Thursday, July 16, 2009

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Guest Column: New York Mets Should Retire #8 on 8/8

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A guest column from God Googler:


Retire #8 on 8/8
Two Hall of Famers have worn #8 for the Mets and yet that number has not been retired.  It’s not a stretch to think that the Mets could retire #8 for both Gary Carter and Yogi Berra the prolific manager of the 73 “Ya Gotta Believe” pennant winners.
Berra was an astute manger for 4 years with only the 1974 season being a blight on his record.  He brought the team back from a huge deficit and got the players to believe in themselves with a little help from Tug McGraw’s rallying cry.  McGraw often said that it was really Berra’s managing style that enabled the players to believe in themselves and led them to that pennant.  To top matters they spanked the Reds in the playoffs and in a crazy world series he took the mighty A’s to 7 games--all an almost impossible feat to accomplish for any manager.  We forget he was also a coach with Hodges on the 1969 Miracle Mets (in fact he was a coach since 1965), so you can’t say he wasn’t involved or around long enough with the Mets to merit inclusion.  While more well known as a Yankee, Berra deserves to be acknowledged as someone who contributed much to the Met franchise as a coach and manager.
Carter was the missing piece to the 1986 World Series Champions.  The young Mets pitchers needed someone to be a leader within those 60 feet 6 inches.  Carter led them well for 3 years until his career began to wind down.  He helped spark that team into the cocky bunch of players who never felt they were out of a ballgame even when things looked bleak.  In game 6 of the 86 World Series Carter started the rally with a single that led to the improbableMookie Wilson grounder through the legs of Bill Buckner.
I would like to propose that the Mets have Number 8 night on August 8th (8/8) and retire the number 8 for both men.  The number 8 can sit on the Shea Stadium wall with Berra on the top and Carter on the bottom (or vice-versa, I went with alphabetical here) to honor both men.


Personally I don't agree.  I think retiring Yogi would only lead to jerks like me ripping the Mets for ignoring their own players and open up the Brooklyn Dodgers can of worms again.

That being said, I like this site to be about passionate discussion among Mets fans, so I welcome all guest columns, even when I don't agree.  So if you want to write 10 pages justifying black uniforms, go for it.

www.metspolice.com
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send ideas/guest columns to shannon at metspolice.com

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6 Responses to "Guest Column: New York Mets Should Retire #8 on 8/8"
MetsToday said :
July 16, 2009 at 9:26 AM
I think the Mets will retire Duke Snider's #4 before Gary Carter's #8.
DAK442 said :
July 16, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Meh. We should have won the '73 WS and probably would have if Yogi doesn't screw up the rotation. Not to mention leaving Willie Frickin' Mays on the bench in Game 7. He's a Yankee, we don't need to honor him. And as great a player as Carter was, he had like 3 good years with us. I kind of like the way the Mets unoffically retire numbers (like 24) and think they should do the same with 8 and 17 - only giving them to players as great as the former wearers. No more Mr Koos or Luis Lopezes sporting 17, please.
#31 should be the next retired number, and they should do it right around the time the HoF voters are deciding which hat to put on Mike's plaque.
Rosemary Azzaro said :
July 16, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Great idea Mike. Even a Yankee fan would like it.
Anonymous said :
July 16, 2009 at 12:52 PM
DO NOT retire 8, nor 17. Even though these two, Carter and Hernandez were responsible for the mid 80's success, retiring numbers should be for players who spent the majority of their career as successful Mets. Carter is in the Hall as an Expo, Hernandez has too many years as a Cardinal. And 24 should be issued as Willie Mays only spent 2 years , and how long was Henderson a Met?
DyHrdMET said :
July 16, 2009 at 7:41 PM
first, I don't see why Yogi should have his number retired in Queens. Kid on the other hand...

I smell a post on my blog for this one, but, there's a fine line between retiring the 3 numbers that the Mets have already done, and the next class of players (Piazza, Hernandez, Carter, Gooden, Straw, Koosman, Bonilla, etc.). Most teams have leaned toward being inclusive. The Mets haven't.
Anonymous said :
July 19, 2009 at 5:29 AM
It's criminal that Piazza's number doesn't hang already...he was clearly the best position player we ever had and changed the face of the entire franchise...he gave us credibility once again

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