Here is the last of our three finalists, and as you will soon see, all three of them did an excellent job and should be applauded. Overall, I tip my cap to all 109 Met fans who entered our “Why Do I Love The Mets” contest. including a 10-year old girl from Dallas, TX named Gayil, who says that she will always believe in her Mets, because no matter what they always plays hard – win or lose. That’s some good advice. Tomorrow afternoon I will announce the grand prize winner as my nephew will draw the winning entry from a Mets cap. Congratulations to all of you and Good Luck to the final three!
Why I Love The Mets – Finalist No. 3
By Larry Jones
It was 1962 and in that year two fateful things happened. One, and most notable for a very large number of people was the birth of the New York Metropolitans baseball team. The other and not of very large concern to anyone outside of my immediate family was my birth and thus begins the story of my love of the New York Mets.
One of my earliest memories was an old, worn copy of the 1963 Official Mets yearbook which featured Mr Met on the cover. I was five years of age at the time and found it laying atop a pile of old magazines in my Dads office. At the time I had no real idea what baseball was, but that image of Mr Met held my gaze and captured my interest. I kept that yearbook under my pillow and would spend hours looking through the pictures contained in it.
Later that year I heard a song over the radio that was destined to shape a good portion of my young life. My dad had brought home a fancy new radio and after plugging it in and working the tuning dial I heard the chorus to the Mets fight song “Meet the Mets”. I faintly remember curling up in the big chair with my dad and listening to the game, my very first. This became a common occurrence and soon I was able to name a number of the Mets players along with their failings or their strengths as told by my dad much to his delight and my mom’s dismay. That Christmas I received my very first baseball glove and a NY Mets ball cap and so it began, my lifelong love of the New York Metropolitans.
On July 25th, 1969 my dad took me to my first game. I was wide eyed with awe and wonder at the hugeness of Shea Stadium, the greenness of the grass and the energy of the place. The Mets won that game beating the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 behind seven strong innings from Jerry Koosman and an 8th inning two-run homer from J.C. Martin. I was hooked, an incurable Mets fan for life.
I have relished the joyous victories, like the 1969 “Miracle Mets” and felt the stinging misery of defeats such as the 2000 “Subway Series”. But through the ups and the downs, the good and the bad, the delight and the exasperation, my loyalty to “my team” has never wavered.
Many things have come and gone in my life but the one constant, like a warm and familiar blanket has always stayed with me, my baseball team, the New York Mets.
