Run & Read Like You Believe

Not sure whose brilliant idea it was to place the first days of spring so close to the last days of winter, but if you require something to warm you up as March’s lionlike weather persists, consider that we sit and shiver on the precipice of the 40th anniversary of the 1973 National League Championship, a pennant won memorably at Shea Stadium, no matter what the Mets do to commemorate it at Citi Field this season (which, based on announcements made as of this writing, will be nothing…but then again, they’ve been so busy putting together such an outstanding team).

Two parties, however, are paying homage to the resonance of 1973, and Mets fans are better off for it.

A credo for all Mets fans for all time, even these times.

If you’re the running kind, you’ll want to know that a limited-edition blue-and-orange singlet bearing the credo Ya Gotta Believe is available from the Tug McGraw Foundation, an organization devoted to fighting the effects of brain cancer in the name of our 1973 closer and emotional leader. You can get an idea how this beautiful and eternal message plays in its native colors here, as modeled (and photographed) by TMF runner and FAFIF favorite Sharon Chapman.

Long may their flag wave.

If you’re the reading kind — and you’re on this blog, so you must be — I offer an early endorsement of Swinging ’73, Matthew Silverman’s just-released visit to the days of four decades ago, when baseball was wild, the world was more so and the Mets turned both on their heads for six Amazin’ weeks. The Oakland A’s also show up in a co-starring role. I’ll have more to say about this book in short order, as it deserves more than a perfunctory mention, but it deserves all the mentioning it can get as soon as possible, so look into it here.

(And look here, too, while you’re at it. One great year deserves another book that spends quality time in the same chronological space.)