Mets Memories
I apologize to anyone that looks forward to reading my column each week (If there is anyone, that is!). Last week my father almost died and I couldn’t bring myself to write about the Mets at a time like that, no matter how much the team means to me. One thing it made me think of, while wondering if everything would be okay with my dad, was all the great times we shared together with the Mets. Here are some of them:
My father, brother and I had gone to a lot of games together in 1992. Living in New Jersey, however, it was a pain for us to get out to Queens as much as we wanted to. On the last day of the season, even though the Mets were way out of contention, he drove us down to the Vet in Philadelphia to see David Cone pitch. Even though I was a young boy, I was so excited to see Cone strike out 19 batters and almost break Roger Clemens’s record.
Fast forward many years of my life enduring pretty awful Mets seasons. The year is 1999 and I was focusing on other things in my life besides baseball (i.e. girls and punk rock). I came home one day after smoking cigarettes behind a friend’s house to find my dad watching the Mets play the Braves for the NLCS. It was Game 5, and I remember it vividly. My dad and I swapped sitting down for standing up, in what was at the time the longest postseason game in history, and I watched every minute of it. We slapped five on Ventura’s home run and went to bed hoping for a World Series birth two nights later and thinking about how we hadn’t spent that much time together in years.
Go ahead a few more years and it’s the 2006 NLDS, except now I was old enough to afford my own tickets, so I brought both my mother and my father to the first game. In what is the most exciting sporting event I have ever been to, the Mets pulled a close one out against the Dodgers as we rejoiced in our seats. What made it all worthwhile was that I spent the game with my family, like I used to do when I was a little boy.
All teams have bad seasons, but the Mets seem to be a paradigm for hope when all else seems lost. They have to struggle to be even the best team in their city, but if this current team is any indication of what is to come, this goal is within reach. It reminds me to always forge ahead, no matter how bad things get. We love the Mets in wins and losses, World Series seasons and years they finish in the cellar, just like we love our friends and family.
Do you have any great, older Mets memories with loved ones? I’d be glad to hear them.
Comments
All the best to you and your Dad, mine brought me to my first game and I'll never forget walking to Shea at night from the LIRR and seeing it all lit up, I was a Mets fan from that point on.
Posted by: Regis | April 26, 2007 04:43 PM
I really liked your blog, and how you were able to put things in perspective and write about how both family and favorite team are important to you in different ways. My Dad was a Washington Senators fan, so I remember going to a Yankee Stadium in the late 50's/early 60's. My love of baseball dates back to those special times with my Dad. (PS - I am a 50-something female).
Posted by: MUZ | April 26, 2007 05:28 PM
I was deeply touched by your blog. I still have my dad and he's in great health, but if anything ever happened to him I don't think I'd be able to handle it.
My dad is a HUGE Yankee fan and my happy moments are how we sit and watch the games together and knock on each others teams. Sometimes my mother joins the fray as well. She's also a Yankees fan.
We all love baseball and although my dad loved the yankees, he will frequently take me to mets games and even root for them when he's with me.
I hope your dad is ok now.
I really love Metsmerized it's one of my favortie blogs and it has such great personalities. Thank you for doing this for us Mets fans!
Posted by: Liz | April 26, 2007 06:01 PM
It's so true that baseball, more than any other sport it seems, has a way of intergrating itself into our lives and bringing people closer together. I have so many great memories from going to Shea with my mom over the years, and this blog made me think about how lucky I really am!....I hope your dad is ok.
Posted by: METSGal | April 26, 2007 07:31 PM
Some great memories indeed. Fantastic post!
http://www.americanlegends.blogspot.com/
Posted by: J. Mark English | April 26, 2007 08:57 PM
Great Blog Chris, I hope your dad is doing better now. I also bonded with my dad and brother over the Mets, because football we are all against each other, me with the Giants, dad with the Jets and somehow my brother with the 49ers. hmmmm i still dont get that one. In the early 80's mostly my dad and I would go to a least 3 or 4 games a month. It was some of the best times in my life. I can remember watching the Dodgers and Mets in 85, Fernando vs Gooden, total pitchers duel, Me and my friend leaning down on the visitors dugout, my friend has to goto the bathroom, as he is walking up the steps, Gooden fouls one back, the ball is rolling down the stairs, people are diving for the ball when my friend just bends over and picks it up.
Damn my strong bladder that day!!!
Posted by: Chris | April 26, 2007 09:06 PM
I liked this one Chris. Baseball not only is entertainment but a way for friends and family to connect.
My oldest memory of anything was watching the 86 Mets NLCS vs. the 'stros! I was 4 years young!
Posted by: David P | April 27, 2007 08:19 AM
Hey bro, I hope everything works out with your father. God bless you and your family!!! Unfortunately I never had any Mets memories with my dad because he's a diehard NASCAR fan and isn't really into baseball. Even though I grew up in NY state (western NY, south of Buffalo) I have never been to Shea and didn't see my first Mets game until last year in Atlanta of all places. I've been a Mets fan MY WHOLE LIFE and I'm now a father and my 3 year old son loves the Mets. We shared that Mets vs. Braves game together in April of last year when he was 2 and a half. That was the day he became a HUGE Pedro Martinez fan after Pedro waved to him. I am inspired by your memories with your father and I'm looking forward to making some with my boy throughout the years. #1 on the list, get to Shea before it closes!!!!! Take care!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Matt Thompson | April 27, 2007 08:54 AM
Hey again, I just wanted to add one more thing. Even though my dad isn't a big baseball fan, he did however take me to my first major league game. It was in 1990 when I was 11 years old. Yankees vs. Indians at Cleveland Municipal Stadium aka The Mistake by the Lake!!! I will never forget what it was like to bite into my first authentic ballpark hot dog. My dad and I were also able to go into the pressbox where I was able to meet Herb Score while he was broadcasting the game over the radio. I was in absolute AWE!!!!!
Posted by: Matt Thompson | April 27, 2007 09:03 AM
One of my earliest childhood memories is of the '86 World Series. My parents were only 26-years old and, with my older brother, we lived at my Grandparent's house. My parents and my Dad's best friend and his wife from high school were watching game 7 in the living room, and I got to stay up late. I distinctly remember the TV being muted and the radio blasting because my father despised Vin Scully and adored Bob Murphy. My father passed away 8 years ago, but great Mets memories--even away from Shea--still live on.
Posted by: Matt | April 27, 2007 12:26 PM
I'M GLAD HE'S OK. I KNOW WHAT U MEAN. IT WAS MY FATHER RAISED 3 OF US AS A SINGLE DAD. HE IS WHO BROUGHT ME TO THE METS GAMES WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM I WOULDN'T BE INTO SPORTS. DADS ARE SO IMPORTANT!! MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND UR FATHER AND OF COURSE FAMILY!! WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!!! LOVE FROM OHIO!! BE SAFE!!
Posted by: JESSICA NISTHAUZ | April 27, 2007 04:52 PM