Remembering the Good ol' Days

Written by Nikki DeMaio | 02 August 2010

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Mets Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Frank Cashen, Davey Johnson, Doc Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry. As I listened to these men give speeches of thanks and talk about their time spent with the Mets, it really struck me just how special that 1986 team was.  Since I was only 10 months old when the Mets won the World Series, everything I know about the '86 team has come from either my father, TV specials, or books.  The thing I found most interesting about this ceremony was the fact that the 1986 Mets loved the fans just as much as the fans loved them.  Gooden and Strawberry in particular made it clear that not only did the Mets have the most passionate fan base, but that there was nothing better than hearing the crowd when Gooden had 2 strikes on a batter or Strawberry stepped to the plate in a big moment.  Hearing the reception for these two men, the epitome of "should have, could have, would have" in sports, was unreal - there is just as much love for Doc and Darryl now as there was in 1986.  That team has a special place in every Mets fan's heart, even fans like me who were too young to see or remember the World Series run.

Unfortunately, the '86 magic didn't stick around for very long, as the Diamondbacks (and Adam LaRoche in particular) routed the Mets 14-1.  It was so bad that Oliver Perez came in to finish off the game.  It was ugly, and not the way we wanted the afternoon to end.  But the thing that made an impression on me was the crowd.  These same people who cheered and gave an uproarious welcome to Keith Hernandez, Ralph Kiner, and all the new Hall of Fame inductees were DEAD QUIET.  And the game wasn't always out of control.  Although Jon Niese was ineffective by the time he left the game, he started the day cruising through the first three innings - but you would have thought the Mets were already losing.  It was disheartening.

My point is that maybe there is a little bit of a cycle going on here.  Yes, as fans, we are frustrated with a team that was built to succeed and seems to continuously under perform... but at the end of the day, the Mets are still our team.  If the players feed off the crowd as much as Doc and Darryl claim to have done, don't we owe these guys some energy in the stands?  At the same time though, the kind of devotion that people had towards the 1986 team has to be earned somehow.  Are we all just waiting for the next 1986 instead of taking what we have and helping to create it?