I can completely understand your take on banner day because it was indeed a generational thing and what many might not realize is that Banner Day was not a promotion that the Mets originated as it was a response to us – the original new breeders – who suddenly draped the Polo Grounds in 1962 and early 1963 with a humongous amount of banners – and well thought out ones as well – to the surprise of everyone for banners in other parks were few and far between.

In fact, at first the Mets wouldn’t allow fans to show up with banners at all.

Banner Day was an outgrowth of the sudden and completely unexpected genuine love and adoration us new breeders had for our new team. It didn’t bother us at all that we had a former Yankee manager who was viewed at the time as self-promoting – to us he was suddenly seen as the lovable Casey. And his inept players we simply saw as guys who played their hearts out every day a lot like us – losers, And by that I do not mean “losers” in a derogatory way as it was more a reflection of the hard life most middle class people had to deal with – struggling, working hard and often feeling different than those more fortunate. I did not understand that when I was a kid but I can look back in hindsight now and recognize those traits in both myself and my family at that time. If one reads Jimmy Breslin’s classic “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game” one will get an understanding of why that happened. We “losers” suddenly had something of our very own.

I’m just sorry that no written description or video/audio replay will enable anyone not old enough to have been a part of it to fully appreciate how special those first, early years were, putting aside all the sociological explanations that we have today. And while the stories might have become exaggerated over time, the essence of what one will find is 100 percent true.

What happened 50 years ago during a less cynical – and obviously more naive time – would not happen today. The times have changed and the groundwork that helped foster that uniqueness just doesn’t exist anymore. If we had a team like that today, they would not be seen as lovable and forgivable because they were trying so hard – they would be seen the way Howard Cossell talked about about them back in 1963 when he said the Mets were a disgrace to the game and a fraud and that people should not pay their money to see them (paraphrasing). We’ve seen all the harsh things written about so many of the players here – even by us who won’t praise Wheeler or d’Arnaud beyond anything more than their potential and resent the circumstances (not their fault) that brought them over to the Mets to begin with. We’d all look at them with resentment making so much money.

Too bad Cosell couldn’t see it then but the Mets were no fraud. They were beautiful for they gave us back something much more valuable than winning ball games. They made us feel good about ourselves and that included everybody – from the elementary school kid that I was to my father who had to work two jobs to make ends meet to my grandmother who spent the last years of her life confined to a wheelchair.

And that is why I too share your non-interest in banner day today Jessep because I remember when it was a genuine show of affection between the fans, the players and indeed the owners as well. It originated and sustained itself as fan based tradition because it was not a manufactured self-promoting gimmick as it is today. Just like the original chant of “lets go Mets” never originated by being prompted by a loudspeaker or scoreboard.

Let those who cherish those moments have fun with it today. But for many of us, it is that parade that has long ago passed us by.

pretty sure it would have saved my parents money to just buy the tickets, but at least my sister has strong bones.

Our team was terrible but it was one of the loudest nights the stadium ever had

I remember WOR always showing the Banner Day parade in it’s entirety. Back then the Mets didn’t own their own network and yet it got televised. Now they do and they don’t televise it. Blame the owners. They never cared about our traditions or fan sentiment anyway. Cold as ice like one writer in your midst.

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