photo by Adam Rubin
Let me get something off my chest – I hate this notion that the Mets are underdogs – and I detest the fact that ownership had the audacity (whether it was done as a joke or as a motivational tool) to issue these shirts to Mets players.
Let me ask a question. Is our team the Pittsburgh Pirates ? Is our team the Houston Astros ? How about the Kansas City Royals ?
The obvious answer is no ( even though there have been many occasions over the past 3 seasons where they have played like said teams). The fact of the matter is that our team is based in the worlds biggest media market. This team is not – and should not be considered a underdog. This team should have the financial wherewithal to either sign the best talent available, re-sign your best players and to augment the roster with good complimentary players that are on the market.
Look I am not one of these crybabies that are moaning that this team is going to finish the north side of 90 losses. I am still holding out hope that this team can win a respectable 81 games. But with that being said we are a New York team, and if I was a player whose home team played in Flushing, I would be cringe at the thought of being called a underdog – But that’s just me.
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Mets coach from the ’91 season,Tom Spencer is 62 (1951).
Starting pitcher from the ’06 season, Brian Bannister is 31 (1981).Bannister was a solid number 5 pitcher in his rookie (and lone) season with the Mets. Omar Minaya unwisely dealt Bannister to the Royals for flame-throwing reliever (and alleged attempted murderer), Ambiox Burgos after the ’06 season.
Sadly on this date in 2009, one time Mets middle reliever,Tom Sturdivant passed away. He played for the ’64 Mets team.
The New York Mets purchased the contract of third baseman/outfielder, Dave Kingman from the San Francisco Giants on February 28, 1975. Six years later the Mets would reacquire “Sky King”when they dealt under performing center fielder, Steve Henderson to the Chicago Cubs on February 28, 1981. “Kong” was the first true home run hitting threat the Mets ever had- and he held the Mets home run records until he was eclipsed by Darryl Strawberry.
The New York Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Pedro Feliciano on February 28, 2006.This was Pedro’s second tour of duty after sitting out the ’05 season. He is currently rehabbing from shoulder surgery after signing a lucrative contract with the Yankees last season.
Mo Vaughn has said that the comic book character that he always related to was Luke Cage aka “Power Man”. Too bad he is more like “The Incredible Bulk” !!!
28 comments
gategem
2/28/2012-6:00am at 6:00 am (UTC -4)
Rusty, I’ve often asked myself if the NFL would allow a prominent NY franchise to be run the way the Wilpons have run the Mets. It’s true they allow the Jets to be a laughing stock at times but even the Jets have not run amuck as Wilpons’ Mets have. Under the Wilpons’ ownership the Mets have become to baseball what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were to Hamlet. I assume the Wilpons were trying to either provide comic relief or perhaps rally the players but either way it was just not necessary.
darknova306
2/28/2012-7:05am at 7:05 am (UTC -4)
First, let me say I couldn’t care less about these shirts. It’s kind of amusing (and tacky) for owners to do this, but it’s nothing worth devoting a column to. It’s a non-story.
Definition of ‘underdog’: a person involved in a fight, competition, or game, that is not expected to win. Even the most ridiculous fans spouting nonsense about Santana throwing 200 innings and the fences transforming the offense without crushing the pitching don’t actually “expect” the team to win. They hope, and draw up crazy scenarios, but they don’t expect it.
Can we PLEASE stop using the big market as a crutch? Being in NYC isn’t some golden ticket to a huge payroll or to winning. You know what? You had your huge payroll and money being thrown around at free agents. That was the Minaya era. We’ve seen the reckless acquisitions of expensive players and the bloated payrolls that come with that. They had their shot at buying a championship, and they choked it away. Boo hoo. Get over it. It’s time to move on and watch a team get built the right way. Sorry that Gimpy McDouche hobbled his way down to Miami, but we need to get over that, too.
Yes, the Mets are underdogs. You know they are, I know they are, THEY know they are, and the owners know they are. When I was in my early fandom of this team (early 90s), the big thing about being a Mets fan is that it was enjoyable to root for the blue collar underdogs. Has a brief taste of success in the mid-2000s turned us into Yankees fans, where we feel entitled to the high payrolls and grabbing one of the top FAs every year? Can we no longer accept rooting for the underdog?
Sorry for the rant, Rusty. I think I’ll go grab another beer and get ready for bed.
rustyjr
2/28/2012-7:15am at 7:15 am (UTC -4)
May your beer turn skunky while you drink it !
darknova306
2/28/2012-7:18am at 7:18 am (UTC -4)
Nope, it’s delicious and tasty!
MetsFan4Decades
2/28/2012-7:57am at 7:57 am (UTC -4)
Can’t say that I disagree with much here.
Not sure what Jeff was trying to accomplish with those tee shirts. I would have just laughed if a couple of the guys on the team came up with that idea but the owner?……Tacky is a good description.
Hindsight is always 20/20 but can’t help thinking what might have been had the Wilpons not extended Minaya’s contract – some mere weeks before they were eliminated in Sep. If the Wilpons had any baseball sense at all, they might have realized that their franchise was going backwards since ’06, that ’07 wasn’t just a ‘fluke’, that the Mets weren’t 1 or 2 pieces away from staying on top. Actually at the time we might have been but the direction Minaya went in was the wrong one – as we can all see now.
It is what it is now – much like Reyes in a Miami uniform – and we’re basically starting over – with a couple of nice young pieces already here and some just waiting in the wings. Patience does seem to be the operative word.
trs86
2/28/2012-8:20am at 8:20 am (UTC -4)
Ah the days where Dark and I are in full agreement. The world is indeed upside down.
“Can we PLEASE stop using the big market as a crutch? Being in NYC isn’t some golden ticket to a huge payroll or to winning. You know what? You had your huge payroll and money being thrown around at free agents. That was the Minaya era. We’ve seen the reckless acquisitions of expensive players and the bloated payrolls that come with that. They had their shot at buying a championship, and they choked it away. Boo hoo. Get over it. It’s time to move on and watch a team get built the right way. Sorry that Gimpy McDouche hobbled his way down to Miami, but we need to get over that, too.”
WOW!!!! Am I in complete agreement.
SaltyGary
2/28/2012-9:26am at 9:26 am (UTC -4)
Yea that was a epic rant, and not much to disagree with.
NJstuckinTX
2/28/2012-9:43am at 9:43 am (UTC -4)
There is a sense of entitlement that seems to be permeating the collective of Mets fans. Which is odd, because I personally always gravitated to the fact that the Mets were the “underdog” types (to rip of Jeffy and his ugly shirts). They weren’t the Yanks. They weren’t the Randels or Mortimers of the world, born with silver spoons in their mouths, expecting to win every year. They had to earn every bit of it. It was like “fighting against the man”, to put a hippy spin on it.
And you knew there were no poser Mets fans, because the Mets sucked, and why would anyone other than S&M types want to torture themselves so? This is why the waiting for the team to get corrected, Alderson style has been slow, but exciting at the same time. The plan should help them shoot for a prolonged period of being competitive. And should that happen, I hope we all continue to enjoy the moment, and not get sucked into the entitlement mentality.
trs86
2/28/2012-9:54am at 9:54 am (UTC -4)
Agreed, the new generation of Mets fan has not even seen suffering yet, LOL.
Ceetar
2/28/2012-10:11am at 10:11 am (UTC -4)
nor ultimate victory.
trs86
2/28/2012-12:07pm at 12:07 pm (UTC -4)
How many years did the previous generation have to wait for ultimate victory? About the same so far right?
trs86
2/28/2012-12:12pm at 12:12 pm (UTC -4)
I can’t think of too many times in Mets history that they have not been the “underdogs” or love-able losers I guess is what I am saying.
Stick
2/28/2012-1:32pm at 1:32 pm (UTC -4)
things change in sports. hell, the Phils were laughingstocks fro about 95 out of their 1st 100 years until a few eyars ago, now they are looked at as some kind of inevitable permanent dynasty. Well guess what, even being about to spend up to the luxury tax isn’t going to guarantee anything (help yes, but nothing is certain). Especailly if attendance dips coinciding with a tail off in wins at some point.
Ceetar
2/28/2012-1:41pm at 1:41 pm (UTC -4)
8..17….26 and counting.
No one under ~30-35 really remembers. coincidentally, no one that’s grown up with WFAN knows what it’s like.
And it’s not like there were long runs of almost-success there. ’06 was great, and even most of ’07, but the catch->curveball was gutwrenching. It was the Yankees and the Braves the two times before that. And that’s it.
What i’m saying is (and this is my topic for Hofstra’s 50th anniversary conference) we’re coming at Mets fandom from a different place. You say “don’t know suffering yet” but older fans know in the back of their mind that sometimes everything does work out. sometimes the ball gets by Buckner. What do newer fans know? The curveball will buckle his knees, There won’t be enough to get that ball out to center, the payoff pitch will miss the plate and the clinching run will walk in.
gategem
2/28/2012-4:13pm at 4:13 pm (UTC -4)
“There is a sense of entitlement that seems to be permeating the collective of Mets fans.”
It is beyond my limited comprehension to understand how a fan base that has seen mostly Mets losing over the years can have a sense of entitlement. Perhaps it’s as the Doors said
“Well, I’ve been down so Goddamn long
That it looks like up to me”
I look upon it that fans are impatient from all that losing and the laughter emanating from Yankees fans.
gategem
2/28/2012-4:04pm at 4:04 pm (UTC -4)
Having been raised rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers a perennial winner during my lifetime I say screw the underdog.
Hazmet
2/28/2012-5:48pm at 5:48 pm (UTC -4)
You had me at Gimpy McDouche. That is an all time classic.
stick
2/28/2012-11:11pm at 11:11 pm (UTC -4)
makes slappy mcsingleton look down right weak.
darknova306
2/28/2012-11:33pm at 11:33 pm (UTC -4)
Go big or go home
Ceetar
2/28/2012-9:02am at 9:02 am (UTC -4)
Nothing wrong with the shirts. All he’s really saying is “Hey, I believe in you guys”
kingman 26
2/28/2012-3:26pm at 3:26 pm (UTC -4)
Let’s say you are a player in that clubhouse. EVERY player in that clubhouse is in that clubhouse due to talent and lots of really hard work.
And the owner’s son, who is there not 1% due to talent or hard work, gives you one of those t shirts.
To Wright’s credit, at least he casually opposed it.
Those players were laughing their asses off inside at Jeff Wilpon and his idiotic t shirts.
Seriously Ceetar, these are world class pro athletes and Jeff Wilpon is a world class silver spoon buffoon.
They probably universally think Jeff and his t shirts are a ridiculous, asinine joke.
The very best thing Fred and Jeff could do is stay the hell away from the team, and even further away from any media outlets.
Someone on Metsblog recently wrote something along the lines that Fred might be a decent man, who was taken in by Madoff, got very lucky in real estate, and is in WAY over his head everywhere else.
More and more, that seems to be the case.
Ceetar
2/28/2012-3:37pm at 3:37 pm (UTC -4)
Yes, and I laugh at my company president too when he sends motivation emails to the entire office. Doesn’t change my job or how I feel about my job one bit.
rustyjr
2/28/2012-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
Kingman will be happy that I snuck a Sky King reference into today’s column
kingman 26
2/28/2012-3:22pm at 3:22 pm (UTC -4)
Damn right!
Stick
2/28/2012-1:39pm at 1:39 pm (UTC -4)
I hate to defend them (damned, i feel dirty…) but i have to disagree with gate here:
“Rusty, I’ve often asked myself if the NFL would allow a prominent NY franchise to be run the way the Wilpons have run the Mets. It’s true they allow the Jets to be a laughing stock at times but even the Jets have not run amuck as Wilpons’ Mets have”
Have they made always the best FO decisions? no, but they are far from the worst run team. So what they had an occasional PR gaffe? Mostly only gets noticed because you are a fan, and the national media pays attention to a NY team. Do the same thing in KC, and no one gives a crap.
bottom line, and I hate the whole “ny is special” mentality, is that they DID run it like a big market team. They spent the most money in the NL for most (if not all) of the 2000′s (overall). Hire the best GM? No. Pander to the media/fans/PR too much? sure. But they spent, and they tried.
they also went to the WS in 2000, were 1 strike away from going again in 2006, and IIRC had the most wins from 2005-2008 (or was it 2006-2008?) Fell short of the ultimate prize, but were damned relevant.
so Madoff screwed them over, and everything fell apart at the same time. Get over it! they had too much deadwood, and needed a cleansing. So there will be a couple of rocky years, but life as we know it will go on.
Hell, I actually expect the owners to learn something out of all this (hopefully to hire a real smart BB guy, and stay the hell out of the way. And be smart investing money.) And if they do, the LT vision for the franchise is much brighter.
kingman 26
2/28/2012-3:30pm at 3:30 pm (UTC -4)
“hopefully to hire a real smart BB guy, and stay the hell out of the way”
…..while reducing payroll more than any team in history in a 1-year time period.
While the rest of the division either already was very good or dramatically improved.
Much of what you say is right on the money, but allowing Omar to keep spending the way he did was insane. He and Manuel should have been fired at least 1 year earlier.
Pedro’s revolting contract was Omar’s fault, but Bay’s was Fred’s.
If the team had someone other than Fred and Jeff in the top spots, perhaps after 2008 someone would have realized that letting Bradford and Oliver go were massively destructive moves, and that more big name players would not fix the huge cracks in the foundation.
At some point, even the reasonable fan must lay the blame at Fred’s feet.
That point is now.
gategem
2/28/2012-4:58pm at 4:58 pm (UTC -4)
I was not referring to the revenues spent on free agents but rather to the way the franchise has been run and the way their financial problems have translated to the image and operation of the franchise. I was raised as a baseball fan with teams building from the draft and before then by signing the best young talent your scouts could find and sign. So I’m well versed with that approach to building a franchise. But believe it or not even building franchises “the right way from within” is impacted by the financial problems. And those people that are convinced that building from the bottom up guarantees building a winner may be in for a shocking surprise. Building a team using this approach requires astute front office judgment, investment capital and luck. Even when the Wilpons spent freely with the so called big market approach the image of the franchise was one of bumbling buffoons. The advantage of a large market is that if you build a winner your financial cup will be runneth over. Compare that to the sad plight of Tampa Bay. They have built a winning franchise yet play in a vacuum. If that team was New York based they would be celebrated and well supported.
“Get over it”
Baseball is only entertainment. I don’t get emotional over it. So, there is nothing to get over. It never really bothered me. May name is not Bayonne.
“but life as we know it will go on.”
Perhaps not after December 21st.:-)
gategem
2/28/2012-5:04pm at 5:04 pm (UTC -4)
Just using Bayonne’s name vexes me to where I write May instead of My.’-)