|
From his piece today comparing Busch III to Citi:
"Things are just more conservative in this river town, where the Cardinals have won 10 World Series, second only to the Yankees’ 26. The Mets have won two Series in their first 47 seasons, and management is hearing it from fans who say Mets history has been minimized at the new place.
What do Mets fans want — statues of Marvelous Marv Throneberry missing first and second base on a triple in 1962? Timo Perez shifting into a lower gear on a drive he imagined would be a home run in 2000? Nolan Ryan and Lenny Dykstra packing their bags?
The Mets have produced exactly one homegrown Hall of Famer, Tom Seaver, and a few spectacular underachievers, relying mostly on superb imports like Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter and Mike Piazza. Even factoring in Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges, that does not add up to a statue garden, just yet.
Cardinals history is worth the public promenade on a major corner behind left field. There are two immortals who were never Cardinals: George Sisler, the nonpareil star of the vanished Browns, and Cool Papa Bell, the St. Louis resident whose services were not wanted by organized baseball because of his race.
And there are eight Cardinals: Rogers Hornsby, Dizzy Dean, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst, Gibson, Slaughter, Lou Brock and Stan Musial. (Mark McGwire is in the attic until further notice; Albert Pujols is a statue-in-progress; and there is the larger Musial statue that Stan the Man never liked.)
The display is not quite the thousands of terra-cotta warriors uncovered in the past century in Xian. But on game day the statues give a warm feel of permanence for a proud franchise in a grand baseball town.
OK, where to start...
I like the Cardinals as much as I like any opponent after spending the college years in Missouri.
And their new stadium seemed nice when I had a walk-around in October.
But, those statues were brought over from the old park, and, save for the Musial, they're kind of small.
And if he's going to knock Mets heroes as "imports," well, Brock was a Cub and Ozzie Smith was a Padre. And Red Schoendienst, while as loyal a Cardinal as can be, is a shakey Hall-of-Famer and might be the second-worst player ever featured in statue form.
And I don't understand the Throneberry and Timo cracks. Just cheap shots. There would be no shame in a Swoboda dive statue, a Seaver 19-K statue, an Orosco on his knees with fists raised statue. Mays, Tug, Endy... many memorable Mets moments if we wanted.
Maybe George didn't notice the Endy, Swoboda and Seaver figures above the entrances?
Plus, the Cards have about 60 years of history that predates the Mets, too, so there is more to draw from.
And, it's OK to pay tribute to Bell and Sisler, but not Jackie?
As we know, there is plenty of legitimate criticism. But the stupid crap is just piling on.
| 
