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Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

1981

10 votes

1998

6 votes

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 04:34 AM

1981 1998

SteveJRogers Apr 04 2018 05:40 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Respect for Bill Gallo over Bobby V photobombing a random celebration.

Edgy MD Apr 04 2018 06:23 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I'm going for the Gallo too, although Mazzilli, Flynn, and Allen look like largely indistinguishable brown-haired young men. In the other one, the fingers reaching to tickle Fonzie under his arm kind of creep me out.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 04 2018 07:09 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I like Gallo but that's probably not his best work! The concept is pretty clever. That Giant Mets All-Time Roster Poster was the reason to get that yearbook. I don't think I ever saw the 98 cover before. That looks nice. Forgive me but who's the tall high-fiver on the right? Mlicki?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 08:02 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I like the idea of a single photo on the cover (see 1971 and 1978 for example) but 1998 doesn't have a particularly good photo. I have mixed feelings about Bill Gallo. In the overall world of cartoonists, he's probably in the middle of the pack, at best. But I always admired how he was (as far as I know) the last of his kind, a sports section version of a political cartoonist. He was still doing it decades after it had gone out of style pretty much everywhere else. So I'm glad that Gallo got to do a Mets yearbook cover, and that he's represented here in this competition. These covers are being presented in random order, with the sequence of the matchups determined by a seat-of-the-pants Excel algorithm that I came up with. It's just chance that this one Gallo cover appeared before any of the six Willard Mullin covers, and that we're almost halfway through the first round without having seen Mullin yet. That will change tomorrow, when our first Mullin cover will step up to be evaluated.

d'Kong76 Apr 04 2018 08:52 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Took ultra-corny '81 over the rather-boring '98. A slice of Staub, why I oughta...

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 08:54 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

It's nice to see Basement Bertha and Yuchie again.

Edgy MD Apr 04 2018 09:04 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Even if Yuchie inexplicably has his hand on the rim of a hot pot. It's interesting that the 1981 Mets were pretty bad, but familiar enough and marketable enough and comfortable enough in their own skin to include this many (presumably positive and appealing) subjects. An image of Doug Flynn and a reference to Bob Gibson? Sure! In another year, a team coming off a 71-win season might be all, "Fuck it, here's a detail from our uniform."

RealityChuck Apr 04 2018 09:08 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

1998. Far better design. classy and understated. 1981 looks like the cover of a high school literary magazine.

G-Fafif Apr 04 2018 09:49 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I'm pretty sure the congregation that constitutes the 1998 cover came from the home plate congratulating of Bernard Gilkey, who had just blasted the game-winning three-run homer in the eleventh inning, Saturday, September 13, 1997. It was a dramatic home run if not the most dramatic of the day. That one belonged to Carl Everett, whose ninth-inning grand slam tied things at six, after the Mets entered the frame down 6-0 and Everett was on strike two with two outs (and had sent one deep but foul in the same at bat). Fonzie was the on-deck hitter, which explains the batting helmet. I think I detect Olerud's ears on the left; he was removed earlier in the game, which would explain why they're not adjacent to a hard hat. It was an overcast late afternoon start; looks a little bright for a game that ended in twilight, but I imagine they had ways of adjusting contrasts and whatnot. If I'm correct in placing it, it's a very genuine photograph, worthy of Topps In Action status. And like those Topps In Action cards, the action sometimes comes off as a little static. An angle in which we see a few more faces would really help its cause, but the high-fiving says a lot. This picture was also part of the 1998 Mets' outdoor advertising, with buses, phone booths and other media exhorting us to BELIEVE! and SHOW UP AT SHEA. I interpreted it as COME SEE ALFONZO, which worked just as well from my perspective, as Edgardo had become my favorite Met by then. The home run and victory kept the Mets' pulse registering in their chase of the Marlins for the Wild Card, another plus. Historically, 1997 was the year the Mets legitimately revived, setting the stage for the acquisition of Piazza and transformation of the franchise, so this is a milestone moment. There's no 1999/2000 without 1997 (as chronology would suggest). This game still gives me chills. It was the apotheosis of the season that elevated my fandom approximately 97 stories from the skyhigh state it already existed in. In the realm of "I'll never forget," I really never will forget that when Everett's would-be grand slam went foul, Mrs. F, not particularly engaged by the action, detected my disappointment and reminded me, "You gotta believe." And then he hits the actual grand slam. I wish the picture's pedigree was more blatant, because basing 1998's marketing on the pure joy of the best of 1997 would have been brilliant and beautiful. Here it's more a hint that the Mets were briefly enthused in each other's company. To the outside world, that's all those Mets looked like. We know better. *** Ah, Bill Gallo. I thought he was hot stuff. Or I thought the fact that the Daily News printed sports cartoons several times a week was fantastic. It wasn't until relatively late in his extended tenure that I hoped he'd bow out because after a passel of decades, oy. But we should all stay in demand as long as our ability to do what we do remains decently intact. Circa 1981, Bill Gallo was still a welcome presence in the paper as far as I was concerned, and for the Mets to bring his handiwork to their yearbook cover struck me as a stroke of genius. 1980-1983 were boom times for Mets yearbook cover puckishness: the Norman Rockwell homage, Gallo, Saturday Evening Post, that goofy Canadian portrayal of Seaver as a hitchhiking vampire. They weren't all round-trippers (and, as with retweets, this isn't necessarily an endorsement of any of them in this tournament), but I loved that they were trying things. They were all in the traditional space where baseball illustrating was concerned, but it was a departure from the Mets yearbooks I knew from the '70s. I wasn't aware of Willard Mullin's yearbook covers until the middle of this period, so the idea that we weren't simply getting pictures of Several Popular Mets was almost wild. Basement Bertha and Yuchie were Mets fans from way back. Torre (albeit lacking characteristic swarthiness and scruff) is recognizable as heck. Rusty is clearly Rusty. The other guys are close enough to themselves. The blue and orange cuffs and collars are missing, but I didn't let that bother me in 1981. I swear to you, years later when I'd once in a while hear somebody yell midrally, "Can you smell what the Mets are cooking!?" I thought it was a reference to this cover. I didn't know from the Rock, so I just naturally assumed folks at Shea were referencing a piece of art from nearly 20 years before. The recipe bit veers toward the cringey, but it gets the idea across. After 1980, the Mets were getting cooking. Interesting that though it's "A Recipe for Mets Magic," and this was the year they introduced the Mets Magic top hat with the apple, they didn't really oversell the Magic is Back Again in hit us over the head fashion. *** Both covers were drafting off the goodwill of their previous season. 1980 was 1997 minus 21 wins, but the emotion of "my god, we're actually better than universally assumed" was real. 1998 was subtle about invoking the progress. 1981 was rather obvious. Maybe hamfisted. ("Cook hamfist on 350 degrees for 162 games, garnish with Kingman.") Yet I'm swayed in the end by the legend of Bill Gallo and the Mets yearbook finally joining forces. It was like we existed outside the confines of Shea.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 04 2018 09:55 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

98's a strange choice, a real crappy picture. My eyes are drawn to the dark arm in the center of the photo that blocks Rey's face. You don't know who it belongs to, cause Fonzie's blocking that guy. At first I thought it was Fonzie's arm, but it doesn't match the rest of Fonzie. And the creepy, tickly hands Edgy mentioned. There was a better version of this photo, maybe 2 seconds earlier or later, possibly from a different angle. But we got this one. Then 81 has that weird, lil ghoul with giant hands in the red dress who looks like she actually wants to eat a stew filled with human Mets players. That cover cartoon was drawn in 45 minutes the night before his submission was due, I'd bet on it.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 04 2018 10:08 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Looking back with hindsight, I'm surprised the '98 yearbook cover didn't celebrate the Introduction of the Mets horrible black uniform tops.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 04 2018 10:08 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Greg's comparison made me like each of them a bit more. So who is Basement Bertha? A Gallo recurring character? Based on a real someone or no?

G-Fafif Apr 04 2018 10:16 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 04 2018 11:55 AM

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Greg's comparison made me like each of them a bit more. So who is Basement Bertha? A Gallo recurring character? Based on a real someone or no? Bertha was Gallo's Everyfan, his vehicle for commenting on the better-known figures he was portraying. With a first name like Basement, you knew she'd be (ahem) drawn to Casey Stengel's cellar-dwelling Metsies from the get-go. Her outfit and persona weren't exactly contemporary way back when, but she probably didn't seem as alien to Gallo's readers c. 1962 as she might to somebody suddenly seeing her today.

G-Fafif Apr 04 2018 10:37 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Looking back with hindsight, I'm surprised the '98 yearbook cover didn't celebrate the Introduction of the Mets horrible black uniform tops. Noteworthy that they're wearing the snow whites, which were supposed to be Sunday-only when introduced in 1997. They first wore them for Jackie Robinson Night, a Tuesday, and, in a foreshadowing of the black jerseys, got carried away with their new wardrobe (much as managers become obsessed with their new-toy relievers and use them to excess). As much black as they wore from 1998 forward, the snow whites, until late in their run that ended in 2014, generally got Opening Day, with the pinstripes all but disappearing from consciousness.

SteveJRogers Apr 04 2018 10:51 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

It is a shame 1998 did not get a revised treatment. Only thing you got later in the year was a two sided insert sheet in the player profile section of Piazza and Nomo.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 11:37 AM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Then 81 has that weird, lil ghoul with giant hands in the red dress who looks like she actually wants to eat a stew filled with human Mets players. I love that take on Basement Bertha! I've been familiar with her for virtually my whole life, so it didn't occur to me how strange she would look to someone who doesn't know her. 1981 is, undoubtedly, a weird cover and I don't know what its chances are in later rounds, but I do kinda like it. At least, it got my vote in this round. I hadn't realized until today, but the yearbooks had gone with artwork on their covers from 1962 through 1968, then switched to photo covers through the 1970s (with the exception of the Bicentennial Mr. Met in 1976) and then reverted to drawings and paintings for a four-year stretch from 1980 to 1983. After that, it was either photos or logos all the way, with the exception of the 1987 revised edition, which we haven't seen yet. The 1981 cover is the final one to feature spoken dialog in a word balloon. I doubt it will ever happen again, although I'd love for the 2027 yearbook to feature a Willard Mullin style cartoon of Baby Met grown up to be a senior citizen.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 04 2018 12:12 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I'm not a fan of those early '80s illustrated Mets yearbook covers. I generally love good artworked covers and I lament the near extinction of an illustrated magazine cover these days, where the formula for most every magazine today seems to be to slap a photo of a celebrity on the front. But those early '80s Mets covers miss the mark. To my eyes, there seems to be something off about those covers. It's in the execution. Those covers come off as amateurish. Also, this era marks, for me, my first loss of interest in Mets yearbooks. As Greg alluded to earlier (I think), these yearbooks began an irreversible trend of distancing themselves from the template of earlier Mets yearbooks -- the ones I cut my teeth on -- which I think mark the high point of Mets yearbooks. Player summaries that were kid friendly yet didn't insult the intelligence of an adult -- and I know this from reading those same yearbooks decades later. Compelling photographs that captured the warmth, the camaraderie, rivalries and quirky moments of a typical baseballf season. Pictures with so much to tell. The future soulless action shots that would all but replace these snapshots into the lives of baseball players were, by comparison, distant and emotionless.

Lefty Specialist Apr 04 2018 12:30 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

This one's tough. All respect to Bill Gallo, but that's a goofy cover. The 1998 cover looks like an in-flight magazine but I think I like it better anyway.

cooby Apr 04 2018 12:32 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I always liked that Gallo cover. A LOT. I chose the Rey one though. Never saw that yearbook and wishing I had it.

G-Fafif Apr 04 2018 12:43 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Player summaries that were kid friendly yet didn't insult the intelligence of an adult -- and I know this from reading those same yearbooks decades later. Compelling photographs that captured the warmth, the camaraderie, rivalries and quirky moments of a typical baseballf season. Next year's Yearbook Interior Derby will bear this out. Loved the spreads on Old Timers Day, All-Star Game, Hall of Fame ceremonies. Loved Rusty in a Mets uniform posing with Singleton, Foli and Jorgensen from the Expos, Seaver and Qualls (of the White Sox) standing awkwardly, players getting treatment from trainers who you didn't assume were disabling their patients, the players' kids, the fans and their banners... Interesting that the illustrated covers of the early '80s tried to evoke ye good olde days just as the Mets were pulling conclusively out of the past.

41Forever Apr 04 2018 12:49 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I never noticed the tickling arm. Now I can't unsee it. I like the Gallo cover. We got the News every day -- my parents spoiled the budding journalist by subscribing to three papers -- and I'd look for the Gallo cartoon. Do the News and Post today even have a sports cartoonist? Heck, an editorial page cartoonist? I remember as a kid thinking it was an odd cover, but still kind of cool. It certainly stands out if when we compare it to the other years. Yuchie gets a name tag, but Bertha apparently is universally known!

41Forever Apr 04 2018 12:51 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

G-Fafif wrote: Next year's Yearbook Interior Derby will bear this out. Loved the spreads on Old Timers Day, All-Star Game, Hall of Fame ceremonies. Loved Rusty in a Mets uniform posing with Singleton, Foli and Jorgensen from the Expos, Seaver and Qualls (of the White Sox) standing awkwardly, players getting treatment from trainers who you didn't assume were disabling their patients, the players' kids, the fans and their banners... I vividly remember those! I used to love the All-Star game sections.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 12:55 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

41Forever wrote: Do the News and Post today even have a sports cartoonist? Heck, an editorial page cartoonist? The News never replaced Gallo as the sports cartoonist. (I wonder how many, if any, papers have one anymore.) The News does have an editorial page cartoonist. His name is Bill Bramhall and he's generally pretty good. I don't know about the Post.

G-Fafif Apr 04 2018 01:00 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

I don't think the Post has been in the sports cartooning business since the heyday of my man John Pierotti. Paul Rigby, the Page Six political cartoonist, did a team caricature to celebrate the coming of the 1977 season (both ours and the MFYs'), the first year the Post was a Murdoch publication.

dgwphotography Apr 04 2018 01:38 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

My first thought is that either of these covers will make to the next round, while a more deserving cover with a tougher draw will be one and done...

Edgy MD Apr 04 2018 01:54 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I don't think I ever saw the 98 cover before. That looks nice. Forgive me but who's the tall high-fiver on the right? Mlicki? I think so. I thought it might actually be a shot from the Mlicki Game, but that would have been in road grays.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 04 2018 01:57 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

dgwphotography wrote: My first thought is that either of these covers will make to the next round, while a more deserving cover with a tougher draw will be one and done... Could be, since there's still a long way to go, but that hasn't happened yet. These polls so far have been heavily lopsided, with the losers getting very little love at all.

Lefty Specialist Apr 04 2018 05:37 PM Re: Yearbook Cover Derby Round 1.13 1981 vs 1998

Yuchie probably got third-degree burns from hanging on to the rim of that soup pot like he did.