As the fans in Philadelphia celebrate their second-ever World Series
championship, I am still pondering the words spoken by the now-retired,
surefire Hall of Famer Pat Gillick's words a few
days ago, when discussing how his team won the division the past two
years. Everyone hates the New York Mets, he said, right? Haven't you heard? The New York
Mets have conducted themselves so poorly as sportsmen that Gillick says
it helped the Phillies immensely..
The Mets, he told SI.com, celebrate in an untoward way, “ ... it reaches the point where they're taunting the other the team. Everyone should have the opportunity to celebrate. But there's a fine line, and sometimes they tend to go over the line and taunt the other team.''
For anyone that watches the Mets on a daily basis, or listens to sports talk radio, this conflicts with the notion that many fans feel the Mets “lack passion.”
One of the more passionate Mets fans I know, Steve Keane of the well-read blog “The Eddie Kranepool Society”, posted just that on his blog after a Mets loss in September:
The Mets played today's game like there was no sense of urgency I know players are much different from fans as we take every pitch like it’s life or death but my God this Mets team should have come out fired up after losing Friday night instead they played like (bleep). There was no batting practice and no infield practice, so add that to no game yesterday (in fact the only player it seems who was at Shea yesterday was Billy Wags so they all had a full day off) Hard to believe but this team better play tonight like their hair is on fire.
So, which is it, is this team so passionate that their celebrations are a result of their over-exuberance? Or perhaps, is this just more typical anti-New York bias that infects the entire country?
I'm guessing the latter. Because, otherwise, I don't get it.
How many times have you heard potential free agents or players from other cities say how much they don't like New York? It's not a nice place for visiting players, nor is it a very welcoming place for passionless, underperforming millionaires. Even Hall of Fame players are not immune to our expectations. We've booed everybody; Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, even Johan Santana, for goodness sake.
Unlike some other cities, we actually expect something in return for our hard-earned money, and a little passion goes a long way.
Look, this is New York. This fan base, as much as I have criticized it for the last few years, is the best group of fans in all of baseball. Knowledgeable, passionate and demanding, they want their club to be celebratory. They love the curtain calls, the high-fives, and the JOSE-JOSE-JOSE chants. I mean, they are the ones that sing the damn song, not Jose Reyes. The shortstop's relationship with his former manager nonwithstanding, Reyes is a pure joy to watch play the game. If you don't think so, you're not a baseball fan, plain and simple.
Look at this roster, for goodness sake! Where is the Gary Carter, Wally Backman, Ray Knight or even Kevin Mitchell-types that project arrogance worthy of this kind of hate? The 1986 Mets were a team that everyone else loved to hate. Those Mets, unlike these Mets, could not have cared less.
The late Joe Durso, Hall Of Fame writer for the New York Times, wrote about those Mets in a column “METS AS BRASH AS EVER” :
'They hate us,'' Keith Hernandez said, sizing up the Mets' relationship with the rest of the teams in the National League. ''If I was on another club, I'd hate us, too. But we'll be there at 7:30 every night, 162 times, and they know where they can find us.''
Arrogance, the other teams call it. Confidence, the Mets reply. Whatever, the Mets passed the word today that they would still be dishing it out this season.
They don't agree that they show contempt by being demonstrative, leading the league in curtain calls high-fives, fist-waving and even team fights. But they also don't intend to become pussycats now that they're the No. 1 team in the big leagues.
''Will we tone it down?'' Hernandez asked, repeating the question. And then he answered it with an edge: ''You know The Kid. Will he tone it down? This is an emotional team with a lot of emotional personalities. But one man is the symbol. That's the way he is.''
If it was Carter that set the tone for that team (a tone that was soon dwarfed by the Dwight Gooden drug  scandal later that spring and was really never the same afterwards), who is it that really aggravates guys like Jimmy Rollins? I mean, really, Rollins isn't a score the touchdown and hand it to the referee guy either, is he?
If anything, the fans themselves, after two straight collapses, could hardly be blamed for a little hate. But they don't hate this team, not by a long shot.
Even with all the internet drama, the red-faced commentary at sports bars and the “outrage” at GM Omar Minaya's extension, most of the Mets fan's ire this offseason has been directed at WFAN's Mike Francesa's treatment of David Wright. The fans have already, in my opinion, shown that they love this team, win or lose.
Basically, I think it's kind of dumb to credit the outcome of the NL East race the last two seasons on how the Phillies, Marlins, Braves and Nationals “feel” about the Mets. I guess it's fun to talk about, but the Mets' record against divisional foes (40-32) wasn't much different from either the Phillies (41-31) or the Marlins (40-31). Was it hatred that allowed the Marlins to hold the Mets' offense to just five runs in the last three games of the season? Or perhaps, was it the fact that the Mets, despite a great turnaround from a 20-22 start, just got their season started 42 games late?
It's very simple. Neither the team, the fans, the front office, nor ownership should worry at all about how they are perceived by the rest of baseball. Embrace the hate.
Matt Cerrone, whose MetsBlog.com is the most popular Mets' fansite out there, wrote this recently:
“So, does this mean the Mets can now only win if teams love them? What does that even mean? Seriously, who cares if teams hate the Mets? Hey, how about the Mets just play better baseball and win on their own effort, and not care about what other people think of them. How about that? How about, instead of backing down, the Mets fight back.”
I agree with Matt, but I also say, take it one step further; embrace the hate. Be the big, bad New York Mets. Get back that swagger. If the fans want a curtain call, give 'em the Gary Carter! Yes, the point-to-right field, the quick pan to center-left and back and the fist pump to the nuts behind the dugout. High-five the fans like Lasting Milledge did. If the rest of the damn league hates you, so what? The fans will eat it up.
From The Times article:
In the locker room, Carter considered the consequences of fame, good or bad, and said: ''Everybody will be coming at us. They would be, anyway.''
''The curtain call is the only thing we do that might be controlled,'' Hernandez said. ''But it's probably too late to do that, anyway. After I was traded here in 1983, when I hit my first home run for the club, Rusty Staub told me I had to go out and take a curtain call. And that was before 3,000 people.''
And the fans loved it, Keith. Embrace the hate. Maybe this team, comfortable in its own skin, can beat the Phillies by 21 ˝ games like you did in 1986.
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