The Mets Police

See I wasn't kidding when I said the 1939 Mets would have signed Lou Gehrig in the off-season...Bitter Bill has a great list of Mets busts (free-agents/trades).

I totally forgot Tony Fernandez played for this team.

You kids won't remember Richie Hebner.   I'm convinced that 95% of Mets fans are 24 years old and only know who Keith Hernandez is because he's on TV.   Nothing wrong with it, but some days I feel like the old man on the mountain, and I ain't that old.

Here's Bill's list.

Oh and Bill - to answer your question whether it was more amazing that they brought Bonilla in the first time or the second....clearly the second.  The first time he seemed good (having Barry Bonds in your lineup tends to bring out the best in hitters), the second time the Mets were fools.   Shockingly they didn't understand their fanbase.   Imagine.

One hour until we start complaining about All Star Teams, can't wait!

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Among my fellow Mets Policeman we were debating who was the best Met of the 1990's.   (This followed a discussion of "Best 1990s Yankee" which I'll save for another day).

Some really awful names came up.

Maybe it was Todd Hundley?   Maybe Edgardo Alfonzo?   Piazza wasn't there for long in the 90's....

Could it possibly be Bobby Bonilla?   That would be like finding out Superman was evil.

So I asked the good folks over at the excellent Mets Walkoffs blog to help out - they always amaze me with the ability to pull up random stats...so a big thank you to Walkoffs for the numbers below.

People like the long-ball.  Let's start there.

problem is hundley only hit .240 in the 1990s. bonilla hit .270. piazza hit .322, 2nd to lance johnson .326. olerud hit .315

Uh oh... 

piazza and olerud are 1-2 in OPS and its not close.

alfonzo led in runs created- 383

Whew.  So there's no real case for a hitter.   Let's take a look at the pitchers...again thanks to Walkoffs.

bobby jones 63-50, 4.00 era

gooden 57-46, 3.77

Well I wish we could pick Gooden, but he never turned out to be who we wanted...and 57 wins for a 10 year span seems a little week.    So we have our winner....

.....tomorrow!

It somehow seems fitting that the poll for The Dopiest Moment In Mets History ended in a three way tie.  How absurd, but isn't life as Mets fan often absurd.   So in chronological order....


Winter 1984 - The Mets leave Tom Seaver unprotected.


I think my favorite Shea moment of all-time was Opening Day 1983 when Tom Seaver walked in from the bullpen along the right field line.    The Franchise was back, and all was right in the universe.  Sure he only won 9 games in 1983 but that was more about the team sucking than Tom sucking (check the stats).  Also for a brief while in April he led the league in triples.    Tons of fun.

Some genius in a bow-tie decided not to protect him in the off-season, and the White Sox claimed him.   Why would you want Seaver in a Mets uniform winning his 300th game.  Who would grab a future Hall of Famer off the wires?  

There were 45 wins left in that arm....and ironically he would be in the dugout when the 1986 Mets won the World Series.  Too bad it was on the third base side.  


June 1989 - The Mets trade Roger McDowell and Lenny Dykstra for Juan Samuel.


I still don't understand this one.   These were two of the most beloved Mets, both performing well and they trade them within the division for a bum.   The Phillies are probably still laughing.   This is one of those moments you never forget - I was on I-80 coming back from a rafting trip in Pennsylvania, we could barely pick up WFAN and we thought they said that McDowell and Dysktra had been traded.    That doesn't make sense, why would they do that?   This was one of many "Mets don't understand their fanbase" moments.   Well, at least we'll always have Mookie Wilson.  They would never trade him.

November 1998 - The Mets bring Bobby Bonilla back????!!!

Speaking of not understanding the fanbase -if you think the 2008 bullpen gets booed, you should have been around for Boo-nilla the first time.   After killing the Mets in a Pirates uniform, this was the first of the "if you can't beat 'em, sign 'em" signings that I hate.  (Another one was Tom "Cylon" Glavine who was paid by Atlanta to be the ultimate sleeper agent).  

Bonilla got separated from a guy named Barry Bonds, who turned out to be the slightly better of the two, and sucked.   Everything Johan Santana was, Bobby Boo-nilla was not.   Lazy, check.   Douche, check.  Clutch, uncheck.     They couldn't get him out of town fast enough.   Then what do they do in 1998, they bring him back.  Like we were going to love him.  Idiots.

So it's a three-way tie for the Dopiest Moment In Shea Stadium History (although a blown save today might re-open the poll).  Hopefully Shea closes out on a high-note, and the dopey moments are few and far between at New Ebbetts Field, home of FredWilpon's Dodgmets.

It's a slow day so here ya go - the nominations for the

Dopiest Moment In Shea Stadium History. Vote right here at www.metspolice.com by clicking the vote on the left or just adding your comments below.

The final result will be revealed at 1pm on September 28th unless ESPN makes me move the announcement to 8pm. Or if they do something so stupid that last day.


1. Dykstra and McDowell traded for Juan Samuel.


I still remember where I was when I heard about this trade on the radio. I thought the Mets were insane. I was right. The Phillies thank you for their playoff run.




2. The Mercury Mets uniforms.

Teams with integrity refused to go along with this promotion. Some, like the Braves were like "fine we'll wear silver." The Mets went out of their way to look hideous. Expect the Mets to leave Citi Field after the 2020 season for their new home on Mercury.



3. Not protecting Tom Seaver in 1984.


We were young and naive and didn't realize Tom doesn't love us the way we love Tom. The Franchise was back, and they left him unprotected to go win his 300th game with the Chisox, and to stand in the opposing dugout in 1986.







4. Swoosh Jerseys (The Underlined Ones)


Emblematic of a franchise with no clue. There was nothing wrong with a Mets uniform, yet they kept tinkering and tinkering. Racing stripes, fake Yankee road uniforms, bizarre road script....these ugly swoosh jerseys....white hats, black hats. What was wrong with what they wore in April 1962? Of all the dopey things they've worn, this is up there - depends on if you hate Mercury more.








5. Signing Bobby Bonilla....Twice!

Another example of a franchise that does not understand the fan base. Bonilla was one of the most hated Mets of all time, so what do they do - they bring him back for round two, Guess what, we still hated him. The mistake the first time was the same problem I had with Glavine - beat them don't sign them.







6. The Jets leave for New Jersey...because of bathrooms?

Of all the lame reasons the Jets could have given for wanting to spend two decades in Giants Stadium, they claimed the bathrooms at Shea were lousy. Sure they could have complained about always being on the road in September or a hundred other things, but they went for bathrooms. Twenty years later you'll get to pay for a personal bathroom license. I bet Shea would look good to a lot of you right about now.

We are still accepting nominations for The Dopiest Moment In Shea Stadium History.    So far nobody has nominated any Yankees or Jets or concert moments so I've added a few.

Here are the submissions through Tuesday night:

• Juan Samuel Trade For Lenny Dykstra & Roger McDowell
  
• Not Protecting Tom Seaver 1984
  
• "Swoosh jerseys" (the underlined ones)
• Dave Magadan rots on the bench so Garry Templeton can play.
• Fran Healey broadcasts games for over a decade.
• 'Mettle' the donkey that the Mets trotted out as a mascot in the 70's
• Driving away the 'Sign Man' - early 1980's
• MERCURY METS - one of the most embarassing things I and many Met fans have endured.
• 'Who let the Dogs out?' - I was at Shea when the Mets won the NL pennant in 2000. When they played that song I actually stopped cheering and started complaining. A genuine WTF moment.
• Anything involving Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen, Doug Sisk, Victor Zambrano and Mel Rojas. There was genuine hatred among fans at the sight of these guys. 
• Ignoring the Mets Hall of Fame for years... 
• How they used to call the last home game of the season "Closing Day" (what's the opposite of Opening Day) 
• dumping Ray Knight after he won the World Series' MVP in '86
• Signing Bobby Bonilla...twice!
• "Show Up At Shea," "Your Season Has Come" "The Magic Is Back"...they all qualify.
• That dopey Mets rap song thing they came out with two years ago. Notice how fast it came...and went. 
• Jeff Torborg reports on Mike and the Mad Dog. Brutal.
• Bobby Valentine coming back to the bench with a mustache after being ejected.
• Never happened but had Mookie's ball not gotten past Buckner--Doug Sisk was coming in to pitch the next inning of the World Series with the score tied.
• Bruce Springsteen allows Patti Scialfa to sing harmony (2003).
• Jets leave for NJ to have "better bathrooms."
• People pay good money to sort of see The Beatles for twenty minutes with a hideous sound system.
  

Or perhaps it will be one of yours!  Nominate now!

Here's an article in the Albany Times Union about booing. The Mets Police point out that The Mets are Bob Stanley away from having won once in 45 years. Even with some magic it's twice.

We boo because you saddle us with Vince Coleman and Bobby Bonilla and hideous black jerseys and 15 years of Fran Healy calling games. Win some playoff games and everyone will shut up.

By BRIAN ETTKIN, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
You suspected toxic gases had infected the atmosphere when fans booed Johan Santana after he yielded three homers in his first home start as a Met, despite introducing himself by pitching superbly in his two preceding starts.

Then it got worse.

Something has spread like disease at Shea Stadium, but instead of inducing fits of coughing, it causes piques of booing.
So they boo Willie Randolph when he wakes in the morning, and they boo Carlos Delgado because he fails most every night; and on the rare occasions Delgado's performance merits applause, such as Sunday's two-homer game, he understandably declines the curtain call.

They boo Aaron Heilman as if he were pro wrestling's biggest heel.

For the moment, Shea's grounds crew is spared.

All of this is fine, of course. Other than ceasing to attend games en masse, booing is one of the few ways for fans to voice their displeasure and be heard. But this booing is different. It's as if fans come to games waiting for the slightest provocation to discharge pent-up venom and stingers.
It's as if The Collapse happened yesterday, though the 2008 season is now 25 games old. Mets fans are still angry, still lugging a chip as large as the Unisphere on their shoulder. They don't like their team's middling start and have made this abundantly clear.

But there's another force at play: a loss of perspective, even by New York standards.

The Collapse is a leading candidate for worst baseball free fall ever. But some Mets fans consider it a star-crossed example of how unlucky a lot they are. Well, guess what? Many fans wish to "suffer" as the Mets' have.

For all their alleged misfortune, Mets fans have experienced two World Series championships and four pennants since their 1962 inaugural season. The Mets have had 22 winning seasons in the past 39 years. They've advanced to the World Series four of the seven times they've made the postseason and came within a base hit in 2006 of making another.

They're not the most successful big-league franchise, not even close; you need only look across town to see who that is. But Mets fans haven't suffered nearly as much as their aggrieved self-image and behavior suggests.

The Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in 100 years, and yet the mood at Wrigley Field is -- get this -- almost always joyous. Between 1946 and 1983 the Cubs never made the playoffs, and yet Mets fans are embittered?

Pittsburgh Pirates fans have reason to boo from the national anthem's last note until the final out. Their team's streak of 15 consecutive losing seasons is the longest current one in major U.S. pro sports. Through blind luck you'd think the Pirates would win more than they lose one year. But they don't. And unlike the Mets, they're a small-market team with a small payroll that hinders them.

The Kansas City Royals are nearly as bad as the Pirates, with one winning season in the past 14.
Then there's the Milwaukee Brewers, who've made the playoffs only twice in the franchise's 39 years.

Those are just some of the starkest examples of true torment.

Mets fans can boo if they wish; and if they wish to cast themselves as baseball's hard-bitten suffering class, none of us will boo them for it.

A few of us might chuckle, though.