You Don’t Know Baseball Like You Used To

An extremely slow day, and I don’t feel like writing about patches yet again, so I come to you with a premise:  You don’t know baseball like you used to.

I’m going to ask you some simple baseball questions.  15 years ago you would have rattled these off and laughed in my face about how easy they were.

1.  What is the current number of home runs needed to become the all-time career home run leader?  You have no idea do you?  You know it used to be 755 and it was 714 once, but what’s the number now?

2.  Remember 2130?  Of course you do.   Now Cal Ripken is baseball’s all-time Iron Man.   In how many consecutive games did Cal play?

3.  I will make this a little easier.   What is the current single season home run record?   72?  73?  74?  You tell me.  Are you sure?

4.  Who is currently the American League leader for most home runs in a season and how many did he hit?

The 2013 Hall of Fame ballot sure will be interesting.   Will the writers ignore Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens, and continue to ignore Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro (3,000 and 500) and the most popular post-strike baseball player Mark McGwire, you know the guy that restored baseball as America’s Past Time?

Amazing how things change.

(762, 2632 , 73 and 61 by Roger Maris).

www.metspolice.com

Bisons Get New Uniforms

I feel like I’ve been very negative lately, so I will just report.

The Bisons announced these today.

You may find the NY interesting.

I enjoy the road font.

On the bisons website they are selling these, without the NY.
Discuss.

www.metspolice.com

$8.29 Billion Loss, $45B from Government, Why Not Name A Stadium?

Citi lost $8.29 billion last quarter.  $45 billion in government loans.  A $20 million check to the Mets.

Yes a deal is a deal, a contarct is a contract, but good business partners help each other – and I think the Mets would be wise to offer a statement announcing how they’ve reworked the deal with Citi to allow their good partner to get their feet on the ground without worrying about stadium naming rights.   Let Citi pay $21 million for 19 years or whatever needs to be done.

I actually couldn’t care less about Citi or the Mets balance sheet.  As a fan what I don’t want is to have the Mets play one year in Citi Field, three years in Barclay’s Stadium, a year in Mets Field, six months in Jackie Robinson Park and then some time at the Coca-Cola Grounds.  That’s why I hate corproate names. 

I still call buildings “Candlestick” and “Comiskey” and I still use terms like Triborough Bridge and West Side Highway.   Name something and stick with it.   Wrigley is a gum.   Doesn’t bother me.   Name it, keep it…and I worry about this deal the Mets did.  

A bad deal in Flushing?  Nah, never happen.

www.metspolice.com

Why Did The Mets Charge Returning Fans $40, New Folks $25?

I was just on Mets.com and looking at the ticket plans.  There’s not much left for weekends, excuse me I mean “weekends” which in Flushing includes days such as Tuesday, and the weekday plans are sold out.

Then this caught my eye:

“A $25 service charge will apply to each Plan purchase.”

Before we get to why there’s a charge….I’m confused by the $25.

They charged me $40. 

Why would they charge me, a returning ticket holder $40, and some newbie $25.

Maybe I have my facts wrong and they are charging the newbie a $25 “service charge” plus the $40 “order charge” plus the $25 “delivery charge.”   

Just curious.   If anyone orders tickets this weekend please drop me a note and let me know what they tack on.

www.metspolice.com

The Kansas City Islanders

Here’s hoping the Islanders aren’t one foot out the door to Kansas City where they have scheduled one, that’s one, preseason game for next year.
For you kids that are too young to understand the importance of Lee Mazzilli, there’s no way I can expect you to understand the importance of Billy Smith.

Not too long ago, as recently as 1994, hockey was a big thing in this town.   Then there was a really awfully poorly timed lockout (why blow the buzz of a Rangers cup and a new deal with FOX which was proving itself to be pretty good at hyping sporting events).   Then there was the season never played.

So to you kids I know hockey is right up there with poker in terms of importance, but let me tell you once it was pretty cool and these Islanders ran off four straight championships.  Think of them as the hockey version of the Torre Yankees circa 1998-2000.  The Isles run also ended with a loss in the finals.
Much like other sports teams in the area they had blue and orange uniforms!  Imagine that!   Then like other silly local teams they started messing around and introduced the hidous fisherman jersey with “cooler darker colors.”  Eventually the true logo returned but the dopey color sstayed (Mets fans can think of black uniforms).

So here we are and the Islanders are, you know, just playing one game in KC.  Just like the Dodgers just played seven games in Jersey, or the Bills are just playing a few in Toronto.  There’s nothing to fear, right?

I keep hearing about the need for a new building.   They don’t need it.  A renovation, sure.  Some new bells and whistles, sure.  8 billion luxury boxes?  Not needed.  There aren’t the companies on Long Island to support it.  Building a new arena in the same location with its lack of public transportation (a cab to a local LIRR stop is not a good plan) would be a mistake.   Nassau west of the Meadowbrook Parkway has become Eastern Queens.   If a new building were to be built, and it shouldn’t, the Isles would be wiser to head east – maybe on Route 110 somewhere between the LIE and the Southern State – now that there are more people living in Suffolk than Nassau.

One thing the Coliseum is is cozy.  You can sit in the worst seat possible and it’s way closer than the upper deck at the Con-Air arena ever was (I haven’t been to The Rock) or the “blue seats” are at the Garden.  You may find yourself in a new bulding but three times as far away at five times the price.  

Long Islanders should enjoy their local team in their cozy arena.   Maybe some day the Islanders will run off four cups again and you’ll be surprised at how viable the Coliseum will become.

www.metspolice.com