You know what they say about taking lemons and making lemonade? Or whatever it is chickens leave behind and turning it into chicken salad? Well, I’m guessing you’ll know exactly what that’s all about tonight at 6:30 when SNY debuts Mets Yearbook: 1978, wherein a two-game improvement from 1977’s 64-98 disaster will likely be hailed as earthshaking progress, and Willie Montañez’s prancing around the bases will be framed as more entertaining than Grease, Animal House and The Eyes of Laura Mars combined.
I haven’t seen the ’78 highlight film since ’79, but if I’m not mistaken, the San Diego Chicken’s visit to Shea is featured prominently. Chicken salad all around! If you can’t scoop up your serving tonight, set your contraptions to record it Tuesday afternoon at 1:00.
By the way, 1978 was also the year the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” came to be. I mention that because I believed the 66-96 Mets were indeed an avatar of earthshaking progress, at least for the first couple of months of that eventually depressing season. Kool-Aid, lemonade…when you’re 15 years old and the Mets are flirting with .500 on Memorial Day, you’ll drink anything and swear it’s refreshing.
Image courtesy of “Mario Mendoza…HOF lock” at Baseball-Fever.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by You Gotta Believe!, Greg Prince. Greg Prince said: #Mets Yearbook 1978 on SNY tonight 6:30, Tuesday 1 PM. Never will 66-96 be so much fun again. http://wp.me/pKvXu-1xr […]
The best player on the team desperately trying to prevent yet another runner from scoring (is that an Expo or a Cub maybe?)…that yearbook cover summarizes the 1978 Mets to a tee.
That’s a Cub. Real battle of the bands there.
John Stearns had the signature moment of the Mets’ sorry 1978 season (arguably the signature moment of Stearns’ Met career) when he held his ground and held onto the ball for a game-ending 9-2 double play in Pittsburgh–enduring a violent collision with Dave Parker that shattered Parker’s cheekbone while leaving the considerably smaller Stearns unscathed.
More than any other Met, Stearns exemplified the warrior in a hopeless cause.
Thanks for the programming update. At least the 1978 Yearbook has a lively action shot on teh cover. The 1979 cover features only a giant Mets logo; apparently no player was deemed “cover worthy.” Inside, just pages away from each other, are profiles of both Nino Espinosa and Richie Hebner, which is curious as the former was traded for the latter. Bobby V, who didn’t even make the ’79 squad, is prominently featured for his bubble gum blowing prowess. It’s the stuff broken dreams are made of.
The 1979 yearbook wasn’t taking any chances. And that NY logo came from a warmup jacket. It’s not like anybody who was wearing one was going to peel it off and doing anything worthwhile on a baseball field.
[…] Faith and Fear in Flushing – Greg Prince digs up the Mets 1978 yearbook. Is that John Stearns? I’m asking because I really don’t know. […]
Remember the “pinch of Mazzilli, dash of Staub, etc.” yearbook cover? I think it was 1980, maybe 1981? There was also the “take your kids to see our kids” cover around that time, the one with the child in over-sized Mets gear. That one was my least favorite.
One dollar for a yearbook in 1978, what does a 2010 yearbook go for, ten bucks or so?
I love how virtually every Yearbook (after the 60’s of course) starts with an opening day win. Then they get to the “reality” portion of the season, i.e. the other 161 games.
I can’t believe I forgot about the “By George We’ve Got It” yearbook, referring of course to Bamberger and Foster. THAT was my least favorite cover.
Should you ever meet anyone who says “I am a diehard fan” of whatever, show that person Mets Yearbook: 1978, for if you lived through all that and remained a New York Met loyalist, then you are qualified to be the arbiter of what a diehard fan really is.
Is John Stearns in the Mets HOF? He damn well ought to be, no Met ever gave so much and received so little.