“You gotta believe,” said an enthusiastic Michael Cuddyer, after the Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 on Monday.
He had no idea he had the conjured up the most beloved rallying cry in franchise history, writes David Lennon of Newsday. “You got to believe you’re a good team.”
Steve Serby of the New York Post says the genesis of this latest conjuring of “Ya Gotta Believe” started in spring training. Manager Terry Collins explains.
“Cuddyer said it, David said it, Grandy [Curtis Granderson] said it. … You start to pay attention because hey, these guys believe, and if the stars believe, if you’re a young player, you better believe in yourself and you better believe that we can get this done.”
“Bottom line is I think that we have a good team,” Travis d’Arnaud added. “All of us believe in each other and you can tell by the way we’re all standing tall and have our chests out, and we all believe in each other.”
The fans have used that rallying cry more so than the players have since 1973. Not all fans, just the ones who always remain optimistic even in the face of disaster.
Thanks to Michael Cuddyer, it feels good to hear those words again. It’s a credit to the true believers, and not the ones who say they’re cautiously optimistic. You can’t be both.
As far as team slogans go, the 1973 Mets’ rallying cry “Ya Gotta Believe” may not rank with Knute Rockne’s “Win one for the Gipper,” but it stood the test of time, lasting far longer than Reingold’s “Ten Minute Head.”
Had it been a movie, the late and great Roger Ebert would have given it a thumbs down for it’s corniness.
Ya Gotta Believe! ~ Tug McGraw
Going into the season, the 1973 team was arguably more talented than the 1969 Miracle Mets, with the additions of Rusty Staub, Jon Matlack, John Milner and Felix Millan. This was a team to be feared and sprinted out of the gate at 4-0, and was in first place by late April. However, overcome by injuries, the Mets nose-dived into the cellar, 7 ½ games behind by July 26. They dropped to 12 games below .500 with 44 games to play on August 16.
Even so, they were still within shouting distance in the mediocre National League East. It would be tough, Mets Chairman of the Board M. Donald Grant thought, but there were all those tickets to home games in September that needed to be sold.
Grant addressed the team and told them not to quit because there was time to turn things around. After all, he had had recent history to fall back on as the 1969 team overcame an eight-game August deficit to the Cubs.
That’s when closer Tug McGraw stood up and shouted, “that’s right, we can do it, Ya gotta believe.’’ It was a moment of “was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor,’’ exuberance that stuck with those Mets.
The Mets, Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs tripped over each other for much of September, but Yogi Berra’s team was the most consistent, and had to be considering the ground it had to make up.
The Mets won 24 of 35 games to make up those 12 games and move into first place on Sept. 21, with a 10-2 rout of Pittsburgh behind Tom Seaver.
It was a fragile lead as only 2 ½ games separated them from fifth-place Chicago.
“We’ve been hot,” Berra said at the time. “But I have to say it’s still wide open.”
The Mets swept a two-game series with St. Louis and split a two-game series with Montreal before heading into Wrigley Field that final weekend with a one-game lead. On Friday the Mets were rained out, but Montreal beat Pittsburgh. The scenario repeated itself on Saturday.
By now, St. Louis leapfrogged Pittsburgh and trailed by 1½ games going into Sunday. The Mets split a double-header to go to 81-79 while the Cardinals were 81-81.
That set up another double-header for Monday with the Mets needing a split to win the division title, which Seaver gave them by winning the first game.
This might have been the Mets’ grittiest team, and it’s soundtrack being McGraw screaming “Ya Gotta Believe,” as he slapped his glove on his thigh.
Although McGraw repeated the slogan with the 1980 Phillies, and Philadelphia fans tried to resurrect it several years ago, it didn’t have the same impact as it did when it woke up New York, the team and the city, during the Summer of 1973.
