementos the Mets have been willing to bring over to Citi Field have nothing to do with what actually happened on the field. It's time for that to change.
What would you like to see the Mets do at Citi Field to honor their history?
4 comments:
I would like to see display cubes set up to honor various players and eras. The idea is that you'd have some sort of display that is a tribute to a person, year, or idea. You'd then have the group, individual, or a representative choose what goes into the block. By placing them around the stadium in various areas, with descriptions, you could educate fans, encourage walking around the stadium, and give each era or player and opportunity to get creative with their displays.
While I understand fred Wilpon's love of Ebbets Field and the Dodgers, he should take more pride in the history of his own team. There should be more Mets' history in and around Citi Field. A display honoring William Shea and the team's first owner Joan Payson is a must.
The thing that bothers me the most are the retired numbers. I have never been happy with 14 (Hodges) and 37 (Stengel) being decommissioned. Baseball retired 42(Robinson)so I have no complaints. Only 41(Seaver)deserves to be on that wall based on the Hall of Fame career he had.
Hodges only won one pennant and world championship before his untimely death. With that logic then Davey Johnson's No. 5 should be hanging on the fence. Stengel was a joke. The best thing you could say was that he deflected a lot of criticism away with his relationship with the New York media. Stengel was hailed for his performance as Yankee manager, but if you examine his record everywhere else he was a bad manager with bad clubs.
Hopefully, in the near future the Mets will honor the players that have had an impact on the franchise, over the five decades that the team has existed. Whether it is Marv Throneberry, Rod Kanehl, Tom Seaver, Tug Mcgraw, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez or the many others that have worn the orange and blue there should a place for them at Citi Field.
While I understand fred Wilpon's love of Ebbets Field and the Dodgers, he should take more pride in the history of his own team. There should be more Mets' history in and around Citi Field. A display honoring William Shea and the team's first owner Joan Payson is a must.
The thing that bothers me the most are the retired numbers. I have never been happy with 14 (Hodges) and 37 (Stengel) being decommissioned. Baseball retired 42(Robinson)so I have no complaints. Only 41(Seaver)deserves to be on that wall based on the Hall of Fame career he had.
Hodges only won one pennant and world championship before his untimely death. With that logic then Davey Johnson's No. 5 should be hanging on the fence. Stengel was a joke. The best thing you could say was that he deflected a lot of criticism away with his relationship with the New York media. Stengel was hailed for his performance as Yankee manager, but if you examine his record everywhere else he was a bad manager with bad clubs.
Hopefully, in the near future the Mets will honor the players that have had an impact on the franchise, over the five decades that the team has existed. Whether it is Marv Throneberry, Rod Kanehl, Tom Seaver, Tug Mcgraw, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez or the many others that have worn the orange and blue there should a place for them at Citi Field.
Of course the Mets should honor their history and their place in New York baseball.
I can hear a few of you saying, "Uh-oh, we know what YOU think the Mets' place is!"
I still haven't been to Citi Field except from a distance, so I still have to take everyone's word for it.
But the Mets should honor their history, which, for good or for ill, is anything but subtle. Seriously, was Tug McGraw subtle? How about Gary Carter? And Mike Piazza, at the plate or behind it (feel free to shudder), was anything but subtle. Then, of course, there were Lindsey Nelson's sportsjackets, which had all the subtlety of a pneumantic drill.
As for the Dodgers and Giants, it has been over half a century. Most of their greats are gone now. And the election of Walter O'Malley to the Baseball Hall of Fame is a tacit endorsement of his betrayal of the fans of both teams, who are now, in almost every case, over the age of 60. The ones who remember the 1949-56 glory days with any clarity are over 70; anyone who remembers the classic 1941 Dodgers and Mickey Owen's passed ball is pushing, or past, 80. The 1933-37 Giants, who won three Pennants and a World Series in 5 years? They're now few and far between.
The Mets have been around for almost half a century, yet, all too often, their owners, and even a lot of their fans, still act like they're an expansion team, the constantly picked-on little brother. It's time to grow up.
The Mets will never match the Yankees for history, so instead of trying to do so, they should say, "To hell with the Yankees, we're a New York tradition, too, and here's our contributions to New York baseball, and if you don't like it you can go across town to that shopping mall with a baseball field stuck in the middle. They want your money, we want your fandom. They give you ego, we give you baseball." (Hey, I'm just trying to think like you guys do.)
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