Why do the Mets give out Keith Hernandez's No. 17?
Jim Baumbach gives a list of those who have worn 17 since Keith left. Fernando Tatis is the latest.
Why doesn't this bother Mets fans the way LaTroy Hawkins wearing No. 21 bothered Yankees fans?
Click here for the story. What do you think?
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Comments (8)
Because we're not as essentially racist as most Yankees fans. People of color are regularly spotted at Shea.
We don't have that "real Yankee" bs criteria.
It probably would have bothered Mets fans 15 years ago. But it's so far removed and been diluted that no one cares at this point. I always find it odd to see someone wearing it, but it's like being a Giant fan and seeing someone wear Harry Carson's 53 or Carl Banks' 58.
How come no one gets upset then that they still hand out Gary Carter's number? The Mets should retire more numbers given the fact that 3 out of the 4 numbers retired now, 37, 14 & 42 are for guys whose careers are more closely tied with other teams. Is the team essentially saying someone has to be Tom Terrific to get the distinction now?
Because 17 was really a Cardinal.
The guys surrounding him -- 16 and 18 -- were real Mets, despite where they ended up (and you can take that a couple of ways)..
There probably won't be any room on the wall at CitiField for # 17 because Fred Wilpon will use up all the space to hang up retired Brooklyn Dodgers numbers.
Its pathetic that they've only retired one player's number in 40+ seasons.
Out of the two managers with retired numbers, what exactly did Casey Stengel do for the Mets to warrant the honor?
I was all for retiring #17, especially when they gave it to Jose Lima. However, he was asked the other day if were to be inducted into the HOF and he had the choice of which team to represent he was totally non-committal. He was straddling the fence between the Cardinals and the Mets. I found that annoying, especially since he was asked this while broadcasting a Mets game. Now I don't care who wears #17.
I was just told that I sound "bitter". Hell yeah, I'm bitter, now I'm gonna go get my gun and turn to god.
Caryn, are you that ignorant to think that all Yankee fans are racist? The reason Yankee fans reacted the way they did the LaTroy Hawkins wearing O'Neill's number had nothing to do with his skin color, it had to do with the fact that Yankee fans respect their history and the majority opinion of Yankee fans is that his number should be retired and not worn by anyone else. However, you want to turn this into a racial issue, but what if Hawkins decided to wear #51, do you honestly think that it wouldn't be a big deal to Yankee fans because Bernie Williams is half black/puerto rican, they'd make just as big of a deal because they feel the same way about Bernie as they do O'Neill.
Whether it's racial or just the fact that Yankee fans think that O'Neill was much better than he really was...
Hawkins with #51 wouldn't be as big a deal as it was with #21.
Shelly Duncan wearing #21 wouldn't be a big deal.
17? Retire 17? How about subtract 10 and retire # 7? Jose? No way! Give me a break! Ed Kranepool. Here are the numbers:
*17 YEARS a Met. The only major league club he ever played for.
* All-Star (NL): 1965
* National League pennant: 1969, 1973
* World Series champion: 1969
* New York Mets All-Time Leader in Games (1,853), At Bats (5,436), Plate Appearances (5,997), Hits (1,418), Total Bases (2,047), Doubles (225), Singles (1,050), Times on Base (1,886) and Sacrifice Flies (58).
All of that and they did not even have a bobble head for the guy when he retired. Tradition? Give me a break!