WHEN IT COMES TO THE METS!

--> Being an old Brooklyn Dodger fan, in 1957 when they abandoned us, the baseball horizon was a void. I told myself I would root for the Yankees, after all, they were a New York team. By the top of the second inning, I was rooting against them. I just could not root for the Yankees. The great teams that they were, they were missing something for me, the sense that I belonged and loved my team.

Then around 1960 (NY baseball was coming back to NY) when I started to hear those whispers of something I dared not think, baseball was getting a little more exciting for me. I would watch some Dodger games on the Game of the Week when they were televised, but still, it felt odd.

In 1962, a glorious spring training began, the newly organized New York Metropolitan Baseball Club began its existence. Everything about it was exciting. I had a team once again. It looked like the reincarnation of the Dodgers and Giants without the wins, but so what, it was my team and it was National League Baseball. I couldn't get enough of them as a baseball club.

With the draft, trades, and acquisitions, with Casey Stengel at the helm, I thought we'd win the World Series. The names promised more to me than they could deliver, but it was my team, the best!

Such luminaries as:

Craig Anderson, pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals

Gus Bell,[6] outfielder, Cincinnati Reds

Ed Bouchee,[7] infielder, Chicago Cubs

Chris Cannizzaro, catcher, St. Louis Cardinals

Elio Chacón, infielder, Cincinnati Reds

Joe Christopher, outfielder, Pittsburgh Pirates

Choo-Choo Coleman, catcher, Philadelphia Phillies

Roger Craig, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers

Ray Daviault, pitcher, San Francisco Giants

John DeMerit, outfielder, Milwaukee Braves

Sammy Drake, infielder, Chicago Cubs

Jim Hickman, outfielder, St. Louis Cardinals

Gil Hodges, infielder, Los Angeles Dodgers

Jay Hook, pitcher, Cincinnati Reds

Al Jackson, pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates

Sherman Jones, pitcher, Cincinnati Reds

Hobie Landrith,[8] catcher, San Francisco Giants

Félix Mantilla, infielder, Milwaukee Braves

Bob L. Miller, pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals

Bob Smith, outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies

Lee Walls, infielder/outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies

Don Zimmer, infielder, Chicago Cubs

constituted the whole team. Except for one or two players, they couldn't hit a broadside of a barn leaning against it. But it was my team, and every at bat, every play kept you in suspense. If they won a game, you believed it would be the beginning of a long winning streak, after all, this is my team, the New York Mets!

When I first saw them take the field in their new uniforms, the script lettering reminded me of the Dodgers script, the number under the script, again like the Dodgers, and the orange NY like the old Giants hats made them even more special! This was my team!

I remember the excitement of that good-looking kid from the Bronx, young Eddie Kranepool making his debut, he had all the tools except the ability to run, and watching him round the bases, his play made me a fan of his for all his career, and when he hit a home run during the '69 World Series in game 3, I was happy for him, the kid done good. Watching him round those bases at Shea Stadium that afternoon in our first World Series, with all the effort he put in all those years was gratifying.

I never realized how lucky NY was to have 3 professional teams until they had only one, and how luckier still that a new team came to NY. They may have bad years, and they may have great years, but they will always have me as their fan. The excitement of that first day is as equal as the excitement of the last game of 2016!

Let's Go Mets!