MARLBORO, NY – Yesterday I spent the afternoon at 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx; home to the New York Yankees. It was my first ever “Subway Series” interleague game between the New York Mets and the reviled Yankees. It was, for lack of a better word, amazing, at what I walked away thinking during and after the Mets 7-6 loss in Da Bronx. There were two obvious signs from where I was sitting in the right field upper deck that do not bode well for the Mets: The first observation is that Mets fans are just as cheap as the team’s management and the cross town rivals will hold the town captive from a baseball sense for the foreseeable future. Both are one and the same as I will expand on in today’s post.
It was almost embarrassing in noticing all of the # 99 baseball jerseys and tee shirts with the name Judge on the back in support of yesterday’s home team, gap-toothed baseball home run hero. Yeah, he hit another home run and “all did rise” to celebrate but for as many Judge shirts there were others to supplement his like Sanchez and Gregorious, et al. What did I see in the way of Met garb? Mike Piazza. He who has been retired for sometime now and honored in Cooperstown but his paraphernalia was the most popular on this day that Mets fans chose to sport. Sure, there were deGrom and Syndergaard shirts but the sad part about this was the #31 still outweighed the two pitchers who are current Mets and not alumni. Are Mets fans that cheap that they can’t spend a scheckle or two for a new jersey/shirt or is it that there isn’t much to get excited about in Flushing to support the current team’s roster of players? Or is it simply a fan base disgusted with the dollar store mentality of Mets ownership that they won’t spend dollar one to help line the Wilpons coffers? I don’t have the definitive answer but it has to be a combination of these factors.
What makes matters worse is the Yankees loaded roster, which General Manager Brian Cashman turned around in short order, due to a strong minor league pipeline and our DJ Eberle can attest, is once again and usually is the toast of the town. There were short periods of time where the Mets held that distinction in the late 60’s and 80’s but fizzled out after World Series victories during those eras. The Yankees seem to have the habit of always being there in October, have a much richer history as an older franchise than the much younger Mets but even recent history favors the Bronx Bombers.
I’m pretty much well liquored-up and don’t have much more to say on the subject. There were even some Gooden and Strawberry garb being worn compared to the Munson, DiMaggio, and Mantle apparel but that further shows the difference in history of the two teams. No matter how old the Yankees are in relation to the Mets the Flushing Nine will always be second fiddle in the Big Apple baseball war. I don’t like it but it’s an obvious reality given the way the two teams operate from management on down. I’m done today and almost done watching the Mets flounder as a franchise.
