It’s about time: the Mets bring back Old Timers’ Day

Ya see? Speaking up works, even if it did take seven years.

The above article was written on the cusp of a season of Mets’ glory, had we but known at the time. It is the nature of the beast to rail at ownership when you’re a Mets fan, even at the start of something big – and the Wilpons made it so easy! Well, they are now history, content to hold onto their stake in the SNY Network and fiddle with their real estate deals. Steve Cohen is the new guy in town and unlike those characters mentioned in the piece attached, he has a definite connection to the fans, as he is one of us. Fred and Jeff Wilpon grudgingly wore Mets caps, wishing they had the Dodgers’ logo on them, instead. A favorite phrase that I used back then was “They love a team they don’t own and own a team they don’t love.” Ironic, then, that when Cohen took over, he stated he wanted to make the Mets the “Dodgers of the East” – more a respect for their baseball managerial and business style than a weepy nostalgia for bygone youth.

It’s nostalgia, though, that drove the fans to clamor for Old Timers’ Day’s return in the first place. Again, we haven’t had a whole lot to smile about the last seven years and the lockout looks to stretch at least into the nascent days of what would be Spring Training, this Old Timers’ Day talk is most welcome. Supposedly, they have commitments from 42 guys, ranging in age from Frank Thomas – no, not that one – an Original Met at 92, to Daniel Murphy, recently retired at 36. Others who have publicly committed are all heroes of Metsian lore: Ron Swoboda, Jon Matlack, Felix Millan, Mookie Wilson (of course!), Howard Johnson, Bobby Ojeda, Robin Ventura, Turk Wendell, Endy Chavez and Cliff Floyd. The absent names – the biggies – like Ed Kranepool, Jerry Koosman, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, John Franco, Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes, and David Wright are presumably locked in among the 42, but, curiously, haven’t said anything yet. It’s unimaginable to me that any of those guys are going to say no. I haven’t gotten a ticket plan the past couple of years, but this game on August 27 – assuming, y’know… — will be worth the investment.

As the franchise turns 60, the timing is perfect. We fans haven’t gotten much of a chance to celebrate our team’s history in recent years. Oh, a few times, here and there, for sure: the 50th anniversary of the ’69 Champs, the 20th of the ’86 team, the closing of Shea Stadium, the sporadic, Mets Hall-of-Fame inductions, etc. And despite what young – very young – WFAN host Keith McPherson might think, this isn’t the Mets “trying to copy” the Yankees. Typical young Yankee-fan bravado, of course – “count da ringzzzzzzzz, baaaaay-beeeee!” – but also emblematic of the short-shrift Mets history is given. I mean, this kid doesn’t know that the Mets held an Old Timers’ Day before they had any old timers – outside of their regular lineup, that is. It was a seasonal highlight from 1962 to 1994 and even inspired a hit song: the Terry Cashman tune “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke)” took its theme from a photo of Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio striding through the Shea Stadium CF gate at the 1977 affair. McPherson got into a Twitter-spat with Mets’ broadcaster Howie Rose over the on-air comment, doubling down on his ignorance in the process. It took a Rose guest-appearance on McPherson’s show to put the thing to rest. As with most kids, McPherson shot off his mouth before he knew the whole story. It’s not new thing. I myself got into it with SIRIUS/XM host Justin Termine after he went on a long rant about how Gil Hodges’s number should not be retired by the Mets because “he’s most remembered as a Dodger,” not realizing what Hodges meant to this club. After August 27, they’ll know. They’ll see clips of Swoboda’s dive, Endy’s catch, Wright’s bare handing a popup. They’ll see Felix choke up on the bat and Mookie hustle down the first base line. Heck, Thomas said he wants to take BP and hit a homer, seeing as he’d hit homers for the Mets at the Polo Grounds and Shea and now, he’d like to hit one at Citi Field. 92 years old! Can you imagine?

That’s the beauty of Old Timers’ Day: yes, you can.