Dec 12 2006 01:18 PM
of all the Mets, in Met togs or out of them.
Don Aase:
Here we have Don in black and white, which captures his scupted face with his usual shag and 'stache (though clipped closer than usual) adding to his image as a swinger of his era. His Boston doubleknit pullover (closely resembling the Angel variety he spent the bulk of his career in) adds to the ensemble of a randy man of the day, and his hat loosely balanced atop his head lends a beaver-shooting f.u. to the whole thing. No way he's going out after the game with hathead.
Show me Kurt Abbott.
Jason Anderson always looked like Doogie Howser's goofball friend Vinnie to me. A man-child. Here he comes to his stop and shows you the awesome pitch tipping style that makes him a perpetual fringer. "Daddy, he's throwing a four-seam fastball!"
Do we have a photo of Jason Anderson??
Apparently, there was a rule that all Twins hat to wear their hats high, in order to imidate the opponent by adding two inches to everybody's height.
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This may be frequently seen around dthese parts once a poster hits his 6100th post, but this is some of Zvon's best work. It's not just the awesome hirsuteness of Wally, but the gauzy lighting, the nebulous border, the rugged dimple and tan, and the square formatting. This avatar has everything in common with a seventies folk rock album cover.
This is probably an innocent exchange between a pitcher and the coach who has just pulled him. In fact, I'm uncertain if Charlie Hough is saying goodybe or hello to Mike Bacsik here, but Bacsik sure seems to be saying, listen, old man, I don't like you and my dad didn't like you, now givie me back the ball before I rip your nuts off.
This photo of Heath Bell is notable not only becaue of the presence of a few trademark Bellements, such as the knee-high hose and the ten-gallon butt, but also because of a few flourishes you don't associate with Heath, like the Pedro Martinez-like floppy sleeves and the Tug McGraw-like palm-out follow-through.
Here we have Rego Beltran pitching for the Hiroshima Carp, demonstrating Japanese contempt for American trademarks. It's hard to put my finger on why his belly is bleached, but I guess it's just a funny angle of the sun.
If you look right, you see they stole the Reds look at more than one level.
The late Mike Bishop is one of the most obscure Mets out there, and owes his big-league cup of coffee to some bad book-keeping back in 1983. So all we can really find of him is this Tidewater card. It's interesting because the old-skool tube hat seems an inch and a half taller on him than on other Tides, making him seem more ridiculous, because the frame on the photo has a center-part, which you know Mike has also, and because he comes across like some guy from Babylon who I want to punch because he laughs at people who don't have a truck as big as his.
OK, I find this shot of Mike Birkbeck inneresting because (a) he's the assistant head coach at Jeff Kent State, despite going to rival Akron.
Interesting things about this Terry Blocker card:
Tim Bogar explains something to the wannabees at Mets fantasy camp. 
If there's something that's not interesting about this Danny Boitano card, I want to know about it. Danny's got a black underbrim, he's got maybe the greatest moustache ever for soaking up the head off of a beer, there's two pairs of coke-bottle glasses, and Lenny Sakata, the first (only?) Japanese-American player in MLB history, has a great gunfighter sneer.
Yeah, sorry, I fixed my image link. And good for Willie Mueller getting a six-game big-league career. That photo says to me, "Wanted in three states."
On this 1961 card, Ed Bouchee grins like the cat that ate the canary, concealing a pleasant secret. 
The Mets got Ken Boyer for wily lefty Al Jackson and Charley Smith, a utility man who could hit some --- not quite an analogy to the Keith Hernandez deal, but pretty comparable considering Boyer was only a year removed from his MVP and was still seemingly solid. This card captures the Boyer they got, though --- overmatched but trying not show it, a little afraid that any moment somebody's going to tap him on the shoulder and tell him that, sorry, there's been a mixup, and he was never supposed to be in the big leagues at all.