Steve D with some awesome:
Here is one of the oldest and possibly rarest pieces of NY Met history. On April 12, 1962, a day before their first home game, the NY Mets were introduced to NYC with a ticker tape parade down Broadway. In that parade, films show the team throwing out baseballs into the crowd. Only they weren’t official balls…thay were made of styrofoam. Years ago my uncle gave me one of these balls. Not knowing what we had, my brother and I batted it around a bit. But on one side, you can see it is screen printed in blue “MEET THE METS” with a repro of Casey’s signature. On the reverse side, original Met player Gil Hodges signed in ballpoint pen…wish they had sharpies back then.
im speechless !!!!!
i saw a clip of the hodges tossing the balls into the crowd !
Not many of these are probably still around…I have offered to loan it to the Mets Hall of Fame Museum. It will be 50 years old in April.
Here is Casey at the parade…the Yankees were reportedly miffed that the Mets got a parade.
Outstanding! Hope the Mets take you up on it for the museum. As for Gil’s signature, if the ball’s made of styrofoam, I’m not sure anything would hold up well over 50 years — especially if it was batted around by a couple of kids 😉 Ballpoints are usually best on balls, I think.