Like my fellow Europeans on MetsBhoys my love for the Mets was not born out of a family birthright, nor was my father a rabid Mets fan that took me to Shea as a child. In fact as I turned 30 I probably couldn't even tell you who the Mets were.
I have always had an interest in baseball, maybe not the obsessive interest I have now but an interest nonetheless. I was always seduced by baseball, at least the Hollywood version of baseball I saw in films like Field of Dreams, the Natural and Bull Durham. I remember watching some late night games on channel 5 with a mixture of interest and confusion and with no connection to any team.
My first live baseball game was in 2003, a deserted dolphin stadium in Miami to watch a Marlins team that would win the World Series that year. My obsession was growing, although thankfully not as a Marlins fan. I found myself watching more and more baseball but still really hadn’t followed a team. Not long after that my brother in law moved to Queens, the home of then New York Metropolitans. He became a regular at Shea and shared his experiences with me, which was all the excuse I needed. . I now had a purpose in my baseball life. I began to read about the history of the Mets…from its humble beginnings of the worst team in baseball to the amazing 1969 World Series team. I read of the 86 Mets and all it’s characters. I read of people like Casey Stengel, Tug McGraw and even Mr. Met. I had found my summer family.
It’s not always easy following a team 3250 miles away; the time difference is a huge problem. Watching your team blow a lead in the bottom of the 9th is bad enough, but when you’re up at 6am to go to work it's spirit crushing to say the least.
My first trip to see the Mets was an amazing experience. I managed to convince my wife it would be a good idea to fly three children under 6 years of age for 12 hours to see her brother in San Francisco. I then really tested my luck and suggested driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles…dangling the carrot of Disneyland in front of the kids’ noses. Amazingly my wife went for it. I waited for the schedule to come out and planned the trip with military precision. The 12-hour flight was quite frankly the worse 12 hours of my life. After 6 hours my youngest son, who had just turned one was practically doing shuttle runs up and down the plane. On arrival to San Francisco I was detained in immigration for 2 hours as some guy by the name of John O'Connor was banned from the country, not me…but it took a lot of phone calls to convince the guy in immigration. Eventually I was released to my frantic family, the trip had not started well.
It was totally worth it though, a couple of days later I went to my first ever Mets game which was a real moment for me. As I walked along 24 Willie Mays Plaza towards the statue of Willie Mays decked in my Mets gear I had butterfly’s….real butterfly’s. At the time I was doing a bit of reading on the old New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, so this was a real pilgrimage for me. AT&T was a beautiful ballpark overlooking San Francisco bay slap bang in the middle of the city. There seemed to be plenty of Mets fans there which I was surprised at because people don't travel to watch baseball the way we travel to watch football (soccer) at home.
The Mets won 8-6 with Livan Hernandez giving up 5 runs, Brian Stokes picked up the win with Rodriguez getting the save. After the game we went to a bar right next to the stadium, the bar was full of hot Mets chick’s (see picture). We stayed for hours, drunk beer with Giants and Mets fans talking baseball, I was in Met heaven. On returning home seriously worse for wear I managed to slash my hand opening a ciabatta, I was driving to Los Angeles in the morning. So first thing I had to go to the hospital…6 stitches and $2,000 lighter (You can also add in the parking ticket I received for parking beside the hospital) I was on my way to dodger stadium.. The less said about the game the better, except that Ryan church failed to touch third base on the way home and the Mets lost in extra innings. The trip cemented my love for the mets I am now in my 5th season following the Mets and my obsession grows every day.
I have seen the Mets 4 times at Citi Field and I have my flights booked to come over in June….hopefully our season won’t be over by then
Joc
Joc
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