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Mets Police 70’s week: Faith & Fear’s 1975

Before you start rolling your eyes and think that 70’s week is going to be all about mules and uniforms, here’s some real writing…a loaner post from Greg Prince of Faith & Fear in Flushing from 2005 (so don’t get confused when he says that was “30” years ago.)


The year was 1975. I was 12 years old.

The world was full of possibilities. I graduated from elementary school and was heading for junior high. I wriggled out of an involuntary tour of duty at Camp Avnet, the last time I’d be bothered with that thing of childhood, and was left to my own devices for the summer. I started to have funny feelings that had nothing to do with Ed Kranepool, but I was 12, so never mind that right now.

Mostly I was enchanted with the possibility that the Mets would win the World Series in 1975. I was taken with the idea that the Mets could have good players, the kinds of players other teams had — actually a bunch of players other teams did have. I was thrilled that several of the players the Mets had had almost since I started watching them were going away.

I was loyal to the Mets, but as for individual Mets, I’d turn almost any and every one of them over if it meant putting behind us the miserable 71-91 record of 1974. That was the first losing season I ever experienced and I sure hoped I would never, ever see another one.

It was as if Monty Hall was asking me to choose between displaying loyalty and eschewing futility. I opted for Door No. 2. For as long as I could remember, the Mets had counted on miracles. I preferred to maintain a solid, all-around team, one with not just pitchers but hitters.

We would have that in 1975. I was certain.

So goodbye old players. See ya later Ken Boswell; see ya now Bob Gallagher. It’s been nice knowin’ ya Duffy Dyer; it’ll be nicer knowing Gene Clines. Ray Sadecki, it was fun, but Joe Torre could be a barrel of laughs and RBIs. Teddy Martinez’s utility was interchangeable with Jack Heidemann’s and we get some minor leaguer named Vail.

Joe McDonald, the new GM, did all that for me in the fall of 1974. Then he went to the winter meetings, an affair I followed breathlessly, and brought us back a professional centerfielder named Del Unser, a stud catching prospect named John Stearns and a relief pitcher I’d heard of, Mac Scarce. We dumped Don Hahn (who never hit), Dave Schneck (who let me down) and, uh, Tug McGraw.

The Mets traded Tug McGraw. I was less than a month from turning 12 when I heard the news. Tug McGraw had led the Mets to their most recent pennant. Tug McGraw had been with the Mets as long as I could remember. Tug McGraw was already a legend.

But I liked the trade. Where the 1975 Mets were concerned, I loved trades. I loved trades more than I loved players. 1969 was a long time ago. I was getting tired of being beaten by the Pirates almost every year. We needed to shake things up and Joe McDonald held my proxy. Continue reading “Mets Police 70’s week: Faith & Fear’s 1975”

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Mets Police 70’s week: Mets Jerseys

Of course 70’s week will deal with uniforms.  Here’s our Uni Expert Osh41:

This is a circa 72-73 Mets road jersey – Shannon and I dreamed of the day the Mets would reintroduce these jerseys, we would watch 1973 World Series films during rain delays and call each other to discuss how cool the road jerseys looked and hoped they’d make a return.










The Mets introduced polyester jerseys in 72 and got rid of the classic ‘New York‘ lettering beginning in 1974 so this specific jersey existed for only 2 years.












Mets road jerseys did not display ‘New York’ from 1974 through 1986.  In 1987 New York returned to the road uni’s in the form of the script New York (we’ll talk about them in future posts)


In 1974 the Mets removed the ‘New York‘ from the front of the road jersey.  What they went with looks very much like the ‘snow whites‘ that are part of the home jersey rotation now (minus the black – of course).










Why the Mets removed the ‘New York’ from the road fronts is a mystery, they looked awesome.  At any rate this is a clean look, although not as cool or as classy as having New York spelled out.  And guess what is doesn’t have on it??  That’s right – BLACK.  Don’t get me started.

If you are a jersey aficionado, i.e a jersey dork like me, you’ll notice the number font style that was in place on road jerseys from 1962 – 1973 has changed.  What was cool about Mets jerseys from 62-77 was that the road and home jerseys had difference font styles for the numbers.  Starting in 1978 with the intro of the pullover 2 button style – the subject of a future post – the numbers were consistent on both the home and road jerseys.

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The Last Ghost of (the Original) Yankee Stadium

In reading the various reports about the passing of Bob Sheppard a few stated that “The Voice of Yankee Stadium” had died.

And that moniker for him was very true.  Mr. Sheppard (I would never call him Bob) was the Voice of Yankee Stadium – the ORIGINAL Yankee Stadium.  The place where Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Berra, Mantle, Maris, Jackson, and Mattingly, among many others, spent their entire careers.  All of them had left the game long before the walls of the cathedral were torn down.

And somewhat fittingly as it turned out, so had Mr. Sheppard.

Mr. Sheppard never had the opportunity to visit the new ballpark in the Bronx.  Sure, Derek Jeter uses a recording of him at games, but it’s not the same.  We all know it’s just a recording.

For 85 years Yankee Stadium hosted baseball games (ok, technically 83 years if you take away the 2 years of renovation work in the 70’s).  Mr. Sheppard was the Voice of Yankee Stadium for 56 of those years – that’s 2/3 of the stadiums life!  When you went to Yankee Stadium you expected to hear his voice.  You didn’t even think about it – the sun rises, the sun sets, and Bob Sheppard announces.  It was both expected and conforting.  You knew you were at Yankee Stadium.

Last year when the new stadium opened it really was jarring – at least for me – to hear a completely different voice making the stadium announcements.  Yes I know they had a sub in for Mr. Sheppard in 2008 but the  man sounded similar.  This new voice – it wasn’t Mr. Sheppard, nor was it someone trying to duplicate Mr. Sheppard’s style.  This was a new stadium and a new way of doing things.

Bob Sheppard belonged to the stadium across the street.  The stadium that was home to 26 World Series titles, 34 Hall of Fame players, and the Voice of God.

I find it almost poignant that the last remnants of that historic building were pulled down without much fanfare earlier this year.  Mr. Sheppard was the last Yankee great to retire in that building and now he joins it, and the other Yankee immortals that once called it home.

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Brooklyn’s Backman Bobbleheads (Wednesday)

On Wednesday, July 14, the first 2,500 fans in attendance for the Cyclones’ 7pm game against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers will receive a Wally Backman “Then & Now”mini bobblehead, presented by Lutheran Medical Center.

The 4″-tall collector’s item features Backman “then” — fielding his position in a 1986 World Champion New York Mets uniform — and “now” — as manager of the Cyclones, leaning on a bat.

Backman was a standout second baseman for the Mets in the 1980s – a gritty, hard-nosed table-setter at the top of the lineup for a team that won divisional titles in 1986 and 1988, and an iconic World Series championship in 1986. Backman played in the major leagues for 14 seasons, including nine with the Mets (1980-1988), and five with the Minnesota Twins (1989), Pittsburgh Pirates (1990), Philadelphia Phillies (1991, 1992), and Seattle Mariners (1993). He finished his career with a .980 fielding percentage, and is one of only 66 MLB players ever to notch six hits in a single game (4/27/90). Backman’s 106 stolen bases with the Mets ranks eighth on the franchise’s all-time list and his .283 career batting average for New York ranks ninth. Backman hit .333 in six games against the Boston Red Sox in the Mets’ 1986 World Series win.