Lets Go Mets

1969 was a long time ago.....

This February 2015 Sports Illustrated cover story of Wrigley Field focused on Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks when describing the Chicago Cubs of the '60s.

My memory as a young boy was the summer of 1969 and the mean Leo Durocher managing the meltdown of the Cubs being in first place. Memories of a one-hitter by Tom Seaver, some black cat racing across the dugout, and the voices of Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, and Ralph Kiner will forever be entrenched in my fleeting love of baseball.

My dad had just installed our rotor antennae on the roof and I could dial in Albany’s distant channel to catch the Mets game. On special occasions, we would go to the local Irish bar, McCarthy’s, and catch the game (while drinking a 10 cent soda). Living in upstate New York allowed us the once or twice a year 4-hour drive down to New York City to catch a Yankee or Met game. The Yankees were terrible in the late '60s, so it was very easy to forever become a Met fan after the 1969 Miracle Mets. As a left-hander, I copied Jerry Koosman’s windup as a Little League Pitcher. During rainy days or hot and humid days (we were lazy kids and were always bored in the summer), we played “ping pong baseball” and I would be the Mets with their numerous platooning lineups (Boswell or Charles, Clendenon or Shamsky)pong baseball” and I would be the Mets with their numerous )pong baseball” and I would be the Mets with their numerous platooning lineups (Boswell or Charles, Clendenon or Shamsky).

The 1973 Mets introduced me to frustration when they lost the series after being up 3-2 against those west coasts white shoed Oakland A’s (who would have known that I would end up on the West Coast to live). From that month, I was not a Reggie Jackson fan.

The 1986 season was somewhat of a relief after the famous Game 6 (a sports event that everyone always remembers where they were when that ball dribbled down the first baseline through Bill Buckner’s legs).

Today, my son laughs at me being a Met fan. As the 2014 season begins, I can only recite the “Meet the Mets” fan song and tell him

LETS GO METS