August 11- New York Mets

The New York Mets have been an on-going joke in the New York metropolitan area as well as on social media for the better part of the last 20 years or so. It’s come in the form of subway signs

television shows

and even if the form of logos created by the team which resemble that of Domino’s Pizza.

Nonetheless, a lot of it comes in the form of good fun while other times it appears to be a cyclical internal habit by the Mets themselves. One moment in particular I wrote about on May 4th with now infamous “ice cream” uniforms. At the end of the day though, the Mets should be given a lot more credit. After all, they did win two World Series titles in 1969 and 1986 and they’ve also drafted, brought up, traded for and signed a lot of talent over the years.

And of course there’s also that time Bobby Bonilla became the smartest man to ever sign a Major League contract.

I for one will admit that I haven’t been the most pleasant person to critique the Mets and financial decisions, but I assure you that none of it is done with malice as the intent. The Mets will always have a soft spot in my heart because of Gary Carter and their title run in 1986, my first conscious memory of watching a Major League Baseball game on television. For me, it’s hard to watch a team with so much money and talent come up short every year, even if it is a New York team. Hell, for the last 20 years of my life I’ve had to deal with heartbreak coming from a team who has no money and a vast crop of talent every season, only to see it broken down and rebuilt year after year. That team of course is the Oakland Athletics. The Mets are different though. There are elements of their decisions that are reminiscent of the Athletics teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s in that they have a lot of money, but work with a lot of homegrown talent on top of a few key signings. Unfortunately for the Mets, most of their signings haven’t really panned out. But there is a more specific reason why the current Mets team reminds me so much my beloved A’s teams, their general manager Sandy Alderson. Only time will tell if Alderson can right the slowly sinking ship in Flushing, but his first few major moves are definitely an indication that he’s in it to win.

One deal in particular that is a reflection of the Mets’ willingness to win took place on December 5, 2012 when the team re-signed their 2001 draft pick and multiple All-Star spot-winning third baseman David Wright for an additional eight years on top of his then-current contract. The most interesting aspect of this announcement, for me at least, came during the winter meetings when the Mets took the opportunity to unveil their new All-Star Game uniform patches, a few new jerseys and lastly, this cap.

When I first saw it I didn’t now what to make of it. I either had missed the formal announcement and the unveiling of the cap or the Mets didn’t say anything at all as Wright sat up on the stage to field questions while it sat on his head. The 2013 batting practice cap photos hadn’t been released yet so I just assumed that’s what he was wearing. Not at all. The new Mets hat that Wright was sporting is in fact the Sunday/special event alternate cap that the team has been rocking all season long, and to be honest, I actually dig it.

I was super bummed that the Mets decided to retire their road cap at the end of the 2011 season, but they certainly made a strong effort to make up for it with this cap. The color combo is kind of interesting as it has the same appearance as the Citi Field logo up above, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. Orange is an odd color to work with, especially when it comes to the bill, but it works swimmingly against the royal blue crown. Also, the addition of the orange over the white on the “NY” logo helps keep the focus off of one specific area. Even though it didn’t get much play in 2013 it was still one of the better additions for any team over the last six or seven years.

I’ve written many times about how uniform changes can make or break a team and unfortunately for the Mets this was one of those times where it broke them. They finished with the same record as they did in 2012 under Terry Collins (74-88), but they got a lot of performances out of Wright and a few other up-and-coming stars. I did my best not to pick favorites, but the obvious choices were right in everyone’s face. 

#5- Wright was born in Norfolk, Virginia and raised in Chesapeake where he attended school at Hickory High School and worked extensively with Coach Gregory Friedman of Bellmore JFK. Wright was the 2001 Gatorade Virginia High School Player of the Year and earned All-State honors in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He was also named Virginia All-State Player of the Year in 2001. Over his four-year career at Hickory, Wright hit .438 with 13 home runs and 90 RBIs. Upon graduation Wright planned to attend Georgia Tech and major in engineering, but the opportunity to make the pros stepped into the light.

Wright was chosen 38^th overall by the Mets in the 2001 amateur draft during the supplemental round as compensation for the Mets' loss of Mike Hampton to the Colorado Rockies in free agency. Wright was selected after future teammate Aaron Heilman who had been selected with the 18^th overall pick. Wright progressed steadily in his first three years of minor league play, winning the Sterling award for best player on the class A St. Lucie Mets in 2003. In 2004, he quickly rose from the AA Binghamton Mets, to the AAA Norfolk Tides, to the Majors when he made his short-awaited debut on July 21^st.

I’m still not sure why, but Wright somehow managed to not even receive a vote for the 2004 National League Rookie of the Year Award despite hitting .293, 14 home runs and 40 RBI in 69 games. Granted, the winner, Jason Bay, did have a great season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he also played in 120 games. Either way, over the next six years Wright flourished. He made the All-Star team five years in a row from 2005-2010, won back-to-back Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in 2007 and 2008 and finished in the top-10 for the NL MVP three years in a row from 2006-2008.

Wright had a bit of a down year in 2011, mostly due to injury, but bounced back in 2012 with a sixth place finish for the NL MVP and another nod to the All-Star team. For his career Wright has a .301 average and could potentially be a member of the 3,000 hit club if he’s able to grind out a few 200+ hit seasons along the way. The most impressive thing about Wright is that he holds the franchise record for 11 offensive categories in only 10 seasons of work including hits (1558), runs (853), doubles (345), RBI (876), walks (671) and sacrifice flies (60). He is also a substantially wealthy individual, most of which didn’t come on the baseball field. See, back in 2007 Wright became a spokesman for Vitamin Water which was a product of the Queens, New York based company Glaceau. Rather than receive one paycheck, Wright negotiated a 0.5% ownership of the company. It may not seem like much until Coca-Cola bought Glaceau for $4.1 billion. Athletic AND business savvy!

#28- Just like Wright, Daniel Murphy is a homegrown talent who was plucked from the swamps of Jacksonville University in Florida in the 13^th round of the 2006 amateur draft. Murphy’s time in the minors only lasted two years, the first of which was spent in St. Lucie where hit .285 with 11 home runs and 78 RBI in 135 games in 2007. The following season Murphy played at all three levels but made a jump to the Majors on August 2^nd after an injury to Marlon Anderson made room for him as the most viable replacement. In his first major league at-bat, against three-time All-Star Roy Oswalt, Murphy hit a single. Later in the same game, he made a difficult catch against the left field wall, throwing out Hunter Pence at second base for a double play to end the inning. As of August 9, 2008, Murphy was only the 5th Mets rookie to record 10 hits in his first 20 at-bats. Murphy hit his first home run in the bottom of the 6th inning against the Florida Marlins at Shea Stadium on August 9. According to Major League Baseball rules, players are no longer considered a rookie if they have had more than 130 at-bats in a single season. Murphy had 131 at-bats for the Mets during the 2008 season, thus making 2008 his rookie season by a single at-bat. He finished the season batting .313, with 2 home runs and 17 RBI.

Murphy, a natural third baseman, moved around in the field, getting a few starts in left field and other in the infield. Since 2009 Murphy has been a regular fixture in the Mets lineup with the exception of 2010 when he missed the entire season due to a MCL tear while trying to turn a double play during a rehab game with the then-AAA affiliate the Buffalo Bisons. Murphy had hurt his knee during a Spring Training game. In 2011 Murphy’s season ended after 109 games after injuring the same MCL that had been repaired. In 2012 he came back at full-strength as the full-time second baseman. His .290 career average is one of the best on the team over the last few years including his 2011 campaign in which he was hitting .320 before his injury.

While I didn’t have the opportunity to meet Wright during my time in the MLB Fan Cave (missed it by two days), I was able to meet and have a few words with Murphy. That day in particular was kind of interesting because Murphy inadvertently violated one of the biggest rules of the Fan Cave: no clothing items from any of the other professional leagues allowed… ESPECIALLY THE NFL.

Even though I knew it would cause beef with the executives I just had to snap a photo, which I was told to never post on social media. In the mean time, one of the interns was sent downstairs immediately to grab a jersey for Murphy out of the “supply closet,” a room full of MLB gear including hats, shirts, autographed baseball and other cool trinkets. 

After that, the mood was a bit more relaxed. Murphy kicked it on the couch for a social media interview while we all waited for our second special guest, Arsenio Hall.

If there’s anyone who I have ever met that wasn’t built with an off switch, it’s definitely Arsenio, and I don’t mean that as an insult. With every question asked him he had a fantastic joke. He was genuine and polite with everyone who came up to talk to him, but he was honest and humble anytime someone asked him about coming up in the comedy game. The concept that the production crew had brought the two of them in for was a fishbowl Q&A, where basically there was a fishbowl filled with strip of paper with questions on them that the two asked one another. The responses were pretty natural, which made for a good segment. Unfortunately most of the best footage was left on the cutting room floor due to language and subject matter. Does that surprise you?

May 15- New York Mets

I started writing this article earlier in the day, but quickly realized by the third paragraph that I was in fact writing a decent lead for a completely different New York Mets hat. I had a feeling something like this would happen; that I wouldn’t be able to form a strong enough opening to my story. For hours I’ve gone back-and-forth with different methods and ideas of how to kick this off, but none of them worked. The last few days seemed much easier to put together and I really have no idea why this article is so difficult. I guess something like this was bound to happen after 133 articles each and every day. I just want everything to be perfect.

Since 2008 the New York Mets have hosted a Military Appreciation Day every Memorial Day along with the USO. This upcoming Memorial Day will mark the sixth year they’ve done something so grand. Over 1400 active and retired members of the armed forces will be on hand as the Mets host their cross-town rival the New York Yankees. Last season the Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies before a packed house at Citi Field, losing the first game of the series. I remember the day vividly as it was the final full day that I was in the MLB Fan Cave. Eddie Mata, the Yankees fan, and I were shown the door the next day. But the one thing that made it all worth while was when Eddie had scored tickets from the owner of the Phillies for the rubber match on Wednesday.

I had never been to Citi Field, let alone Shea Stadium, but I can honestly say that it is in my Top-five of the stadiums I have visited. Our tickets were about 15 rows behind home plate. Both of us just looked in awe at one another with every “private” door that we were given access to. Around us were a few veterans who were still in town enjoying a game before they had to report back to their base over the weekend. Eddie and I chatted them up a bit, asked where they were from, etc. Eddie asked a few questions too many in my opinion, so I sat back and enjoyed the game without getting too involved. I crushed one of the finest pastrami sandwiches I had ever eaten, I drank a few beers, got soft serve ice cream in a helmet (only way to go), but mostly got to enjoy my freedom again after being cooped up in a glass box for two months. As great and as cool as the experience looks on the outside, it’s way more stressful than I could have ever imagined.

I’ll go into more details of that night in a later post. I found it fitting for the time period and as a reflection of how good I have it some times. Life could always be worse, and life certainly was worse a little shy of a hundred years ago when the United States was involved in its first overseas conflict during World War I. The US had gone to war several times in the previous 200 years, but none of them took as many lives as the four-year conflict we encountered, added on with the influenza outbreak of 1919 which killed millions more. Seriously, the flu. Back then it wasn’t a joke, and it was all made worse by the introduction of chemical-based weapons like mustard gas which were introduced during the war, and eventually brought back within the men who fought and later died due to complications. The most notable figure who faced this was Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson, but he’ll come up again in a later post. Only one person with ties to the Mets throughout baseball history was involved with the first Great War, but very little can be found about his time in the military.

#37- The Old Perfessor, Casey Stengel, served as the original Mets manager from 1962 until the middle of the 1965 season. Prior to his time with the Mets Stengel was a Hall of Fame-bound manager of the Yankees. From 1949-1960 he led the Yanks to 10 World Series, but only won seven of them (1949-1953, 1956 and 1958). His time with the Mets went in the exact opposite direction; he posted some of the worst years in Major League history and became the first manager of a team to compile 100 or more losses in three or more straight seasons. His final record with the Mets was 175-404 and he never managed in baseball again after August 30, 1965.

Stengel played professionally from 1912-1925 as a right fielder for the Brooklyn Robins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants and Boston Braves. In 1919, when he was with the Pirates he was taunted mercilessly by fans of the Robins, his old team. Somehow Casey got hold of a sparrow and used it to turn the crowd in his favor. With the bird tucked gently beneath his cap, Casey strutted to the plate amidst a chorus of boos and catcalls. He turned to the crowd, tipped his hat and out flew the sparrow. The jeers turned to cheers, and Stengel became an instant favorite. In 1921 and 1922 he won two World Series rings as a member of the Giants, thus bringing his ring total up to nine as a player and a manager.

From what I’ve been able to track down his time in the military is a bit of mystery. This is his draft card from May 28, 1917, two days before Memorial Day.

Everything looks pretty legit; however, where everything goes weird is that I found a site that has Stengel listed as having been in the Navy and served during World War I, but according to his stat sheets he played ball every year from 1917-1918 the last few years and months of the war. So, being the good journalist that I am, I kept digging until I found an answer… and sure enough I did in the form of an article from the St. Petersburg Times from July 28, 1963: Casey Stengel

 Stengel never fought overseas. Hell, he never even left the dock. But that was how things went for professional ballplayers throughout the military campaign.

The one thing that I will always give full credit to the Mets about is that they were classy enough to retire Stengel's #37 by the end of the '65 season. Even though his time there wasn't something to be celebrated, the fans and the front office loved having him in the house. The other important thing to note from this is that it took until 1970 for the Yankees to give Stengel the same amount of love.That's the Amazin' Mets for ya!

May 4- New York Mets

It’s no real surprise to baseball fans that the New York Mets have been an ongoing joke since their first year in 1962. Even though the team won two World Series titles in 1969 and 1986, they’ll always be the punch-line of any joke, tasteful or not, that the sport has to offer. Having not been alive for the season between 1962 and 1982 I really have no basis of comparison to really validate any of the jokes from that time period. I merely have Ken Burns Baseball and almanacs to assist me with that. The jokes that I can vouch for; however, all take place after the 1989 season.

For those of you who don’t know, or don’t remember, the very first game I can recall ever watching is Game six of the 1986 World Series; probably one of the greatest games in baseball history and a fantastic one for an up-and-coming baseball fan to cut his teeth on. Outside of winning the Series the Mets had gone 108-54 on the season under then manager Davey Johnson, a record that still stands as their best in franchise history. In 1988 he led the team to the National League Championship Series behind a 100-62 record, tied for the second best record in Mets history. The Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games; and the Dodgers would move on to with the World Series that year. In 1989 the Mets finished in second place (87-75) and in 1990 Johnson was fired after starting the season 20-22, paving the way for Bud Harrelson who went 71-49 as Johnson’s replacement. Despite producing the two greatest years in Mets history, including a World Series trophy, Johnson was canned for a ridiculous reason; the Mets’ brass wasn’t exactly fond of his coaching methods.  Years later, Johnson summed up his approach to managing by saying, "I treated my players like men. As long as they won for me on the field, I didn't give a flying fuck what they did otherwise."

With a solid finish of the 1990 season in his pocket, Harrelson began his first full season as a manager in the Majors in 1991. He wouldn’t even finish the season. Harrelson would only manage 154 of those games, going 74-80 before getting the axe as Mike Cubbage went 3-4 to finish the season out. The Jeff Torborg era lasted one-and-a-quarter season from 1992-1993, ushering in the Dallas Green era which turned out to be a four-year pile of suck as Green replaced Torborg part-way into the ’93 season to finish 46-78. Green was fired near the end of the 1996 season after going 229-283 during his time. Green’s replacement, Bobby Valentine, finished out the ’96 season with a 12-19 record, but was allowed to keep the job as skipper going into the 1997 season. So let’s break it down for all of you playing at home; Johnson, the most successful manager in Mets history was canned despite his results, three more unsuccessful managers came and went and now we have Bobby V in the ranks. Yah, this all makes perfect sense why the Mets are a laughing stock. But I’m not done yet.

With yet another changing of the guard it only med sense that the Mets would make a few changes to their uniforms as well. I mean why not? The Mets had only been using the same hat for every game since their debut in 1962. Yah, this is kind of a big deal. You would kind of think that the Mets, always competing with their cross-town counter part New York Yankees, would unveil something totally badass. Weeeeellllll… no. They brought out the ice cream hat.

Seriously, that’s what the media called it. What made it even worse is that the Mets introduced new white uniforms as well. And by white, I mean all white. They cut out the pinstripes, thus leaving something that looked like everyone who wore it should be working in a malt shop circa 1955. Might be a good time to run for mayor.

I will say one thing for the Mets; they made a smart move by bringing Valentine on as their skipper. He went 536-467 from the end of 1996-2002 including a trip to the World Series in 2000. But, like every other manager in Mets history, if you have one bad season you’re done… unless you’re Dallas Green.

When I first marked this cap up I had put “’97” on it as a mere reminder to Mets fans of how things could always be worse than it looks. I then looked through a few of the players’ numbers and made an interesting observation as to how this cap and uniform set may have actually helped two players improve their career. So, without further ado, here you go!

#0- Most people won’t remember him as #0; however, that was how Rey Ordonez started his Major League career out. He wore #0 from 1996-1997 and switched it to #10 for the remainder for his stint with the Mets and the one year he played with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  While many historians and Mets fans would contest that ’97 was nothing to brag about for Ordonez, I say you’re looking at the wrong numbers. Yes, offensively he had the worst full year of his career; batting .216 with one home run and 33 RBI. The numbers I’m looking at are his defensive numbers. In 1997 Ordonez won his first of three consecutive Gold Gloves at shortstop, an impressive feat considering that Cincinnati Reds shortstop and Hall of Famer had cleaned house on the previous three. Not bad Rey, not bad at all.

#28- Unless you’re a hardcore Mets fan, I doubt very few of you remember a pitcher named Bobby Jones. No, I’m not talking about the Hall of Fame golfer whom Hollywood made a movie about staring Jim Caviezel in 2004. I’m talking about the guy who pitched for the Mets from 1993-2000.

Jones was a first round pick by the Mets in the 1991 amateur draft out of Fresno State. He made his debut on August 14, 1993, but was still noted as a rookie throughout the 1994 season in which he finished eighth in the NL Rookie of the Year vote with a 12-7 record and a 3.15 ERA. In 1995 and 1996 he put up some decent numbers, but nothing of real notoriety. In 1997; however, he had a career season. He went 15-9 with a 3.63 ERA and 125 strikeouts. His performance on the season would help him make his first and only All-Star Game of his career. After that his career took a downturn until the 2000 season which would be his only year after ’97 that he would have a win/loss record over .500.

So I guess there were a few diamonds in the rough amongst all the bad play and decisions that were the ’97 season. You just have to know where to look and what you’re looking for.

March 16- New York Mets

Back on March 6 when I wrote my piece on the Portland Beavers I had promised myself that any hat that I marked with a date I would wait until that date to write about it. Yet, here we are on March 16, ten days later, and I am breaking my own rules. Rebel!!! No, today was a bit inadvertent actually. I woke up this morning around 2 o’clock in the afternoon after getting home from the library around 5 AM. I got out of bed, did my usual routine and then shuffled through my New Era Caps to figure out which one I would be wearing/writing about. I’ve done a pretty decent job of spacing out writing about the same team; however, I realized that there were a few teams I had been neglecting for some time, even when it came to their Minor League affiliates. The New York Mets haven’t exactly been all that creative with their hats, as they’ve been using the same royal blue one since the first time they took the field in 1962. Nonetheless, I decided to pull the stickers off of this bad boy and take to the streets with it on my dome.

Believe it or not I do have about 45 or more hats that I still haven’t taken the stickers off. Therefore, I have about 45 or more hats that I haven’t marked up yet. This one was one of those few. The Mets introduced it in 1999 as their road cap, only a year after releasing the alternate cap I wrote about on January 7. Unlike the black panel with blue bill that went defunct after the 2011 season, this cap is still in active use. It is also only the fourth variation of a Mets hat to ever hit the market, while the alternate was the third. The second variation I will write about some time after the season starts up, and the fifth is hardly than hell to find as only one person I actually know owns it. Despite the fact that this is the road cap, the Mets still found themselves using it off and on during their time at Shea Stadium; a move that I can only assume was on account of an absent minded equipment manager. But then again, we are talking about the Mets here. They’re pretty absent minded themselves.

Throughout my shift at Max’s Tavern I kept looking up stats and jersey numbers in my phone so that I would be ready to crank my blog post out once I got off work. 2000 had some pretty decent moments. After all, that was the last time the Mets made it to the World Series where they were given a prompt five game exit by the New York Yankees. Numerous worth writing about players had been a part of the club since ’99: Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green, Benny Agbayani, Rey Ordonez, Jose Reyes, Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz… ok, maybe not the last two. But regardless of all of their accomplishments, there was one specific moment associated with this hat that kept flashing through my head. Since I didn’t have another hat on me, and because I wouldn’t have been able to make it to my house and back to the library in enough time, I decided to bite the bullet and mark it up with the date of that moment.

6/9/99- As I mentioned just a little bit ago, the Mets made a habit out of wearing their “road” cap at home, and this was certainly one of those memorable nights. The Toronto Blue Jays were visiting Flushing, New York that night for the final game of a three game series. The Mets had won the previous two meetings and were looking for a solid sweep to give them momentum before their three game series versus the Boston Red Sox started the next night. David Wells started the game for the Jays and went 8 2/3 while only giving up three earned runs. Rick Reed took the mound for the Mets and was pulled out after going six innings and giving up three earned runs himself. After nine innings of play the score remained knotted at three apiece. Same with the 10^th. And then same with the 11^th. In the top if the 12^th the Jays had Shannon Stewart on first with second baseman Craig Grebeck at the plate. Mets pitcher Pat Mahomes threw a pitch out to the right side of the batters box for Mike Piazza to catch and throw out a stealing Stewart. As Piazza caught and immediately threw the ball, home plate umpire Randy Marsh (not this Randy Marsh)

immediately called catchers interference and Stewart was awarded the base. Mets manager Bobby Valentine came flying out of the dugout to argue the call. A few choice words were thrown around and Bobby V was given hook. A few more disgruntled words were exchanged before Bobby headed down the clubhouse tunnel to hit the showers. Now wanting to watch the rest of the game in his office, Bobby V broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball by donning a disguise to watch the rest of the game from the dugout.

Bobby was never caught during the game; however, League officials certainly took notice, thanks in part to the play-by-play crew pointing it out on camera. The game continued on, and in the bottom of the 14^th, with Brian McCrae on third base, the Mets got a walk-off victory after a deep single by Rey Ordonez. Bobby V was given a $5,000 fine and suspended two games for his stunt.

According to baseball lore, it has never been noted if anyone else has ever thrown on a disguise after being ejected from a ball game before, but it is known that Bobby V was certainly the Johnny Appleseed of this not-so-routine managerial decision. Winning!

One last little tidbit of info from this game which pertains to recent events; recently deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threw out the first pitch. 

January 18- Las Vegas 51s

There are very few logos within baseball that bring me to my knees in a state of absolute awe. When it comes to the Minor Leagues, no one does it better than the Las Vegas 51s. This particular hat has been around since 2003, the early part of the Los Angeles Dodgers time frame of having them as their AAA affiliate. The Dodgers had them from 2001-2008, the Toronto Blue Jays had them from 2009-2012 and the New York Mets took over for the 2013 season. Which is actually a funny coincidence since Travis d’Arnaud spent all of 2012 there as a member of the Jays, only to be traded to the Mets as a key piece in the RA Dickey deal back on December 17, 2012; which will more than likely be where he’ll be starting out in 2013. Over the last decade a lot of Major League talent donned this cap, and I couldn’t think of two more talented guys to sport than #41 and #50.

#41 was kind of an obvious choice: Matt Kemp. Kemp played for the 51 from 2006-2007. Playing in only 83 games in those two years, he went on to put up .343/7/56. Yah, that’s right! Kemp only hit seven home runs during his time in Sin City. Obviously his performance the last few years in the Majors has proven his worth as a top prospect for the Dodgers, but still! Seven home runs in AAA? Unreal! A of other talent obviously swept through Vegas: Andre Ethier, Cody Ross, James Loney and Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) for example; however, not one really had the talent as #50.

#50- Chin-Feng Chen. Unless you’re an avid Dodgers fan, you probably don’t have a clue who this guy is. Back in 1999 he played for the San Bernardino Stampede, along with other notables like Mark Grudzielanek, Bubba Crosby and former National League Rookie of the Year Todd Hollandsworth. 1999 was also the first year I was bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze. So needless to say, I saw Chen do some work against the ball club I worked for. That season Chen posted .316/31/123; absolutely monstrous. At that time I was lucky enough to see him crush four bombs in Sam Lynn Ball Park; two of which cleared the sun visor in center field. Now, you’re probably thinking, what does this have to do with the 51s? I’m getting to that. Chen was a borderline lifer for the 51s, playing from 2002-2005. During those years Chen got called up for a total of 19 games. During his time in Vegas Chen hit 87 home runs, knocked in 298 RBI and batted .283. Pretty solid stats for AAA. Unfortunately, in the 19 games he played in LA, he was only able to muster two hits and two RBI. But, Chen was still the first Taiwanese player in MLB history and opted to return to Taiwan rather than signing an extension with the Dodgers after the 2005 season. Chen’s two hits both came in 2005, thus allowing Chin-hui Tsao to be the first Taiwanese player to get a hit in MLB back in 2003 with the Rockies. Chen currently plays in Taiwan still for the Lamigo Monkeys, and sadly is not a member of the World Baseball Classic roster. Shame.

January 7- New York Mets

Kind of hard to believe that this hat is no longer worn by the New York Mets, and has been that way since the end of the 2011 season. Aside from the classic all-blue style, this hat was really the only Mets hat I really enjoyed.

From 1998-2011 it served as the Mets’ road/alternate hat, replacing the one-and-done all-white hats from the 1997 season under then coach Bobby Valentine. There isn’t a tremendous amount of history behind this hat, other than the Mets’ management’s way of switching things up a bit. The 2000 season was truly the only season of note under this cap, as the Mets faced off against their cross-town rivals, the New York Yankees; in the first ever fall classic “Subway Series.” The Mets, in classic Mets fashion, lost the series 4-1. The Mets have only the seen the postseason one other time since 2000 when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division series, and lost 4-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series in 2006. Needless to say, from 1998-2011, the Mets haven’t had much else to celebrate other than a new stadium which opened in 2009. So with that, I decided to get a little more playful with this hat.

Mike Piazza was acquired before the All-Star break after a brief stop in Miami for five games. John Franco, on the other hand, had been tossing for the Mets since he was acquired prior to the 1990 season. Franco had pitched for the Cincinnati Reds since the 1984 season and had been rocking the #31 since midway through his rookie season. Piazza came up with the Dodgers in 1992, but didn’t start using the #31 on his jersey until the 1993 season, the year he won Rookie of the Year. With the exception of his first year, and the one year he spent with the San Diego Padres in 2006, Piazza had always worn #31. (The reason behind 2006 is because the #31 is retired, having been worn by Dave Winfield.) Much like Piazza, Franco has worn the #31 for the vast majority of his career… except for the brief period when he and Piazza played together in New York.

I found it to be a bit strange that Franco, having been in the League and with the Mets longer, gave up the number to Piazza without much issue and changed his number to 45, which he kept for all seven years they played together. So with that, I opted to do the 31 squared to represent the both of them as the jersey number switch took place the same season the hat was introduced. Quite possibly one of the more analytical markings I’ve added to a hat.