Embracing Your Team's History

The year 2009 is especially significant for both the Mets and Yankees. They've both christened brand new state-of-the-art ballparks. However, they couldn't be more different with regard to team history.

The new Yankee Stadium, designed to imitate the original ballpark constructed in 1923,  is a museum of Yankees past, from Babe to Bernie. Conversely, the new Met's stadium, CitiField, has very little in the way of Met's history. If anything, it is more a tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers. It resembles Ebbets Field in stature and is highlighted by a beautiful wing dedicated to the life of Jackie Robinson. Many Mets fans were dismayed that their two World Series Championship teams from 1969 and 1986 were not better represented. Whereas, when you walk through Yankee Stadium , there is no mistaking the fact that the Yankees are extremely proud of every one of their 26 titles, Monument Park withstanding. This is just one aspect of the disparity between the two organizations regarding the embracing of team history.

Let's compare two prominent players from each team's history, Keith Hernandez and Paul O'Neill. Neither player is Hall of Fame worthy. However, their contributions to their team's history are unmistakable. Each player, in his own way, was the heart and soul of his respective team. Each epitomized the style of play that made his team successful. Hernandez left the Mets on good terms in 1990 and finished out his career in Cleveland. O'Neill retired after the epic 2001 World Series. Each, coincidently, is currently employed as a TV analyst for his former team in NY. Here is where the contrast in team history is again examined. Since 2001, the Yankees have not allowed another player to wear O'Neill's number 21. It is not retired nor is it even spoken about in this regard. It is just the Yankees way of honoring a player in a quiet way that Mr. Steinbrenner deemed " The Warrior" . Across town, the Mets clearly don't have a similar regard for arguably one of the Top 5 players in team history. The player known as "Mex" sits in the SNY broadcast booth analyzing each Mets game having to watch Fernando Tatis play "his" position, wearing  "his"  number 17 and doing neither particularly well. This is clearly a slap in the face to Keith and any Mets fan that has any regard for the New York Mets history. "Wake up" Jeff Wilpon before we forget what little history your team has accomplished.  Start glorifying the players who put your team on the map, especially when one of them is already on your payroll.