“I know you have to go back to the late 80s, but it wasn’t a Yankee city when I started here. It was the Mets. If the Mets win, people will come out of the woodwork. I’ve seen it happen . . . There’s a still sleeping giant in New York called the National League fan. There are a lot of people who followed the New York Giants that are still alive. There are a lot of people who still consider New York a National League city.”I remember that, as I suppose many of you do too (ShysterBall readers skew older, I think). It was also expressed artistically in "Seinfeld." If you watch the early episodes, all the references were to the Mets. That whole Costanza working for the Yankees thing and Larry David's Steinbrenner imitation didn't show up until later in the run.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
New York: National League City
That's what David Cone says to BATS' Jack Curry anyway:
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5 comments:
I am not so sure about that. The "sleeping giant" sounds like another term for "bandwagon fan".
A National league city? I dunno.
Maybe the Yanks have been up for so long relative to the Mets, but I don't think that makes it an NL city.
I'm pretty sure all the references to the Mets in Seinfeld came from the fact that Jerry is a Mets fan in real life. If you notice, even when George started working for the Yankees, Jerry was normally only concerned about the Mets games. This is best illustrated during the Puerto Rican Day Parade episode where Jerry views a townhouse thats for sdale just so he can watch the Mets game
I'm Keith Hernandez!
I'll echo Kender's remarks. Also, didn't the Yankee references start in 94 when the Yanks, albeit improved, still hadn't become the dominant team in NY? This is evidenced by the fact that DANNY TARTABULL of all people was the first Yankee to make an appearance on the show.
Additionally, it's really not much of a contest between George and Wilpon/Doubleday when it comes to q rating around the US.
I moved to NYC in 1989, and can attest that there were Mets fans a-plenty and Yankees fans were less visible. Certainly, in terms of billboards and subway ads, I noticed it was all Mets, all the time -- HoJo credit cards! Davey Johnson hot tub! Mets fans would act friendly with me and tell me I was getting "a bargain" paying $45 for a $25 field level seat in that flight path they erroneously call a stadium. Up in the Bronx, it was face value for any single, 10 minutes before game time, 17,000 fans to watch the Bucky Dent/Stump Merrill Yanks cough it up to the Orioles or some other superior team.
Needless to say, I became a Yankee fan. Matt Nokes, Hensley Meulens, Alvaro Espinoza, Kevin Maas, and the waning days of Don Mattingly (who I used to watch taking ground balls right-handed at second base). Glad I made that choice.
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