A Doc quote, and some cool pics from Santana’s first Citi appearance
Have you been following GoodenGate? Ugh, so Dwight Gooden takes a Sharpie to the precious Ebbet’s Club wall and the Mets brass gets up in arms. In the end, sounds like they’re moving the signature to a different location, where more autographs from Mets greats can be added–and that’s cool–but to have even considered wiping it clean in the first place just feels…cold. Let’s warm up our new ballpark, people.
Here’s something fun, though. The organizers of the Mo’s Zone promotional event were able to send me a Doc quote exclusively for Pick Me Up Some Mets readers. Nothing too deep, but I’m glad to hear that we’ll have this fan favorite around a lot this season.
Zoë: Will you be a regular at Citi Field now that your nephew is on the team?
Doc: Yeah,
you’ll see me a lot, and it’s great to be back, and the camaraderie with
the fans, and sharing baseball memories with them as well, I’ll enjoy
that.
Looks like Modell’s sponsored the fan-created K-counter I saw at the ballpark that night, which is fun and all, but I confess I’d rather have the actual K-Counter back somewhere on or around the scoreboard. Heck, let Mo’s sponsor it–then you can still cram as much advertising in as possible. Did you notice even the on deck circle has advertising on it? It’s now the New Era On Deck Circle. I’m not whining–just having a cranky corporate-is-annoying moment, so forgive.
I’m definitely hoping for a good series off in St. Louis starting tonight, but for now I thought I’d share some of the great pics I got during Saturday’s game, featuring a few blog friends too, like Coop, Kranepool Society’s Stephen, and Danielle from The Wright Stuff.
Before we check out Santana, take a look at this shot of the promenade level–after waiting on line for Blue Smoke to get my deeeeeeelicious pulled pork sandwich, I headed up to my seats, and lo and behold, on that gorgeous, sunny Saturday, fans were lounging in the wide concourse of the promenade’s main food court area, where picnic tables and actual space make for a much comfier concessions experience. Alas, the food isn’t as good, but if you’re more interested in sitting and hanging than waiting on line for the good stuff, consider a trip upstairs at Citi. And they’ve got their very own Mama’s of Corona!
Now how much do we love Johan Santana’s pre-game handshake ritual? I’m gonna say lots. Here’s my attempt to use my 40x digital zoom to get shots of it from across the field in upper promenade. Cilck the pics to enlarge and find Johan (who is way cooler than Waldo).
Pick Me Up Some Mets! 
That’s me on the left & Kranepool Society Steve on the right, with Coop in the middle…
CharlieH
Indeed! I just didn’t have a link for you 🙂
Of course just after I wrote this entry the game was a nightmare! So let’s just enjoy the pretty pictures…
That’s ’cause my blog (The Serval Zippers Sign) has been broken since Thanksgiving. Otherwise, we’d be linked all over the place…
The Mets almost blew it with the Doc signature thing– thank heaven they pulled themselves out of that one.
I can understand wanting to keep things “nice.” But it’s a ballpark! Not Nana’s living room, with the plastic covers on the sofa!
I understand they don’t want everybody and their brothers writing on the walls. But this was Doc!! This was a spontaneous, loving gesture from one of our own, who had been wandering in the wilderness for a long time, and who has finally come home to us. Couldn’t they show him some love right off the bat, instead of treating him like a delinquent?
I’m glad the situation has been corrected, of course. I just wish they hadn’t risked losing Doc again.
Doc Gooden was my favorite player by far as I was growing up. He was the most electric pitcher to come along in a long time and when he started a game it was like a main event, must see TV, etc. No one has dominated this game like he did when he reached the top in 1984-1986. He understands the mistakes he made but a lot of times people fail to see the atmosphere Dwight was in during those years. A 19 year old kid wins the Rookie of the Year, a 20 year old kid wins the Cy Young, and a 21 year old kid wins the World Series all in the biggest, greatest, and craziest city in the world. He is the reason, along with Darryl Strawberry, that young players are pampered so much these days, which is a good thing. Anyhow, if you so wish to, stop by and participate in my daily baseball trivia to earn points towards the challenge of being crowned “The 1 Constant Baseball Trivia Guru” for 2009 and a small baseball related gift/prize.
Amazin86er
http://the1constant.mlblogs.com/
Amazin86er, I was in school in those days, and one of my fondest memories is the enormous, building-sized pic of Doc, at the top of his windup in a Nike Ad, on the side of a building overlooking Times Square. I would see that every day, and it made me feel wonderful. I felt like this was truly a Mets town, and we had the most phenomenal phenomenon in baseball, and THERE HE WAS, TWENTY STORIES HIGH, looming over midtown.
Johan starts tonight. I’ll be there, will you?
– Donnie
http://donnieanks.mlblogs.com/
Wow, nice pictures. Can’t wait to get to Citi Field for a game. I think I’m gonna go when they face the Rays in June. Are beers 10 bucks there like at Yankee Stadium?!
Jason
http://jmays.mlblogs.com