1971 Mets Yearbook on SNY
By Mike Silva ~ November 13th, 2009. Filed under: NY Baseball Memories.
I have been critical in the past of the lousy non Mets game programming at SNY. Nothing against Beer Money or Loudmouths, but it’s not going to attract serious sports fans to the network. The decision, however, to air an old Mets video yearbook is brilliant as the 1971 Mets debuted last night.
The first treat is the narration done by the legendary Bob Murphy. Even though I am happily in the Howie Rose/Gary, Keith, and Ron era it’s always a pleasure to hear the “founding father” of Mets baseball broadcasting. If you haven’t watched it I won’t give everything away, but it was interesting to see Buddy Harrelson make some great plays. Just from the clips I saw Buddy was as good as we have heard from a defensive standpoint. Other clips included Banner Day, Old Timer’s day, the player’s family day, and spring training instruction. Even the head of player development, Whitey Herzog (yes the former Cardinals nemesis), was featured. I was surprised to learn they had a microphone in the bullpen as you heard a conversation about how to get Joe Torre out between Joe Pignatano and reliever Charlie Williams.
The Old Timer’s Day segment was particularly fun to watch as I got to see video of a young Ralph Kiner, Gil Hodges (he could still swing the bat!), Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca, Joe DiMaggio, and legendary Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige.
The Mets propaganda machine was hyping the prospects back then too. Future all star Ken Singleton was shown along with Mike Jorgensen, Ted Martinez, and Don Hahn. Of course Singleton turned out to be anything but hype as he went on to a great career with Montreal and Baltimore. Contemporary fans probably think of him more as Michael Kay’s partner on YES.
Another interesting note was how they mentioned Wayne Garrett missing most of the season due to time in the service. Could you imagine losing someone today to the military? It’s unheard of, but 1971 was a different time in this country. One negative was the analysis of the Jim Fregosi trade. They said Fregosi was the most highly sought out offensive player on the trade market and that he would fit well into the Mets lineup. We all know who was given up and what happened to Fregosi.
For as much as we dumped on Shea Stadium at the end you saw pictures of a full house throughout the show. There were no bleachers at Shea then, which gave leftfield an odd look, but the Mets led baseball in attendance that season drawing over 2 million fans. Think about how much they have done to hurt the brand with the current generation of fans. Ownership is lucky they have such a loyal base that was born not to long before the 71′ season.
What I noticed about the Mets from 70-73 was they were very consistent averaging about 83 wins per year. Of course that was good enough to win the NL East in 1973, but they never got back to 90 plus wins until 1984. The team had outstanding pitching, but lacked an impact hitter in a lineup full of complementary players. I guess Fregosi was suppose to be that guy, and they did bring in Rusty Staub later on, but they never had a Reggie Jackson, Tony Perez, or Willie Stargell until they drafted Darryl Strawberry.
The big takeaway from this was how much I learned about the team. Was 1971 a special year? No, but I still enjoyed watching the history of my favorite team. Hopefully management is taking notice and will do a great job with the Hall of Fame scheduled to open in April 2010.
For those that were around what memories do you have of the 1971 Mets? One last thing I will add is perhaps they should have given the manager’s job to Whitey Herzog instead of Yogi Berra after Gil Hodges passed away. Whitey was instrumental in developing the young talent on the team and might have prevented some of the bad trades and been better for the development of the young players.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I recall the ’71 season. You had the typical great pitching, lead by Seaver, but the hitting was anemic ala 2009.
Unlike ’09 there was a reason to go see them play. Seaver had a sick era and was in his prime. Agee was still decent, Jones hit over .300, Grote was Grote.
The bad: Bob Aspromonte at 3rd. Gary Gentry frustrated that year and was Pelfreyesque. 2b was primarily Boswell, and he was not an everyday player.
The Mets at that time were very much the torch-carryers for the old Brooklyn Dodger-NY Giant fans, which puts the Citi field decor into perspective. We still need the place to look like the Mets home though.
Wilpons, please sell the team ASAP!
November 14th, 2009 at 6:26 am
What irrates me Are the Mets Classics which are repeated over and over again. I love watching old baseball games all through the winter but why do they repeat the same games again and again.
Example would be that Mets/Giants game with the two baulks, fun yes but hoiw many times must we watch it? They showeed it at least three times last winter and in this short winter they have already shown it twice. There have been a lot of great games, Someone needs to tell programming to start showing some of them and put those repreated games to rest.
Thanks for the chance to vent about that here.
I have already complained to SNY but no one replies.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Joey
I agree 100% with what you are saying. Since SNY probably won’t listen, and doesn’t care (when does any television network really care about its customers?) the only true response with impact is to turn the TV off so they can’t sell advertising. That’s the only way to get through to these suits. They know nothing else since most modern executives lack vision, guts, and accountability.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Technically we had a shot at Reggie Jackson but took Steve Chilcott over him that would ultimately be one of the worst first overall selections in the sport. Sure Swoboda had his moments in ’69 but I cannot imagine what an Agee, Jackson, and Jones outfield would be like.
I have no problems with the ubiquity of Mets Classics, I do wish though that they did something like a profiles show eg Yankeeography on the most important people in Mets history.
Oh and those alternative caps I saw Ralph Kiner wearing need to be put back in stock and sold at CF. Seriously those caps looked fantastic.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Prospectus
I had Jacob Kanarek on the show last year. He wrote the book From First to Worst and mentioned the Mets tried to get Jimmy Wynn at some point. He probably, along with Staub, would have solved the power issue. They blew a chance at a dynasty because they could never complement the historic staff with a complete lineup.
If you want to listen you can download Jacob’s interview here.
June 5th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
1971 started my lifelong love affair with Baseball and the Mets. I remember Bob Aspromonte getting off to a torrid start in 1971….I believe by mid May he had 25 RBI and 5 homers……and I believe the Mets got off to a fast start. Tom Seaver arguably had his best season 20-10 1.76 era…..But the Mets couldn’t support their staff. Cleon Jones batted .319 and Ed Kranepool had a solid year after batting .170 (and a trip to the minors) in 1970. But the Mets couldn’t rise about mediocrity. They finished 83-79….Bob Aspromonte was another bust at 3rd…only finishing with those same 5 hr’s and 33 RBI and a sluggling percentage lower than Bud Harrleson…But..I was 11…..I loved em! Still do!