The Mets Police

Mike sent this over titled simply "Mike and Mike."

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James K. has left a new comment on your post "My Unpopular Opinion Of The "Piazza Home Run"":

I have to ask - did you even watch that game? Did you see the home run happen live? How could you not be touched by that moment, especially as a New Yorker?

No one is claiming it had anything to do with the Mets winning a pennant and this seems to be your reason for downplaying it. It wasn't about wins and losses and World Series wins that night. That home run should be #1 all time, if anything it's underrated.



I did.  Maybe it's just my personal reaction but at the time a Mets game just seemed trivial.   I did think it was cool when Bush showed up at Yankee Stadium and threw a strike - that was a neat moment...and I was at the Mr. November game which was the most exciting game I've ever seen in person (I was home for Buckner).


My reason for downplaying it has nothing to do with the Mets winning it or not, I just don't see that it has any more meaning than any other Piazza home run.  I guess it made some people happy for the first time in a week - but I didn't react that way.  As I said in the title, I expected my opinion to be unpopular.


On the other side, someone else wrote...


Agree completely with you Shannon. A home run does not "heal a city." Playing that game was the great moment, the home run was merely icing on the cake that day.

Whether the Mets won or lost that game didn't really matter. What was important that day was that the teams played, and that the people came out to watch them play.

I can think of at least 3 other more dramatic Piazza home runs: his first as a Met, his grand slam off Clemens, and the 7/1/2000 3-run shot that capped a 10 run comeback over the Braves. 


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The New York Post got a statement from the Mets about Piazza:

"There are a number of great players from our team's past that we will honor at Citi Field. That process is under way as we have begun installation of photographic imagery of famous Mets -- including Mike -- and historic moments in team history on the Field and Promenade Levels," the statement read. "Mike is one of the greatest Mets ever, and we certainly will recognize his significant impact on our franchise and his meaningful connection to our fans in a special way at Citi Field."

I think 31 will go up eventually, but Mike should wait in line behind Keith Hernandez.  In the mean time, Charlie Samuels can just forget to issue #31 the way he usually does with #24 unless a Rickey Henderson or a Kelvin Torve wants it.

I love the vagueness of "a special way."  I guess this is more of a David Newman (SVP Marketing & Communications) thing than Jay Horwitz.  The media loves Jay and he's lasted 30 years, neither of those things happens easily.

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I offer the following plan to the New York Mets, with love.

The Mets have taken a lot of grief these last two weeks.  Whether it's the Rotunda or Gooden-gate, it comes down to the Mets fans wanting to honor the Mets.  It's very simple...

Announce a date for Oldtimer's Day.   I propose Saturday June 20th.  The game is scheduled for 4:05 for Fox.   Start the ceremonies at 1pm on SNY.

It's already Cap Day, so we can know your intentions are pure, and although the opponent isn't ideal (Tampa) it's far enough in the future to plan, but not so far away as to seem like it will never get here.

You already know who to invite - you got this one right at Closing Day at Shea.   Anyone who has read this far knows the right names to invite.  Invite them.

During the ceremonies have Howie Rose formally announce a few things:

• The Mets Museum will open in April 2010 with (specific details).
  
• The numbers 16, 17 and 31 will be retired later this season. (crowd erupts)
  
• Announce the dates for Hernandez Night, Gooden Night and Piazza Night - and have them in that order.
  
• Announce a statue of Tom Seaver will be placed halfway between the subway stop and the Rotunda.  (This will create a cool "Meet me at Seaver" location.)

In the meantime either get the "Mets stuff" out of storage or go buy some on ebay (did they sell it all?   Why didn't they keep Seaver's locker?)

Very easy.   Win your fan-base back.  Today.   You drew 36,000 this weekend in a brand new stadium.  Take my advice.

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Yahoo Sports...one of the most widely read things on the internet asks...

Did Piazza Bail Early To Avoid Questions About Steroids?

"He wasn't looking for any attention," Jay Horwitz, the Mets' vice president for media relations, said when asked why Piazza did not want to talk.

"He said, ‘I'm a private person now, I have a family, I'm raising my kids, my wife's having a baby and I want to stay in the background.' "

I don't want to be attacked by Metsdom (criticizing some players seems to draw wrath), so I will stand by my previous statement that it's seems to my eyes that one of the 2000 Mets was on steroids.  Y'all can decide for yourself who it might have been (if anyone).  I have no proof other than my eyes.

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In Newsday this morning, Jim Baumbach proposes that the Mets retire the numbers of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry

My initial reaction was, "No way!  Teams retire too many numbers as it is!  Let's not retire everyone!  It's a special thing!"

Then I thought more.

The top two complaints about Citi Field are obstructed views (which hasn't even begun to reach the levels of complaining it will once people sit in their "real" seats) and that there's not enough Mets stuff at Citi Field.

About that he's right, and so I agree - let's hang some numbers on the fence.   I just think he has the wrong numbers.

Let's start with the first choice.   17.

I cringe any time I see someone else wearing Keith Hernandez's number.   He was The Captain.  He was the one who taught us how to win.   He was a great player, a great New Yorker, and has a constant long-term presence with the club.   He'll never make the Hall of Fame, but he's one of the greatest Mets of all time.   17 should be next.

Doc Gooden's #16.   My initial reaction was no.   Gooden had a few great years, and some ok years later - but he never won 300 like was destiny.  He didn't even win 200.

However, Gooden is like the ex-girlfriend you just can't get out of your system.  No matter how much he hurts us, we always long for what could have been.  

It has been 23 years since the 1986 Mets, it's time to start honoring them.   Later in the summer, after Keith Hernandez day, let's welcome back Gooden and hang the 16 on the fence.

Plus, I can pretend it's for Lee Mazzilli.

Finally, Strawberry's 18.  I'm going to say no.

Even when Darryl was here, he was talking about how he couldn't wait to get to LA.  It was all he talked about.   I can't do this revisionist history and pretend he loved us.  When I think of him today I actually picture him as a Yankee!    He's one of our heroes...but he doesn't deserve to be on the fence.

Mike Piazza's #31.   We all know this one's coming.  Let's just get it up there.  We can tell Fred Wilpon he was a Dodger.

Baumbach makes a good case.  Check it out.

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As of right now the Mets are still planning on opening Corporate Field with a night game on April 16th. And as discussed earlier, they still don't have a National Anthem singer.

Really not ideal.

But what would an ideal - a PERFECT - Opening Day be like? Here's how I see it (at least things I could control)

1. Opening DAY - This is the easy one. The game would be played with a 1 pm start time. No late nights, no freezing temperatures. Day baseball. Period.
2. Seaver Statue - During the Opening Ceremonies the Mets would unveil a statue honoring the man that will always be known as The Franchise to be placed outside the ballpark in
3. William A. Shea Plaza - Bill Shea is responsible for the Mets existence. He no longer has a ballpark named after him - at least honor him by naming the plaza for him
4. Sey Hey Seats - The Wilpons have gone head over heals in honoring the Brooklyn Dodgers, but as has been mentioned here many times before, where's the love for that other NY NL team? Announce that the bleacher seats would be named in honor of a Giant that actually played for the Mets
   
5. A Good National Anthem - Little 8 yr old Betsy is cute and is fine on May 12th - but not for Opening Day. Give me Billy Joel (or someone similar)
   
6. First Pitch - Open the new ballpark the same way you closed the old one, with Tome Seaver throwing the first pitch to Mike Piazza
7. Blue Hats - Start the year right - start the new ballpark right. Blue hats and pinstripes.
   

Are there other things I'd like to see? Of course - friendly ushers, a Mets win- but these are things that cannot be controlled.

With 2 1/2 weeks to go, all of these except the Seaver statue are still possible. Come on Jeff and Fred, let's make this one really memorable.

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Folks never get tired of pics:  Here's 150 pics of the New Yankee Stadium and Tons of Pics of Citi Field including some Obstructed Views at C-Field and these ones of Dying Shea  that we shared in December.

For what I believe is the first time people are starting to use the words Piazza and steroids in the same sentence.

I spelled his first name wrong and a bunch of people rightfully called me on it, but now that I know how to spell Jon Matlack people enjoyed reading about him here and here.



The headline is actually more exciting than reading that the Yankees have a new cap , but it is accurate.

I'm on a Meet the Mets and Curly Shuffle kick.

Did stayng with the Mets cost Rusty a shot at 3,000 hits?  No, but it's fun to explore.

Finally, it's time to let the Islanders die.

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I doubt many of you read The Guardian but I thought this was kind of cool perspective. (Excerpts below).   Personally I feel the whole Piazza as hero thing has been way overblown (the dude hit a home run, big deal) - but I respect the writer below who just wants his sport to pick up the pieces and get back to normal.

That 2001 Mets team was another of Bobby V's poorly prepared teams.  His Mets had a habit of digging huge holes in April.  This team was 10 games under on June 1st so it didn't matter how "heroic" Piazza was or how many games they won after 9/11...sometimes the math catches up to you.


Miracle Mets show Mumbai why cricket matters more than ever 

It's a shame that cricket's response to the Mumbai attacks will be nothing like as eloquent as baseball's was to 9/11

Six days after 9/11 the Americans started to play Major League Baseball again. The League Commissioner, Bud Selig, explained the decision by saying: "I'll be grateful if we played a small role with other social institutions in bringing this country back." That very day the New York Mets played their first game since the attack, away at Pittsburgh. The team took to the field wearing Fire Defence of New York caps. Their home park, Shea Stadium, had been turned into a recovery centre for relief workers. The night before the Pittsburgh game, the Mets manager Bobby Valentine had stayed up till 3am directing the loading of relief supplies by volunteers.

The Mets won that match, 4-1. Four days later, on September 21, Valentine would return to Shea to oversee his side's first home game back at the stadium. The Mets had decided they would play that game without pay, donating their combined wages for the night, $450,000, to the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children Benefit fund.

The Mets won that night as well. They won, in fact, each of their first six games after 9/11, thrilling their fans and delighting the city as they did so. Back pages were again filled with headlines about the 'Miracle Mets'. Their hitter Mike Piazza commented: "we expect to win every game right now ... because we're playing completely relaxed, even during what should be the most tense of circumstances."

Sport, which is normally taken disproportionately seriously, was just a gloriously trivial distraction from the grief of the city. Mumbai will not be given that opportunity. The attacks may have represented a 9/11 moment for the city but, much as we may want it to be, cricket's response will be nothing like as eloquent as baseball's. The ripples have spread too far across the sport. The decisions that have to be made by those governing cricket are harder still than the ones that Selig faced. The matter of England's imminent return is only the first of many issues cricket will have to tackle.

For instance it looks increasingly unlikely that the Indian government will permit the team's January tour of Pakistan to take place, despite the many pleas for a show of solidarity from across the border. Pakistan have not played a home Test match since October 2007. Since then the only teams to tour the country have been Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, though India and Sri Lanka did briefly visit for the Asia Cup. The Pakistan Cricket Board is understandably desperate for India's January tour to go ahead. With Indian investigators attributing the attacks to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri extremist group based in Pakistan, the tour seems improbable.

Mike Piazza, the great Dodger will return to Shea Stadium for the final weekend.

My spidey sense is worried that they will retire #31.   If they do that before retiring #17 that's wrong.  (I almost used the word atrocity, but that should be saved for things like genocide, not a dopey uniform ceremony, but I digress).

The story is here.

Some crazy talk here....

Productive Outs and Crackerjack: Retire Mike Piazza's Number Right Now (Flushing University)

There's enough Dodgers action next door to Shea. Let's honor Keith Hernandez the winner before we go retiring the number one of the great Dodgers of all time.

I'm away today, so while Cyclones Fan minds the store, I leave you with this generic post I saw on Friday. Now as I write this Friday night this might be the stupidest post ever while you Tuesday people debate Willie or the new manager or the Mets 4 game win streak or the 8 game losing streak or whatever is happening this morning. If they name Lee Mazzilli manager and I'm away from a computer all day - well that would be ironic. Anyway, I'm not around today.

This post debates whether or not Piazza should be a HOFer as a Met or Dodger. What about Pedro, Maddux and Griffey? Read it here, and I'll see you tomorrow:

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spbarker0523,0,6610002.column

and here's another good one about the Piazza trade from the Los Angeles view:

News Corp. miscalculated Piazza's popularity and importance to the ballclub on and off the field. Piazza miscalculated that traditional baseball negotiating tactics would reap traditional results with a neophyte ownership familiar with Hollywood but not with baseball.

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com LOS ANGELES -- It's impossible to think about the impact Mike Piazza had on the Dodgers without considering the impact Mike ...

Stumbled across this:


Piazza was a Dodger first.

The piece is here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/080521&campaign=rsssrch&source=paul_lukas

Dodgers Hall of Famer Mike Piazza should not have his number retired by the Mets.

Are you going to put a statue of him outside Citi Field?

Are you going to retire 31 without retiring 17?

If you retire those why not 16?

What about Ron Darling (pick a number of his).

While we're looking at fan favorites how about Buddy's 3?

A great player yes

Hall of famer yes

An iconic 'Met?' No.

(Perhaps he can take Lee Mazzilli's spot on SNY when Lee takes his rightful place in the Mets dugout as manager.)

Mike Piazza announced his retirement from baseball this afternoon.

Now let the debate begin - was Mike a Dodger or a Met and what cap should he wear when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Piazza came up through the Dodger system and established himself as the best offensive catcher in the game while in Los Angeles. However, he played more games and accumulated more numbers in his years with the Mets.

In his statement, Piazza was clear as to how he thinks of himself:

“Last but certainly not least, I can’t say goodbye without thanking the fans,” Piazza said. “I can’t recall a time in my career where I didn’t feel embraced by all of you. Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and Miami—whether it was at home or on the road, you were all so supportive over the years.

“But I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn’t have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career, was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful.”

Yes Gary Carter felt the same way - and still identifies himslef more with the Mets than with the Expos, but Carter only played a few years with New York while Piazza played the bulk of his career here. Personally, he is a Met and should go into the HOF wearing a Mets cap.