When viewed from just a bit outside Metsopotamia, our obsessions must seem odd to the detached observer. I guess you could say that about how any community appears to anybody who’s not wholly immersed in it, but over the past couple of days, we have been uncommonly true to ourselves, our passions and our minutiae.
First, there was Logogate, the discovery that the sainted skyline emblem whose essential elements have remained virtually untouched for 53 years was tinkered with, perhaps nefariously. Only the most focused of Mets fans would immediately notice such an alteration. One of the most focused I’ve ever crossed paths with did. FAFIF reader and commenter Steve D. sent us (and others) an email over the weekend noting that the building on the far right of the skyline had been remodeled, at least on the Mets’ social media accounts. It was no longer the United Nations, but the Citigroup Center.
The switch would be a little curious on its own, but the “Citi” associaton set off alarm bells with Steve by Saturday and several more Mets fans blessed with detail detectors by Monday evening. My talented photographer friend David Whitham took the topic to Twitter as Jacob deGrom was striking out record numbers of Marlins, and by the next morning — as disseminated via Uni Watch and Mets Police, in particular — the observation was a story…or least a sidebar.
Somewhere between the dramatics of deGrom Monday night and the shriveling of Selig late Tuesday afternoon, several reporters who regularly patrol Citi Field covered the issue. The Mets told the accredited media, in so many words, we haven’t a clue how the UN became Citigroup. Which I believe, because if we’re gonna accuse the Mets hierarchy of being clueless, we have to stay consistent.
Several plausible theories have been floated, everything from “this was a typical corporate sellout conducted at the behest of the stadium’s naming-rights holders” (who, it deserves pointing out, are no longer headquartered at the no longer so-named Citigroup Center) to “somebody must have whipped up something for a PowerPoint presentation and it innocently seeped from hard drive to Facebook when a logo was called for.” The main thing was the Mets swore they weren’t modernizing/defiling the skyline that’s been their signature graphic since November of 1961, or before there technically were Mets.
Who cares? We care. We care a lot. It’s who we are, it’s what we do. Not everybody gets that, not necessarily even those who are the temporary custodians of our family crest. Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal tweeted this revealing nugget after investigating:
People I talked to today around the Mets were all pretty impressed you guys a) noticed and b) cared so much about the logo.
“That kind of passion,” Diamond concluded, “sure beats the alternative: apathy.”
So few matters we care about as Mets fans reside within our grasp that it felt wrong, whether you warm to the idea of contemporizing the skyline or see any adjustment as an affront against history — I’m in the latter camp — to be shown what appeared to be “the new logo” without any warning, let alone any request for input. Occasional gimmick notwithstanding, the Mets organization sets high prices for admission while preserving a low budget as a hedge against contention. Our only potential impact on those frustrating facts would be to turn away altogether from what the Mets are selling. September’s acres of empty seats would seem to indicate we’re doing a fine job of resisting their wares, but we’re still Mets fans, we still wear Mets stuff and, let’s face it, we’re not going anywhere.
Nor should we. This is our team. It was our team when a friendly society lady was listed as owner; it was our team when the frontman was a country club kind of chap who stood off to the side as he invested in rebuilding a winner; and it’s our team no matter how many Wilpons we have to endure. We don’t have a say about much. If we can sneak one in over something that kicks us right in the aesthetics, well, I’m glad we saw something and we said something.
From the looks of still photographs, amateur video and one or two live shots on television, plenty of Mets fans modeling plenty of apparel featuring the classic skyline logo clustered together at Citi Field Wednesday night and evinced a sense of enthusiasm rarely generated during the ballpark’s six seasons of existence. It had zero to do with the Mets’ latest loss to the Marlins. It had everything to do with something else — somebody else, actually — who qualifies as uniquely ours.
The Shea Bridge was jammed as if it was the on-ramp to the Triborough (RFK, if you’re a stickler) at rush hour. It wasn’t to cheer on Dillon Gee or curse out Marcell Ozuna. It was all about extending a reluctant goodbye laced with a hearty go-get-’em to favorite son Kevin Burkhardt. Burkhardt’s been SNY’s Met field reporter since 2007. If Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are Original to the network in the Hot Rod Kanehl sense, let’s slot Kevin in as Ron Hunt. Hunt came along in the franchise’s second year and showed just how good an up-and-coming Met could be.
Burkhardt took on a frankly useless role and, via a voice that never wavered in its honesty, transformed it into essential. He was a co-star of the greatest show on nightly television; Mets telecasts are engaging, enlightening and entertaining, more so the miracle given that Mets baseball has been anything but. And (unlike Hunt), Kevin kept getting better. The man was already an ace, but not even Tom Seaver came out of the womb throwing first-pitch strikes.
Across eight seasons, Burkhardt learned to work his way seamlessly out of all but the most mandatory of superfluous action-interrupting interviews. He grew out of his dependence on “cool” and “neat” to describe people and places he deemed, well, cool and neat. For a few years, a friend and I mocked his tendency to start every sentence with “Guys…” I noticed he stopped doing that.
I love watching somebody get better at what he or she loves to do. Kevin Burkhardt was a joy to watch in that regard. He was a joy to watch in every regard, in every setting, in every stadium. The joy filtered through the television and it followed him around Citi Field. It’s no wonder that in advance of his final home game, once Darren Meenan of the 7 Line put out the word to gather along the Shea Bridge to celebrate Kevin’s elevation to a higher-profile position at Fox Sports and thank him for his contributions to our culture, Mets fans showed up and showed their appreciation.
Again, the outsider might wonder what all the fuss was about for a field reporter. He called no clinchers. He had to pause for pieings. He hopped in a kayak in San Francisco. He went marketing for meat in San Diego. He kibbitzed with construction workers and rookies’ parents. He wasn’t Jack Buck in St. Louis or Ernie Harwell in Detroit or Bob Murphy at Shea Stadium. Eight seasons is significant, but in the annals of broadcasting, it’s not normally the stuff of institutions.
Ah, but Kevin Burkhardt was ours. In Metsopotamia, we cherish that. We take it gloriously personally. He was one of us, which certainly helped, but his Mets fan roots didn’t conflict with his professionalism (just as they don’t for Gary Cohen and Howie Rose). Mostly he was a mensch, and he devoted his menschiness to giving us an even better broadcast. We appreciate the hell out of that sort of devotion to our cause, especially when it meshes with his kind of excellence at his craft. Of course he’d draw a crowd. Of course he’d find a way to embrace the sentiments while deflecting the praise. Of course he’d offer up a public letter of thanks to Mets fans everywhere. The guy I used to think of as “Guys” is just that kind of guy.
Burkhardt was a bright star in the Madoff Network firmament. He’ll find a nice niche at Fox Sports. The Wilpons will probably go the way ofj the other RSNs and hire some bimbo to replace KB. Gelbs is filler. Need a hot, amply breasted female. Because, Mets.
Hats off to Kevin! Just glad he’s not going to the Yankees to replace Sterling. Hope he can work in the humor in the Fox gigs.
Kevin did a superior job in an odd role. Most can’t do it. He is being properly rewarded.
I’ve definitely enjoyed the Kevin Burkhardt Era, but . . .
Isn’t it a bit weird that his 8 years here have coincided with 8 years of heartbreak then futility? Is there a Kurse of Kevin?
Well, he’s no Chris Cotter, but…
I like the idea of removing the UN from the Mets logo. The way the UN operates these days, I’d like to remove it from NY too.
He called no clincher, but he was there for the greatest day in Citi Field history–6/1/12.
Bring Back Matt Yallof!
In 52 years I’ve never really pondered the Mets Logo a whole lot, but I’m wondering how it remained unchanged when the World Trade Center was built.
Was there pressure to include it? Did they decide not to include it because it was so ugly? Or, as I suspect nobody really cared much about such things back then.
I don’t remember any consideration being given to changing it to include the WTC, but then again, we didn’t have 24/7/365 multimedia about every single thing back then. I suspect that if it was discussed anywhere, the verdict was “this is our logo, we’re not changing it every time a new big building goes up.”
Just leave the damn logo alone, Mets front office. You’ve done more than enough already. And good luck to KB, one of the few action-interrupters who actually made me laugh more than once. We’re just so fortunate to have such a killer broadcasting team. You ever hear some of these local guys around MLB? We’re lucky indeed.
While I understand the desire to keep the logo as it’s always been, I would not be opposed to a special commemoration patch featuring the WTC and Freedom Tower during the September 11 anniversaries. If MLB is going to anal about the players not being able to wear first responders caps during the game, then how could an “alternate” patch not be allowed since it does not really alter the uniform? Just my .02
Thanks for the compliment Greg. I’m no art critic, but to me the original logo is a work of art…it represents parts of our city, has a beautiful script, models baseball and is colorful. The space is used well and the buildings look in perfect balance. It was used by the only Met teams to win championships. To change it is to deface a work of art. It has already been defaced to some extent and we have to overlook it at this point and move on. The thought that is was changed either for money or to reward a business partner would have been too much and I believe now that it was not intentional. I am too young to remember the founding days of this franchise, when they had no hope of winning…but man they had a killer logo.
For those in attendance, KB’s “Johan, you’ve just thrown the first no-hitter in New York Mets history,” was the first call we heard of the event. It makes me smile every time I hear it. He’ll be missed. He was the last flower in a perfect bouquet that is the SNY broadcast team.
From one Kevin to another, I wish him only the best.
Kevin Burhardt will be missed. Although he was knocked for it at times, I thought he did a good job filling in for play by play as well. A class guy and I wish him nothing but the best.
Although Kevin Burkhardt’s always been a likeable guy doing a thankless job well, I always thought Matt Loughlin performed comparable tasks just as well on Met telecasts on MSG a decade ago before he moved on to radiocasting Devils games.
You are so right about Loughlin. He was actually the best part of their broadcasts between 1997-2001, the team itself notwithstanding. Sure we had Howie, but he was on TV working alongside an absolute buffoon; hard to be on top of your game when your partner won’t help. Matt was a solid pro and he wasn’t afraid to have fun either. And does anybody remember when MSG and the old Fox Sports New York brought back Kiner’s Korner with Matt setting Ralph up for his stories? Good stuff; at least I thought so.
In early 2006, I wished Matt would go over to SNY but he had his Devils contract to fulfill and then, as you said, he moved to radio to do PBP; not like Emrick was leaving their TV booth for a while. Good for him as he got to call a Stanley Cup Finals two years ago. So we got Cotter, who to me became “the guy who had no friends” as he’d always do his reports in empty pockets of stadiums. He was ok, but I don’t think he was SNY’s first choice. Kevin took time to warm up to as well, but after Willie Randolph was fired, I learned what a real Met fan he was when he blasted the organization on the air; that made me a fan. The Met fan in me will miss KB; the Giant fan in me doesn’t want to see him for a while, especially after that fourth quarter last Sunday.
Well said.
I can really relate to the issue of changing the logo. I am convinced King Wilpon did it for the money. Everything this royal family does is about the finances. I have been going to Met games since I was 8. From that first game in 1965 till the last game at Shea, every game began with the singing of OUR song, Meet the Mets. If you didn’t know the words they were printed on the scoreboard, just follow the bouncing ball. I have always thought we should sing that during the 7th inning stretch. Take me out to the ball game is such a Cubs thing. So the first thing I notice at the exhibition games the Mets played against the Red Sox, was that they didn’t sing OUR song anymore. And every Citifield game since, they don’t sing Meet the Mets anymore. My guess is they got tired of paying a royalty fee 81 times a year. The saddest thing about tossing a 40 plus year tradition? That newer Met fans don’t even know the words. No more let’s go down and greet the Mets, bringing the kiddies and the wife. No more socking those home runs over the wall. Not guaranteed to have the times of our life? East side, west side, it’s just pathetic! Yet no one seems to care, which just really sucks.
Nicely written. I always loved the Mets logo because it shows that a team is more than just its name. We have a city (of diehard fans)
Kevin has always been a class act. There is something about the way he presented facts that made it interesting. When he covered for others I listened. Most of the regular broadcasts were filled with white noise banter. It was nice to watch him develop. Who knows perhaps down the road he will return as lead broadcaster.