14 qbc teeAll the leaves are gone and the sky is grey. A look out the window yields brittle grass, bare branches, leaden skies and whipping winds. It’s January and even though winter is officially only four-and-a-half weeks old at this writing, it already feels like forever. On these here interwebs, there are countdowns to spring training and images of summers past. As fans, we can’t hardly wait. We’re looking for anything – any scrap of news, any glimpse that baseball is indeed on its way. A group of Mets fans have decided to create its own glimpse.

It’s called the Queens Baseball Convention ’14 – QBC for short. It’s happening this coming Saturday, January 18, deep in the bleak mid-winter. It’s happening at McFadden’s Citi Field, the watering hole not quite attached to the ol’ ballyard, but close enough. From all indications, it looks like it will be a combination of a Met-centric card show, a trade show with all manner of vendors – including the Mets themselves: plenty of good seats available – a winter caravan, and a symposium on all things Metsian, from uniforms, to new media, to history. There will be appearances by two genuine Shea Stadium heroes – Ed Kranepool and Ron Darling – who will take questions and sign things. There will be a mini Banner Day parade. There will be an array of podcasters, with mics and headsets to rival the Super Bowl’s “Radio Row.” There will be a dunk tank. There will be enough to fill a Saturday with more Mets stuff than you can stand. It’s even generating a bit of buzz among more traditional outlets.

This would have been a good idea had it been hatched in the Citi Field back rooms as a way to keep fans interested through the long off-season, but since it’s actually a grass-roots thing, an organic event “by the fans, for the fans” to borrow its slogan, this idea is nothing short of brilliant. To your intrepid columnist, this points to one of the unique things Met fans have had going for them since the beginning: a kind of DIY embracing of this franchise and all manner of creative ways of expressing that affinity. From Opening Day at the Polo Grounds in 1962 – when a bedsheet flapped in the breeze and proclaimed that “We Love Hot Rod Kanehl” and that “George Weiss Is A Fink” – it was evident that Met fans were a different breed. A New Breed, if you will. The QBC is a natural, 2010s version and long extension of the bedsheet banners, a way for the Newest Breed to express its love for this team, with minimal interference from the people who actually run it – if you hadn’t noticed, they have a tendency to muddy things up.

Anyway, I’ve got my ticket and I’ll be on my way.

I will give a full report and recap on the QBC next week. Meanwhile, if you want to go, click the link in the body of this article and see how you can get tickets. Price is $35.00 for adults, $10.00 for kids under 12.

Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley

2 comments on “One Saturday Closer To Baseball

  • Metsense

    All the leaves are gone and the sky is grey, and it was “California Dreaming” that caused the birth of our beloved Mets.
    Enjoy your day Charlie, it sounds like it will be fun.

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