Mets' 51st Anniversary Jerseys Are Pleasing

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By Rob Neyer - National Baseball Editor

Mr. Met, the New York Mets mascot, poses during the MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The Mets unveiled their new uniforms on Wednesday, and they're better than last year's. It's just a shame we didn't see them last year.

Nov 16, 2011 - I believe it was Jeffrey Wayne King who once said, "The arc of the sartorial universe is long, but it bends toward the esthetically pleasing."

Unfortunately, we're never going back to the wool uniforms that allowed for such brilliance for so many decades. But one does get the impression that while baseball teams continue to make terrible mistakes with their livery, the general trend is toward elegance and classicism.

To wit, the Mets' jerseys will be tweaked next season, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the franchise's first season in 1962:

The Mets this coming season will wear new home pinstripe, white and road grey uniforms reflecting the look of the original uniforms from their inaugural season. The black dropshadow will be removed from the Mets script logo, letters and numbers. The pinstripe uniform will be the primary home uniform with the white and black alternate jerseys worn on select dates. The blue cap will be worn with the home pinstripes and white uniforms, and the road grey uniforms. The team will also wear a new blue and orange batting practice jersey.

This is all exceptionally good news, since the Mets' uniforms in 1962 were classics.

Along with their slightly revised jerseys, the Mets will be sporting a 50th-anniversary shoulder patch, with this logo.

This does raise a question, though ... 50th anniversary of what, exactly?

An anniversary is most appropriately enjoyed on a particular day.

The New York Mets played their first game on April 11, 1962. That is a date worth celebrating, and presumably the Mets will pull out all the stops before and/or after their afternoon game against the Nationals next April 11.

The rest of the season, though? I don't really get it.

It's always seemed to me that seasons should be commemorated, and the time for that was last season ... the New York Mets' 50th season.

Some years ago, the Royals figured this out; in 1993, they celebrated their 25th season on their media guide and their pocket schedule. They also unveiled their 25th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1993.

But as I recall, people were confused. They just couldn't wrap their noodles around the idea that something 25th had actually happened 24 years earlier. So, like the metric system, the proper commemoration of baseball seasons died because Americans are fundamentally innumerate. Or because baseball teams -- we're looking at you, Mets! -- are afraid their fans might be stupid.

Thanks for getting rid of the black dropshadows, though. Those were flat fugly.

Poll

When should the Mets celebrate their 50th Anniversary?

In their 50th season

180 votes

In their 51st season

91 votes

Both!

126 votes

397 votes | Poll has closed

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Rob Neyer

National Baseball Editor

Rob Neyer began his career with legendary baseball author Bill James, and later worked for STATS, Inc. and ESPN.com, writing more words for that website than anyone else. Rob has written or... Read full bio

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Comments

Quibble.

It is the Mets’ 51st season in 2012, absolutely.

It is the 50th anniversary of their first season. I have no issue with them calling 2012 their “50th anniversary”.

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by Al Yellon on Nov 16, 2011 1:58 PM EST reply actions

50th anniversary- 26 years after the 25th anniversary

Here’s the funniest part:

In 1986, the Mets celebrated their 25th anniversary, in their 25th season. They wore this patch on their uniforms(http://bit.ly/s0OKWt), a patch forever ingrained into Mets history since it appeared on the gear for the Mets 1986 championship season.

Last year, in 2011, the Mets celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1986 championship team.

And yet, despite 2011 being the 25th anniversary of their 25th anniversary celebration, they aren’t celebrating their 50th anniversary until this year. So they got it, and then they lost it.

by arrabin56 on Nov 16, 2011 2:09 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

Innumeracy is a lifestyle

by Freneau on Nov 16, 2011 2:14 PM EST reply actions

But the Mets will be 50 years old on April 11, 2012. I dunno… celebrating the 50th anniversary is fine in the 2012 season, but yeah, the 50th season was last year.

by msgg139 on Nov 16, 2011 3:05 PM EST reply actions

My 10 year high school reunion is going to happen in the fall of the 11th year since I graduated

At least it’s not just my classmates that are dumb. Major league teams do it, too!

Coming Home Newcastle
Fake Teams

by Robert L. Bishop on Nov 16, 2011 3:18 PM EST reply actions

Both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners were born in 1977

While the Blue Jays celebrated their 10th, 20th, 25th and 30th anniversaries in 1986, 1996, 2001, and 2006 respectively, the Mariners celebrated their 10th, 20th, and 30th anniversaries in 1987, 1997, 2002, and 2007.

Follow me @BBBMinorLeaguer

by Minor Leaguer on Nov 16, 2011 3:57 PM EST reply actions

Angels Did The Same Thing

50 Years of Angels was celebrated this year. You’d almost think that, and stay with me here, baseball teams will celebrate whatever they want to sell more merchandise and grab a few more headlines.

Like the world’s largest history lesson.

R.I.P. Nick Adenhart - Always an Angel

by Kernel on Nov 16, 2011 4:06 PM EST reply actions

Except the Angels were created in 1961, not 1962.

So they did it right.

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by Al Yellon on Nov 16, 2011 5:40 PM EST up reply actions

They did it wrong, if the past is an indicator

they wore their 35th anniversary patches on their 1995 uniforms, commemorating their 35th season. All of a sudden, 16 years later, they’re wearing their 50th anniversary patches?

Consistency, please. The number of seasons is more noteworthy than number of years.

This is a sig.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Nov 16, 2011 11:14 PM EST up reply actions

Sure.

But if you’re going to commemorate your 50th season (which the Mets could have done last year), you can’t call it “50th anniversary”. Because it isn’t.

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by Al Yellon on Nov 17, 2011 9:57 AM EST up reply actions

Sure it is

anniversary, in its Latin root, just means ‘to change (turn) a year.’

Is it a year according to a calendar? No. But has it changed to a new year in terms of total number of years in which baseball has been played? Yes. The number of ‘years’ played is a ‘turnover’ from 49 to 50. Not a traditional use, but not incorrect either.

This is a sig.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Nov 17, 2011 12:55 PM EST up reply actions

Also, Gold Accents Are Great

It really looked great on Angels uniforms. I’m disappointed about the return of silver next year, because although I liked it just fine before, that was BEFORE golden halos returned to Anaheim, except more golden than ever before.

R.I.P. Nick Adenhart - Always an Angel

by Kernel on Nov 16, 2011 4:09 PM EST reply actions

I'll trade the numerical error...

for the removal of the error that was the black uniforms.

Also, the 50th Anniversary patches look pretty sweet & are a HUGE improvement to the inaugural season patches that they wore when they moved from Shea to New Shea.

by TMO_NYC on Nov 16, 2011 4:27 PM EST reply actions

I'd forgotten about those patches

and I wish I hadn’t been reminded.

Still Amazin'.
Jose Reyes is a MET in 2012.

by piazza62 on Nov 16, 2011 4:31 PM EST up reply actions

My first birthday...

came after I completed a year of life. Zero months to twelve months was my first year of life, but I was not a year old.

Same went for my wedding anniversaries.

The Mets have now completed 50 seasons in the major leagues. It’s their 50th anniversary.

There are better things to get bunched up about.

by scotth23 on Nov 16, 2011 5:13 PM EST reply actions

They got it wrong in 1986. They got it right in 2012.

1986 was their 25th season, which is how the patch should have read. If they wanted a patch that said 25th anniversary, it should have been used for their 1987 jerseys. I don’t care which method they go by, but it should have been kept consistent.

If you got married today, on this date next year it would be your 1st anniversary, and the second year of marriage.

by gary243 on Nov 16, 2011 5:37 PM EST reply actions