This is the paper version of the speech I gave at the Mets 50th Anniversary Conference at Hofstra University.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The New Age of Mets Fans<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n When we are sitting in the stands at Citi Field we are all united in our love for the Mets.\u00a0 The 80 year old man who\u2019s scribbling E-4 on his scorecard with a stubby and worn Mets pencil while muttering under his breath about the lousy defense and the ten year old kid next to him who leaps up excitedly and waves his glove every time the first baseman jogs off the field after the third out in hopes of getting a baseball from Ike Davis are all rooting for the same thing; A Mets victory.\u00a0 Clearly these two people became Mets fans in vastly different ways and have different reasons for continuing to be fans of our favorite baseball team.\u00a0 One was a Giants fan that felt betrayed when they moved to California. \u00a0He\u2019s seen the Mets win two championships and no longer even checks the Giants box score.\u00a0 The other never saw a game at Shea Stadium and doesn\u2019t know who Jerry Koosman is, but he does know R.A. Dickey named his bats after swords from the Lord of the Rings and enjoys getting ice cream in a little Mets helmet every time his mother brings him to Citi Field .\u00a0 There are many other fans in the stands of various ages, and many of them are a new age of Mets fan that\u2019s never seen a championship.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Differences of knowing success:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Fifty years is a long time and there are more Mets fans that never knew a world without the Mets than fans that remember the Dodgers and Giants leaving.\u00a0 There are many adult fans that have no real memory of the Mets as champions.\u00a0 Fans in their early thirties may have murky childhood memories, but anyone younger than that does not know the joy of watching the Mets fight through a full season, and the gauntlet that is the MLB playoffs, to capture a World Championship.\u00a0 We do not know the joy of watching a bad team in the early 80s grow through the infusion of veterans and carefully cultivated young talent from the farm into the toast of the town.\u00a0 We do not have the comforting memory of bad times leading to good times.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say we haven\u2019t had some good seasons in the last thirty years, and that those good times are not a large part of why we become and remained Mets fans, but I suspect there is something comforting in not just knowing that the Mets can defy odds, beat out the competition, get some good breaks, and win it all, but actually seeing it happen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mets fans under 30 do not remember 1986. \u00a0Ultimately all we know is failure. Older fans remember Seaver bringing in the prize and creating a culture of success to a franchise that had been a loser since its inception.\u00a0 He\u2019s the Mets Babe Ruth in a way, being the player that arrived to define a team and bring them respectability.\u00a0 You may remember Gooden and Strawberry growing from Mets prospects into exciting rookies and then into champions.\u00a0 We remember Generation K becoming a flop, and prospects like Alex Escobar and Fernando Martinez never blossoming into the promising stars they were projected to be.\u00a0 Jose Reyes and David Wright rose up and they took a shot, but they did not bring home the trophy and now Reyes is gone and Wright is the veteran leader of a team that hasn\u2019t had a winning season in four years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is not limited to fans either; there are Mets players that do not remember the Mets being champions.\u00a0 Most of them were too young in 1986, but the Mets even have a couple of players that were born on the date that the Mets won their last World Series title.\u00a0 David Wright says he become a Mets fan because the minor league team played near his home in Virginia when he was growing up, but he had not yet turned four years old when the Mets won in 1986.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Down to their final out in the bottom of the 10th<\/sup> with the scoreboard already congratulating the Red Sox, the 1986 Mets, starting with Gary Carter, battled, fought and defied all probability to bring up Mookie and allow that ball to get through Buckner\u2019s legs and win the game.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t bring home the prize though; the Mets still had to win game seven.\u00a0 They fell behind early in that game, and at one point Baseball Reference\u2019s Win Probability chart had the Red Sox at 88% to win the game.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since then Kenny Roger\u2019s pitch missed the strike zone, Mike Piazza\u2019s drive settled into Bernie William\u2019s glove and Carlos Beltran\u2019s knees buckled facing a brilliant curve ball. Tom Glavine caved under the pressure and the Mets bullpen could not get enough outs.\u00a0 Promising seasons ended with failure.\u00a0 We watched enemies celebrate, sometimes on our own field. Our Mets did not get that last hit that turned a good team into a championship one.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The Mets bitter rivals in the NL East and in New York City won titles while the Mets had long gone home.\u00a0 Sometimes these teams even eliminated the Mets, as they did in 2000 and 2006, along the way. After 1988 it wasn\u2019t until 2006 that the Mets played a game later in the season than the Yankees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s clearly not victory parades and the collection of trophies that keeps us rooting for and loving the Mets.\u00a0 We understand that there is joy in rooting for a baseball team throughout the season and enjoying the journey; not just celebrating how it finishes.\u00a0 We\u2019re drawn to the history of the franchise from before we were here and the various adventures they\u2019ve had since we started watching.\u00a0 We all have favorite players, even ones that maybe weren\u2019t very good baseball players.\u00a0 Everyone has a favorite Met, and we don\u2019t need that player to be anointed with titles to celebrate and enjoy having watched them play.\u00a0 It\u2019s no surprise to me that when the Mets announced the five players who would get bobbleheads this year, one for each decade, that Edgardo Alfonzo seemed to be the one that excited most fans I knew.\u00a0 In today\u2019s society it\u2019s possible to be a fan of any team and watch every game.\u00a0 We could root for the Oakland Athletics and follow them as closely as a fan living next to the stadium could.\u00a0 We stick with the Mets because we\u2019re New Yorkers at heart and love our team.\u00a0 We love the story, the connection to the city, and the history and the ups and downs they\u2019ve given us over the years. <\/strong><\/p>\n We remember Seaver as a crotchety announcer on channel 11 because that was often our first exposure to him.\u00a0 When we started really being old enough to follow a baseball season, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden were already drug-addled failures, or worse: Yankees. \u00a0Our parents remember them being promising rookies, and remember them winning it all, but they stood to us as harsh examples of why the early 90s Mets were failing to win games.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we were being introduced to baseball and the Mets, it wasn\u2019t because we were swept up in the allure of a pennant run, although perhaps are parents were. \u00a0All of these players, and the great moments of 1986, are merely good stories about our favorite baseball team, not personal recollections of great times. Most of us don\u2019t have any real emotional attachment to them because we weren\u2019t there. The same is true of other cultural milestones like Woodstock, the Moon Landing, Star Wars and the Beatles; it\u2019s not the same to hear about how awesome it was afterwards.\u00a0 When I see highlights of the ball getting through Buckner\u2019s legs I think \u201cThat must\u2019ve been great!\u201d not \u201cThat was amazing!\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t have personal memories about where I was or who I was with.\u00a0 My only memory of the 1986 Mets is that the NLCS game six against the Astros went long and I missed getting to watch Danger Mouse because my parents were understandably monopolizing the television.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are not Dodger or Giant fans that could not fathom rooting for the Yankees when our team left town.\u00a0 We were born Mets fans, and the Mets are not an expansion team to us.\u00a0 The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays have that honor.\u00a0 The Colorado Rockies and the Miami Marlins as well, but even that was twenty years ago and there are adult fans that have always known of them as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Having thirty teams in the league is normal and the Wild Card, and three divisions, is something that\u2019s always been an option for our Mets. We don\u2019t lament the times of two divisions and don\u2019t even see the Chicago Cubs as longtime Mets rivals.\u00a0 The only reason for the Mets and Cardinals to be rivals is that the Mets have seen them in the NLCS in their last two playoff appearances.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 50th<\/sup> anniversary is a perfect opportunity to hear about some of the other great stories surrounding the New York Mets, and not just the ones that won championships.\u00a0 Everyone has great stories about games they went to, players they met, or just fun times at Shea Stadium.\u00a0 Let\u2019s break out all the old stories and hear about Wayne Garrett signing a baseball for you, the time you met Mettle the Mule, or watching the Mets and Phillies orchestrate a softball game between the players\u2019 wives. <\/strong><\/p>\n Celebrating 50 years of Mets baseball is not just about remembrance, but also about learning and hearing about the great, and not so great, Mets that helped make this franchise what it is.\u00a0 We\u2019ve heard all about Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.\u00a0 We know about 1986 and the ball through Buckner\u2019s legs.\u00a0 We know who Tom Seaver is and what he did for the franchise.\u00a0 Unless you\u2019re a real student of Mets history some of the other players aren\u2019t as well known.\u00a0 The 50th<\/sup> anniversary is a perfect opportunity for us younger fans to hear more about Joel Youngblood, Rusty Staub, Ken Boswell, Cleon Jones, Mike Jorgensen or some of the other 900 or so players who have put on the New York Mets uniform.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t have to be just the older times either.\u00a0 There are plenty of stories that old and new fans can remember together.\u00a0 We got to know Edgardo Alfonzo, and Rey Ordonez.\u00a0 We got to enjoy Mike Piazza, perhaps the greatest hitting catcher ever and likely the next Mets Hall of Famer.\u00a0 We can tell stories about Rick Reed and Masato Yoshii.\u00a0 Maybe you were at the game Desi Relaford, or Matt Franco pitched and can relay the crazy atmosphere of the fans in the stands.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With this season starting off in Japan, it\u2019s a perfect time to remember Benny Agbayani\u2019s home run in game two when the Mets and Cubs went there in 2000.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hear about you calling in sick to get up early to watch the game, or blaming traffic for why you showed up late to work.\u00a0 Tell us about sneaking a radio into a morning class so you could listen to the end of the game that started in the wee hours of the morning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some of us may not remember that the Mets haven\u2019t always worn black as part of their uniform scheme. \u00a0We never saw Shea Stadium without a Home Run Apple or with the field level rotated to accommodate football.\u00a0 It won\u2019t be much longer before there are Mets fans that don\u2019t remember Shea Stadium at all and have never been to a game there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More of us new age fans are comfortable with the changes to the game, the team, and the place they play than those who came before us.\u00a0 We may not hate Interleague play, the second wild card, or even the designated hitter.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re not interested in what the game and the team were like before.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible to respect and honor the history of the game and also be a proponent of change and moving forward.\u00a0 Baseball is a game that\u2019s always emphasized history, and we don\u2019t mind hearing about the players that other fans grew up loving, events that are no longer held or promotions that are no longer given away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For some fans this season, and this conference, is a way to remember the great history of this team. \u00a0For more of us it\u2019s an opportunity to learn about this team\u2019s history and hear those stories about the 1973 World Series, complaints about Mike Scioscia, or reminders about just how good Jerry Koosman was in the shadow of Tom Seaver. Tell us about the day you and your friends made a cool banner for Ed Kranepool at Banner Day, or a lesser known promotion that you enjoyed. \u00a0Regal us with stories about how your section of the Mezzanine was the loudest in the stadium or how you heckled the Astros right fielder the entire game. <\/p>\n What draws us in and keeps bringing us back is the fun and light-hearted nature of the franchise. \u00a0It\u2019s okay to have names on the back of the uniforms.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a sin to have more than two different variations of uniforms, even if it\u2019s important to keep to some semblance of a schedule on when those uniforms are worn.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay to celebrate home runs with a quirky apple that represents the Big Apple the team plays in.\u00a0 The Mets have always embraced baseball as a fun game and haven\u2019t held to being a stuffy representation of tradition.\u00a0 Multi-colored seating levels only gave Shea Stadium more character, and the neon figures on the outside of it gave it its charm that we all know and love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mets have always embraced the family atmosphere of the park and put an emphasis on creating a kid-friendly experience.\u00a0 Mr. Met is great mascot and represents the team well.\u00a0 The Mets let kids run the bases after select games and are always introducing family ticket packages and deals.\u00a0 Citi Field features a kiddie field in the center field concourse for kids to play on and even has the latest MLB video games to play with.\u00a0 The area also has batting cages and a dunk tank, providing fun for kids at what can be a long day of baseball.\u00a0 All these things lead towards making the younger generation of Mets fans fans for life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We embrace everyone, or almost everyone, that puts on the uniform as one of our own and don\u2019t need to vet them through a complicated process of clutch performances and defining moments before we accept them.\u00a0 Some fans may dislike Aaron Heilman, or Roberto Alomar, but no one doubts that they were Mets.\u00a0 We celebrate Ed Kranepool\u2019s longevity but don\u2019t forget about Joe Hietpas who appeared in only one inning, defensively, at catcher for the 2004 Mets. It\u2019s not about the endless collection of rings but the yearly journey trying to get them. \u00a0Every Mets season has its magical moments, even the 1962 Mets historically bad record created moments that are worth celebrating and remembering 50 years later.\u00a0 If you bring up any list of the top Mets moments in history you\u2019ll find all the ones you expect from the World Series runs with Mookie\u2019s game-winning grounder through Buckner\u2019s legs to Swoboda\u2019s diving catch.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also find memorable moments from losing series\u2019 and regular season games.\u00a0 Mike Piazza\u2019s home run in the first game after 9\/11\/2001, Tom Seaver\u2019s imperfect game, and Endy\u2019s catch in a losing effort in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS all feature prominently in fans memories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We\u2019re all in this together:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fifty years of Mets history is behind us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all had some good times and some bad times.\u00a0 We’ve seen heroes and villains and redemption stories and failed prospects. \u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s plenty to celebrate and plenty to remember.\u00a0 No matter what year we started following the Mets, we\u2019re at the same place now looking forward to another 50 years of great Mets baseball.\u00a0 We\u2019re all looking forward to making new memories while continuing to celebrate the old ones.\u00a0 New age fans, or just new fans, or looking for the same thing as older fans and original fans; an exciting baseball season hopefully punctuated by a World Championship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the paper version of the speech I gave at the Mets 50th Anniversary Conference at Hofstra University. The New Age of Mets Fans When we are sitting in the stands at Citi Field we are all united in our love for the Mets.\u00a0 The 80 year old man who\u2019s scribbling E-4 on … <\/p>\n
\nGood stories:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nHere and now, but respecting the past:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBecause The Mets Are Still Fun<\/strong><\/p>\n