Living In The Past

As I entered my last post, talking about numbers that should be retired got me reminiscing. Many of my memories with the team are not ones of them winning. As a Met fan growing up in the mid-70’s and dearly 80’s, I suffered through many bad years with the team. Still, I enjoyed watching the games.

Yes, the Mets over the years have been known for pitching but I also remember watching pitchers like Nino Espinosa, Pete Falcone and Harry Parker. I remember watching Willie Montanez, Roy Staiger, Elliot Maddox and Alex Trevino.

I remember the Seaver trade where the Mets got pitcher Pat Zachry, second baseman Doug Flynn, and outfielders Steve Henderson and Dan Norman. Dan Norman years later was used in the Ellis Valentine trade and Steve Henderson years later was used to bring Dave Kingman back to New York.

In 1979 the Mets had Montanez at first, Flynn at second, Frank Taveras at shortstop and Richie Hebner at third. John Stearns was the catcher and the outfield was made up of Joel Youngblood, Lee Mazilli and Steve Henderson. Craig Swann was the ace of the staff. The Flushing Flash, Ed Glynn was in the bullpen and amazingly enough, I was watching as many games as I could.

I would argue with my friends as to why the Mets were going to win it all, why they were a better team than the Yankees, why we should all be Met fans.

It was frustrating, and yet, it was fun. And that team never had the chance to choke in the clutch, so maybe it was easier being a fan then, than it was this past year. I guess I still take the team we had (and even the one we will have next year) over the team of 1979.