Converted Mets Player

Once upon a time, I was watching Center Fielder Bernie Williams get the game-winning hit in the 12th inning on Joe DiMaggio Day.

I held my forearms over my eyes 'cause I couldn't bear to watch it as Byung-Hyun Kim deliver the next pitch to Scott Brosius, only to hear the stadium go bazerk and open my eyes to see Scott Brosius  with his arms in the air as he was beginning his trot as the ball landed to tie the game in the 9th.

Then, well...I got older. I grew wiser. And I stopped caring whether the Yankees won or lost.

And now, once again, like I felt when I was a kid and just learning the game of baseball, I care deeply the outcome of all 162 Mets games.

Though most likely a different journey to the ball club (especially considering the Mets didn't offer me 64 million dollars) Curtis Granderson now joins the ranks of the Converted. He looked spiffy in that classic jersey, and I have a feeling he will not be "the next Jason Bay." Something about it just feels like much better timing than that former deal. People might lambast me for this comment, but I even think Granderson can become a better player on the New York Mets than he has been. I just feel as if the two entities are uniting at JUST the right time...

That was pretty baller telling me the first day I see you in the uniform that I've been a true New Yorker since 2005. That March, when I fully decided on the full-on switch, was only a couple months away from the 10th anniversary of my arrival as a resident of New York. I have been here since 1995, though understand that my mom is from Brooklyn and I was very much around the 5 boroughs and subboroughs since I was a baby. New York had always been a large element in my life, whether I was here, in Richmond, VA, and West Palm Beach, FL. (And hey, ESPECIALLY when I got to Florida, Amiright? Heh? Heh? Amiright...?)

It does bring up the age-old question: Who is a New Yorker? When you really look out onto this unbelievable landscape of a city, you will find NUMEROUS amounts of people who have been here since, say, 1967, but weren't born here. Or implants born in the '60's, '70's, or '80's who have now raised children in this city. As far as I'm concerned, because of the way this city operates, a New Yorker is anybody ambitious enough to become one.

And being a Mets fan helps.

Welcome to the Metropolitans, Curtis.

And welcome, Bartolo.

KEEP. ON. PUSHIN'.

LET'S. GO. METS.

(this video's one of the greatest things ever.)

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, follow on Twitter here, and listen to the research process here.

The Former Sam Maxwell and the Random Song of the Day

I'm driving up to Rochester with my dad for the holiday to visit my sister and her family (just to make it clear, I have 3 older sisters on my dad's side and the younger sis who you've seen on this blog on my mom's side.) 

Every once in a while, my dad will email me photos of myself in my former fandom with the subject line, "NEVER FORGET!!!" I thought I'd share a couple of those photos today.

I was 14 and we were both visiting Cooperstown for the first time in our lives. Here, we were at one of those novelty places along the main strip where you can dress up and pose in retro jerseys (and I mean seriously retro. Those were 100% wool. I never understood why anyone EVER played baseball in the dead of summer in wool.)

Man, I was a skinny, awkward kid (I have kept the awkward, whereas I have left the overly skinny and the navy pinstripes behind.) This is my dad's favorite. He keeps the photo in a frame next to his kitchen sink upstate. I like the Brooklyn Bridge part...

No offense to my dad, but I certainly think I look snazzier in the Orange and Blue.

Here's the Random Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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