I don't know why i became so emotional watching the Darryl Strawberry jersey retirement ceremony....but i did. I had been working around the house and yard all morning and i was exhausted....i finally threw a 30 pack on ice and settled into the yard to watch what i thought would be a fun lighthearted ceremony followed by a meaningless game and then a bonfire for the Rangers.
I was first taken aback by the emptiness of Citifield. ( i looked it up, the announced attendance was 30,000) i don't know why i expected a sold-out stadium, but i did. i remember when they first announced that they were retiring #18 i thought about going...i figured i would have to scalp in the secondary market and i was sad to see that the upper tier was half empty and the start of the ceremony....i suppose there are a few theories as to why.....it has been 38 years since Darryl, Doc and Keith won that World series.....that's difficult to wrap my head around.....it wasn't yesterday.....a lot of the people that flocked to Shea during the Strawberry era are now deceased or living in Florida or both. Probably half of the current season ticketholders weren't even born in 1986. It doesn't help that the current team is a miserable gang of overpaid underachievers , but for me if i had gone....i would have left by the 3rd inning.....i only wanted to go to give Darryl one more standing Ovation...
another theory, confirmed by one or two friends; is that some Met faithful turned on Darryl because of the way he left and then he returned to NY to help the Yankees win a few World Series.....i guess i wasn't thrilled by that either....but time has a way of healing those wounds......i still remember going to see him when he returned to Shea with the SF Giants in the summer of 94, and i was absolutely rooting for him to hit a homer against the Mets ...so i don't think i was ever part of the mob that turned against him........but it was hard seeing him, Doc, and Cone wearing pinstripes in the Bronx...being coached by the Mets former Manager Joe Torre....that Yankee dynasty had a lot of Dodger Blue and Giant Orange in their bloodstream.
Keith Hernandez reminded everyone that if Darry doesn't hit that home run off Noland Ryan in the pivotal game 5 against the Astros, that the Mets probably do not advance to the 86 series.
My personal favorite moment was when he homered in game 7 against the Sox....I was in the Lief that Night and after screaming, everyone exhaled...it was a little more breathing room and some reassurance that we were going to win the dam Series....
In any event i had a few tears in my eyes when the speech began, and they increased as he went through his life and career and then he said from the bottom of his heart how Sorry he was for ever leaving the Mets....i sat there drinking my beer and remembering the Magic of the Strawberry years and how much fun we all had in the 80's......he talked about his struggles with substance abuse and how he admired Mookie and Gary Carter for being MEN....good family men ...straight and narrow..he said they were both religious men, but that they never held his shortcomings against him.......he talked about the massive heart attack he had 3 months ago and how he knew when he was undergoing surgery it would be God's decision if he were to live or die.....he talked about his Mom and his children and you couldn't help but root for this man......i was moved.....i suggest anyone that missed it , to search on youtube and give it a listen....it was pure honest emotion.
i'm almost 60....i'm cranky.....i pretty much hate all of today's athletes....but i am grateful to have lived when i did.....the 86 Mets...Parcells era Giants....the 94 Rangers.....good times to have been alive.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
No comments:
Post a Comment