Blogging Mets

I’m not sure exactly what this Mets video is, but it is billed as a Coke commercial. It shows some guy (probably an actor) on the field at Shea Stadium wearing a Frank Howard jersey greeting the real Frank Howard, then giving batting tips to someone who may be Mike Jorgensen. It was likely shot in 1982 or 83, the only years Howard and Jorgensen overlapped.

Sorry for the provocative title — I couldn’t resist. After his game-winning grand slam Wednesday night, Jordany Valdespin was hit with the annoying, obligatory shaving cream pie to the face during his post game interview. But this facial was particularly messy (very sorry again).

John Buck took a towel filled with shaving cream and basically punched Jordany Valdespin in the face with it. I was surprised that Valdespin did not emerge with a bloody nose.

“He hit a good hard shot, he deserved a good hard pie,” Buck said. “I promised him next time I’d go a little softer.”

It kind of reminded me of a time years ago when Ramon Castro got a game-winning hit. While the team mobbed him, Cliff Floyd patted Castro on the top of his helmet. Well, “patted” is mild — Floyd slammed his powerful hand down on his head several times. Castro removed his helmet and glared at Floyd, looking as if he was about to go after his teammate. The camera then cut away, but we can assume there was no fight.

Anyway, check out the video. And drop me a line if you can make out what Jordany Valdespin is saying!

John Buck’s home run into the second deck at Citi Field Sunday was a monstrous shot — 460 feet. But it was nothing compared to two of the longest homers ever hit at Shea Stadium.

The first one happened on August 20, 1999. Mark McGwire was at the height of his PED-fueled home run hitting power when he launched a massive opposite field shot high off Shea’s gigantic scoreboard, busting a few lightbulbs. It was estimated at 502 feet.

A couple of years later on June 26, 2002, Mo Vaughn hit one a little farther. This one hit in the middle of the scoreboard, estimated at 505 feet. Gary Cohen called it the longest homer he had ever seen at Shea Stadium, and he has seen most of them.

I remember watching both of these live and being just absolutely stunned. It was rare for anyone to even hit the bottom of that scoreboard at Shea Stadium, so these shots were truly epic; home runs for the ages.

Here’s a commercial from the Mets in 2010, in which they seemed to believe that they would be a good team that year. Instead, they were not.

Enjoy the memories.

When it was announced that the Mets new ballpark would be named Citi Field, people immediately came up with a similar sounding name for the stadium in the likely event that the Mets started playing terribly. You can figure it out on your own.

In this animated clip, Jeff Wilpon announces that the team has indeed changed the name of Citi Field to the un-family friendly name.

It also shows the nearly universal lack of respect for the younger Wilpon. I’m not exactly sure why that is. Yes, I have joined in the mocking on these pages as well, but when I think about it, what has Jeff Wilpon done wrong?

He certainly hasn’t behaved like the arrogant Jim Dolan, another son of a wealthy man given control of local teams. However, he just hasn’t garnered the respect that another son, Hal Steinbrenner, has managed to gain.

Jeff Wilpon doesn’t talk very much and we really don’t know what his exact role in the organization is. What decisions has he actually made? Who knows?

In any case, here’s the video:

The Mets and the Daily News teamed up in the late 1980s (1987 is my guess) for a cross-promotion spot. It seems like a conflict of interest for an impartial news agency to have such a relationship with an entity that it covers, but whatever. It is nice to hear Howard Cosell’s voice over; I miss that guy. It is NOT nice to hear the “Lets Go Mets” chant droning in the background — 30 seconds of that can really get on your nerves.

Who knew Daniel Murphy was such a devout Christian? Well, he apparently is, as explained in this piece by The Christian Broadcasting Network:

I have no comment on this:

So you’ve probably always wondered — what does David Wright play for? Well, it’s not for money, or fame, or even championships, apparently. David Wright reveals his motivation in this video from MLB.com:

With Mets Opening Day 2013 right around the corner, check out what Opening Day 1990 at good old Shea Stadium looked like.