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This was in the Sid Rosenberg thread in the Non Baseball folder, but I think its relevant to my furthering questions about how the Mets and their fans are precieved by the masses.
The thing I really couldn't take about Sid was how, even though he is a Met fan, would always bring up the most obscure, no name Met whenever talking big time Met moments or players. Now it'd be mostly players he grew up watching, the Phil Mankowskis (although, and no way of knowing, it is possible Mankowski and Rosenberg share the same faith hence the references), and Mark Bombacks of the world but it furthers the ridiculous anti-Met (brought up mostly by mocking Yankee fans or anyone mocking the Mets) argument that we have no real history and that most of our best known and most beloved players were all never weres, average or in some cases slightly above average (talking about a Rusty Staub there, but for the most part the Rusty the anti-Met talks about is the overweight PH extrodianre that Rusty was the second time around)
Quite an absurd argrument when you consider who the fans chose on the All Amazin team
Mike Piazza, Keith Hernandez, Edgardo Alfonzo, Howard Johnson, Ed Kranepool, Len Dysktra, Mookie Wilson, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Roger McDowell, John Franco, Buddy Harrelson, and Rusty Staub
All legit MLB stars (not neccessarilly All Stars, (Mookie, early Alfonzo) but guys that you'd know if you followed the game closely) in their prime (maybe a year or two in McDowell and Alfonzo's case) mix in couple of immortals in Seaver and Piazza of course
Also in Mookie's case, not only was he a damn good ballplayer, but please after Game 6 how can ANY Met fan leave him off the All Time Met Roster.
No Art Shamskys, no Ron Gardenhires (Yup, Ed Randall when interviewing the Twins Manager called him a "Met fan favorite) no Tim Bogars, no Ron Hodges, Mackey Sassers, ect
Oh sure there is some fondness for the little guys, bench and role players. But every team has them. No one is going up to a Yankee fan saying "Yankees? Are you kidding me? Luis Sojo is your big all time favorite?"
Its a myth that is spurned by the media's insistance on showing how "minor league/small market" the Mets have been through the years as compared to the "Mighty Yankees"
And its an awfully insulting one when you consider who the real fan favorites of the Met organization have been over the years.
Also it leads one to believe that, for example the Yankees, the team the offending person is a fan of has had nothing but classy all-time legends as their "All Time Fan Favorites"
Okay, lets take the Yankees
Babe Ruth, quite possible the Manny Ramirez of the 1920s. A simple Man Child. Thats right I compared Ruth to ManRam. This is a guy who got caught STEALING TO END A WORLD SERIES! This is a guy who thought nothing of getting in a few starts late in his career just to prove he still had his mad pitching skills. If the Babe was around in today's game non-Yankee fans would be laughing about Planet Babe and wondering just how did the Yankee clubhouse put up with his antics.
Sparky Lyle, fun loving merry prankster. One of the best closers of his day, but doesn't fit the Joe DiMaggio/Derek Jeter mold of a Yankee
Joe Pepitone, a very flaky fellow who never quite lived up to his potential despite having an over-inflated ego. Are you telling me that he wasn't popular among Yankee fans?
Billy Martin, very popular Yankee was also a drunk, fighting man and the fans loved both aspects of Billy The Kid.
In other words all teams have fan favorites who are quite fruity, flaky, nuts, ect and not neccessarilly the best players on the teams.
Steve
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