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The 20th Anniversary of The Mercury Mets – and the alternate design that wasn’t!!!

This Saturday marks the 20th Anniversary of the Mercury Mets.  Some of you may not know what the hell this is. Well..

The short version is that on July 27, 1999 MLB did a “Turn Ahead The Clock” night where teams wore what they would supposedly be wearing in 2021.  Uni Watch has a nice recap here and here to catch you up if all this is new to you.

Most teams went with something like an oversized logo and maybe some funky colors.  The Yankees declined to do it, saying (seemingly correctly) that they were already wearing what they would wear in 2021.

The Mets decided to take it to another level and played as The Mercury Mets against the Pirates.  Apparently your boycotts are effective, and maybe even the Sell The Team movement is working – as the Mets lore is that they will be playing on Mercury just two seasons from now.  Look what you have done.

The silver-and-black shirts, which resembled an Oakland Raiders tear-away jersey that had been torn away, were really a tribute to Mercury, the Roman god of merchandise and merchants. Some were raffled off last night for Easter Seals and the Mets Foundation. Even some Mets’ players were wondering if they could retain the shirts.

”Are we keeping these?” Brian McRae asked. ”Do they think we’re just wearing these and giving them back? Not adding them to our collection?”

Rickey Henderson, who is playing lately as if he would still be leading off in 2021, watched McRae tuck his shirt into his pants.

”You got to wear it outside,” Henderson said. ”The future is, you got to wear it outside. We’ll look like Bozo the Clown out there.” (Via NY Times)

I thought I had found the mother-lode in a reddit post that said the entire game was up!!!  However the video has been taken down – presumably for MLBAM’s upcoming Mercury Mets box set (that’s not an actual thing) or whatever dumb reason this was taken down for.

But I did find the pregame show, which uncovered some gems…

In that video…..THIS!!!

As the video explains, that was a mock design based upon what other teams did, with the oversized logo and whatnot.  You can see the Pirates version in this Uni Watch column about Turn Ahead The Clock Fun Facts or here’s Barry Bonds!

I kinda like how that design looks, and I wish someone would make it so I could own one.

However, it’s so less awful and thus so less interesting than what the Mets actually did do – The Mercury Mets!

Over the years, Mercury has kind of disappeared, with only a few images here and there on-line…

But thanks to that pre-game show video, we now have more!

The Mets also did photshopped images of the players that were shown on DiamonVision.  Many people remember three eyed Rickey Henderson, but what about Spock Eyebrows Mike Piazza?   I can’t figure out how to embed them, so click here to see them.

Many fans have collected Mercury Merch over the years…

…and if you set an alert on eBay it won’t take you long to find something for sale. I believe there is a fair amount of knockoff Mercury stuff out there…so depending in your wallet and tolerance for such things, you might be able to get a jersey in this style for $100 or maybe for $600.  Caps also regularly come up, as they were given away that night.  I believe I own two Mercury jerseys myself!

@mediagoon even sold these on his own a few years back…

..which is fun to see in blue.

As fate would have it, the Mets once again play the Pirates on July 27th.   I asked the Mets if they would wear the Mercury jerseys.  Unfortunately the answer is no (a missed opportunity IMHO) but they do plan to somehow acknowledge the date.  Man, I would love to see these on the field.  Sometimes things are so bad that they are good.  This is one of those times.

I look forward to seeing what the Mets plan to do.  Hey Mets, maybe PRE-PROMOTE IT – I will even consider coming to a game!  It’s rare that I get to wear my Mercs out in public.

Here’s one more interesting article for y’all about TATC.

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Sterling or Scully: was Gary Cohen’s Sunday Ford Frick Award worthy? No.

 

I hoped Gary had read my notes. This first Home Run of the Day was a nice enough call. Nice enough is fine.

Verdict: Scully

But here’s Gary Sterling mentioning the wall for no reason other than it’s a lazy call.

Verdict: Sterling.

Ford Frick Award Worthy: No

Gary seems content to be just OK. He’ll probably get his Ford Frick Award for longevity. He should strive for greatness.  Right now he’s the Mets’ third best play by play announcer behind Howie (the best in baseball) and young Wayne.  You heard the Wayne booths on TV lately – was it that much of a drop?  Was it a drop at all?  No and no.    Be better Gary.

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Gil Must Go: Yeah if you use 5 pitchers the game is going to take three hours. Awful.

If you think I listened to a Mets doubleheader instead of the Moon Landing yesterday you are insane.  Anyway the Mets plated two and…

In Game 1, my man Gary G didn’t have it, giving up 3 runs in the 8 inning complete game.  Really nothing interesting to tell you about this one.

In Game 2, crazy Gil had to use FIVE pitchers to win the game.  Look at this boxscore…two guys throwing 1/3 an inning, and then two guys throwing one inning each?  That isn’t baseball.  No wonder the game took 3+ hours.

Wasn’t Don Clendenon supposed to be good?  I am not impressed.

We put a man on the moon but Gil Hodges still can’t handle a pitching staff.   53-39 somehow.  Amazing. I dunno about you but I am so ready for the All Star Break.

 

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Sterling or Scully: Gary Cohen saves his terrible start to Saturday with two fine calls after one horrific one

Gary.  I know you want and – I’m now downgrading here to PROBABLY – deserve the Ford Frick Award some day, but you can’t just coast into it.  You have Sterlingitis.  I’ve told you about it.  I’ve called you on it.  Your disciples get really mad when I point it out, but you really turn in some horseshoe lazy calls sometimes. Here’s one.

Why are you mentioning the wall? This ball is long gone. I will tell you why you mentioned the wall. because it’s what you do when you just do a call rather than think about the call. It’s Gary Cohen On Autopilot. This is what John Sterling does. I AM COMPARING YOU TO JOHN STERLING. John Sterling may be many things but nobody thinks he describes plays accurately.

Verdict: Sterling.

But Gary, you and I both know you CAN do it when you choose. Here…you chose….

Beautiful Gare. Descriptive. Simple. Honest.

Verdict: Scully

Next, let’s compare Pete Alonso’s home run to the one from earlier.

Now that’s a fine call. I love the “Forget That.”

Verdict: Scully

But I have to ask you – why did we Forget That when it didn’t travel as far as Dom’s ball? Did you not see Dom’s ball yet? Or did you just mail in the first call? See what I am saying Gare?

So two great calls by you – and one lazy one. And the lazy ones started creeping in last season. I am sure I am not your favorite person…but I am pushing you to the greatness inside you Be the deserving winner of the Ford Frick award – don’t just collect it some day because you sat in a booth long enough. Be great, don’t just be old.

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Let’s deep dive on T7L’s Monday Cap “one time” releases

I’m not sure what’s going on over at The T Shirt Guy’s Hat Department.  I got an email about a big cap drop on Monday and well there is a lot to unpack here.  My sense is that this is something that TTSG has to do as part of his bigger agreements and not everything here is what it seems.

From the email I got…

Oh wow a one time release!

Let’s start with the Mets Blossom Cap.

Better not miss out on that one….but wait….

 

Well that’s odd.  For a one time release it seems to my eye to be readily available for purchase at other retailers.    Maybe The 7 Line version has some detail that I’m just missing.

Anyway let’s move on to this beauty…

This is NOT the same cap I posted the other day which was similar in concept but not a snapback, and had more of a royalblue than this electric blue.  Deeping diver on this one, while I like this cap a lot, from a color standpoint it looks more like the “electric” blue of my youth than the darker colors we saw earlier.  But who knows...Chris Creamer’s website has this pic where you can see both blues side by side….regardless, a nice cap.  But remember it will never ever be stocked again so buy one!  Never again. Really.  Never.

Hopefully this next “Distrubed” cap is never sold again.

And there are some other caps for sale too, none of which I feel like writing about as they just aren’t interesting in any way.

My advice, grab that “1962” cap and don’t worry about how 1962 it is or isn’t....I can tell you it’s 1978y and that’s good enough for me.  Plus it doesn’t have a 17 foot tall crown like most of the monstrosities being made by cap manufacturers.

So what’s really going on here – dunno.  Seems like the people at the Cap Company have some new product(s) and T7L is just playing along.

For more about these caps check out Van Hagar.