The 2010 Mets are a temporary condition. Mets fandom, however, is a lifetime proposition. Some dispatches from around Metsopotamia, most of them showing us again that blue and orange waters run deep.
• Faith and Fear reader Tim Hanley wrote in to let us know he and his home movie of Ron Swoboda’s Game Four catch [1]in the 1969 World Series will be included in the forthcoming Baseball: A New York Love Story [2], with his segment premiering on Channel 13, Wednesday, September 29, at 10:30 PM and Channel 21 Thursday, September 30, at 12:30 AM. This is part of a multichapter documentary WNET produced in conjunction with Baseball: The Tenth Inning [3], which itself debuts Tuesday. Ken Burns’s work picks up where his original masterpiece left off, in the early ’90s. If there are 30 seconds devoted to the Mets in these four new hours, I’ll be shocked.
• Faith and Fear reader Sharon Chapman is running diligently toward the New York City Marathon [4] in early November. When not training, she’s been raising funds (with the help of viewers like you) for the Tug McGraw Foundation [5], collecting nearly $5,400 to date for a most worthy cause. Her most recent warmup race was the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon and her wristband of choice, naturally, bore the imprint of your favorite blog [6]. To donate to Tug’s foundation and help fight brain tumors, please click here [7].
[8]Hey guy! The FAFIF tee takes its place alongside the likes of Stan the Man in Cooperstown.
• We can now say the Faith and Fear t-shirt has made it to the Hall of Fame. Inducted? Not quite, but ace illustrator [9] Jim Haines was kind enough to don our garment of choice [10] when visiting Cooperstown this summer and thorough enough to let everyone checking out the ballparks exhibit the URL you all need to know. Note that Jim has stopped off at the Polo Grounds; that was the first home of the Mets in case anybody in Mets ownership needs to be reminded.
[11]The rarely photographed back of our shirt, pictured in front of images rarely invoked at Citi Field.
• There are no actual Elimination shirts [12], but Randy Medina at the Apple knew there ought to be. And they were a hit [13]! Hopefully the Fourth Place Clinching shirts are right around the corner.
• The Apple’s Elimination apparel line may be pure fiction, but you can actually still get a Gary Sheffield 500th Home Run cap [14] on mets.com for some unfathomable reason along with $19.97 plus shipping and handling. $19.97 for a Gary Sheffield 500th Home Run cap? That’s about $17.97 more than it should be (if it should be at all), but take heart: it’s marked down from $24.99.
• Can’t let the subject of Metwear go by without tipping you off to Metstradamus’s investigative report from an Old Navy location in Queens [15]. Let’s just say it’s a great place to get your hands on a Marlins tee.
• Belated congratulations to savvy Mets GM nominee Howard Megdal who swept all his primaries (including ours [16]) and has since taken the next step of letting the Mets know about it [17]. We look forward to a Megdal administration, both for the wins and the poems we’re sure it will produce.
• One of the greatest World Series games ever has just turned up intact on kinescope, thanks to Bing Crosby’s superstition and meticulousness. You’ve gotta read Richard Sandomir’s story [18] in the Times of how we’ll finally get to see the Yankees lose Game Seven of the 1960 Fall Classic to Bill Mazeroski and the Pirates. How is this Mets-related? C’mon…
• Throughout this mostly desultory year, Matt Silverman has been rebuilding the season-by-season history of New York Mets, even the seasons that were akin to 2010 (spoiler alert: there were a lot of them). Visit Met Silverman [19] and catch up, starting with the most recent installment, a salute to 1982 that far exceeds the 65-97 campaign itself.
• Finally, a reluctant farewell to 1979 Met pitcher Wayne Twitchell, who died too young (62, from cancer) earlier this month in his native Oregon. Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian captures his life [20] before, during and after his time as a major leaguer, most of which he spent with the Phillies. I was on hand for his one and only Met home start, which wasn’t the greatest night [21] for either him or me, but it’s all part of the tapestry. Our condolences go out to his loving family.