Here's Manny's take on 5 Questions For An Average Mets Fan.
1. When did you start following the Mets?
A: I started following the Mets when I was four years old. It was at that age that my father took me to my first Mets game. It was 1976 and it was Medallion Day. The Mets gave out cool metal medallions with a necklace--on one side was the Mets logo and on the other was the special logo celebrating the nation's bicentennial. My memory of what happened on the field that day is very hazy at best. However, one thing that I clearly remember from that day is how humongous Shea looked from the subway with its blue and orange shingles.
2. What is your favorite Mets memory?
Without question it would have to be the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6. Everyone in my house but me thought the season was over after Hernandez's fly out to center field. Thankfully, the Kid, Mitchell, Knight and Mookie also did not think the season was over.
My favorite in-stadium memory was what I like to call "The Rich Becker" game. It was some, non-descript game in, I believe, May of 1998 against the Pirates. The reason it was my favorite is that I caught my first and only foul ball. I gave the ball to my nephew who was with me and the joy in his face when I gave him the ball was priceless. Oh yeah, Rich Becker hit a home-run, threw a runner out at home plate and drove in the game-winning run.
3. What is your worst Mets memory or experience?
A: It is a tie: The 2000 World Series with the Yankees celebrating in our house and Joe Torre crying on our field. That is tied with the culmination of the 2007 Collapse. The season was effectively over after one-half inning. Just horrible moments that will live on in Mets infamy.
4. If you could change one off-field thing about the franchise what
would it be?
I would like to have the Mets' baseball operation to run much more efficiently and productively. I would have the Mets follow the way the Angels and Twins conduct their baseball business and try to emulate them both.
5. If you owned the team starting tomorrow, what is the first thing
you would change?
If I owned the Mets, that would mean I would be extremely wealthy and, as such, I would scrap the Citi naming rights deal. I would not need their tainted TARP money. In addition, Citi must have brought some bad karma to the Mets in 2009. In fact, ever since the Mets announced their naming rights deal with Citi in the middle of 2006, things have gone downhill. I would rename the Mets ballpark to William A. Shea Field as it should have been.
Thanks for the great work Mr. Shark. Keep on with your on-point criticisms of the Mets' organization.
Sincerely,
Manny (North Bergen, NJ)
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