The Mets Police

On Monday I write a column for Flushing University.  This was this week’s column.

They got the game in yesterday. The question is, “Was that a good decision?”I think MLB needs to focus on the fans more than the schedule.Yes they got the game in, but after a two hour delay. If I have tickets for a Sunday morning, and there’s localized flooding and powerful thunderstorms around, I want the Mets to just call the game.I don’t want to do the whole “should we or shouldn’t we” dance. I don’t want to drive out to the park and then find out the game is canceled. I don’t want to stay home and find out they played. I just want to know the deal, as soon as possible.On Wednesday the Mets called the game at 7:13pm (for a scheduled 7:10pm start). Did they not know ealrier that they wouldn’t get the game in? Did “the window” suddenly close three minutes after scheduled game time? Did someone upstairs do some math along the lines of “well if 10,000 fans show up, and each spends $10, and 2000 of them pay to park…we make money on the night?” Maybe they do make money on the night, but it’s another straw on the camel’s back.I’m writing this around 6:15 on Sunday night. It’s the 9th inning. Figure you left the house at 11am, sat in the rain at the park for two hours, then caught a game, probably even left early. That’s no fun for anyone. Heading out to the park on Wednesday for the Mets to decide three minutes after game time that they aren’t going to play is no fun.What do you do when it rains? Do you “eat” the tickets? Fool on you. Do you head out to the park and sit in the rain? Fool on you.Just calls the games early. A doubleheader won’t kill anyone, and in 2010 the Mets are going to have the empty available seats, believe me.Maybe when the new stadium rolls around in 2069 someone will have heard of retractable domes. Maybe.

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Gonna be a short night for both me and Nelson Figueroa.

The stadium is half empty. Lots of people eating tickets

There is no new "mets stuff". I walked around for two hours and took 300 pictures for future posts.

Wow another home run. 3-0 at 7:15.

I think I see the solution to the promenade obstructed views. I never noticed until tonight but the sections behind homeplate in the promenade have traditional staircases. Pics in a few days.

It may cost the Mets some sausage stands and a lot of cash but I now see a solution.

Made my first trip to the Pepsi Porch. It did nothing for me. Pics in a few days.

Line of the night from my kid: "Wait, Jackie Robinson was a Met?"

Jerry just asked me if I can pitch. Gotta go. Nelson can u spell dfa?

Sent from my iPhone

Did you know that even in the U.K. they hate black uniforms?  Thomas from the Checked Swing blog dropped me a note:


Dear Mets Police Chief,

Back in May I blogged at Checked Swing about the Mets Uniforms.  I’ve updated my research and would be honoured to have it used on Mets Police, since I know how strongly you feel about the black uniforms.  I’ve already posted it here: http://checkedswing.blogspot.com/2009/08/mets-uniforms-2.html




A great guest article below.  Oh, someone tell Charlie to unpack the black uniforms, I’ll be there tonight.   Everyone please add Checked Swing to the list of blogs you check out.

Since the beginning of the season I’ve been checking what uniforms the Mets had been wearing, bemoaning the lack of pinstripes. Back in June we discovered that the Mets themselves have been tracking their record with the different uniforms. Here’s the records for the games up to August 2nd (note that where the Mets wore a special cap, such as for holiday weekends, the color of the batting helmet is used to determine the uniform):

So Pinstripes have been avoided as if they’ve got leprosy. In fact they were worn twice in April, twice in May (including once with the hybrids), once in June and once in July. Meanwhile the all-black uniform has been worn 23 times, including seven games in a row between the 19th and 26th of July.If we discount the poor Pinstripes due to small sample size, we can see that the only time the Mets have a winning percentage is with the white jerseys and blue caps. When the Mets won five straight at the end of last month, they won games 3, 4 and 5 of the streak wearing blue caps. Second game of the doubleheader against the Rockies, they don the Black again and Bam! The streak is over.Even if Charlie Samuels prefers the Black and hates the pinstripes, as has been claimed, the fact that the Mets lose games when you put a black or hybrid cap on them and win games when you put a blue cap on them should convince him otherwise.

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Good stuff:

jmp has left a new comment on your post “Tour Of The Jackie Robinson Rotunda At New York Me…“: 

As to your statement that this could be their home park if they’d stayed, it’s quite likely that if the O’Malley’s had gotten their way, there never would have been a ballpark in Flushing. I highly recommend reading “The Last Good Season,” by Michael Shapiro, which covers the ’56 Dodgers in great detail, including what was happening on the field, the negotiations behind the scenes that led to the announcement of the move to LA, and in and around Brooklyn that led to the drive to move out of Ebbets Field in the first place.

Had the Dodgers stayed, their ballpark wouldn’t have been like Shea (which was all about being a Robert Moses style edifice), but would have been designed with the needs of a ballclub in mind, much as the ballpark the Dodgers ended up building in LA turned out to be. Remember that no one is talking about the imminent need to replace Dodger Stadium… 

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Yuck!

I’ll be in the park tonight and I’m going to check this out for myself.  This is the biew from section 532.

The promenade sure is ugly.

Tomorrow I will have some pics that are much worse (Section 504) and then on Wednesday the view from better seats.

If you’re new to Mets Police click here for links to all kinds of obstructed views.

Thanks to V for sending these over with this comment:

Hi this is MY view of Shea..oops Citifield. I can see NOTHING going on in left field and center aren’t I lucky I bought the Sunday plan in Janurary when I THOUGHT EVERY SEAT had a GREAT  view of the field. Joke was on me! p.s. I do have to say my seats are better than sec 503 row1:(

Main Mets Police page
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send ideas/guest columns to shannon at metspolice.com