Mets PA Announcer Does Walk Up Audio Clips

Amid the bad news we have been getting in the last weeks, there are some heartwarming stories.  Colin Cosell is stadium announcer for the New York Mets.  Since MLB, like all other sports is in hiatus, Cosell has been making walk up clips for various fans.
If you have been to a Major League Baseball game, you will hear each batter introduced with a clip of a certain song.  Cosell is in the process of making clips for fans who contact him on twitter using #callmeupcolin.  
Many of the clips that Colin has done have been for health care workers who work countless hours risking their lives to combat the Corona Virus crisis.
Colin is the grandson of the late Howard Cosell, a sports broadcasting trail blazer and probably the best sports announcer of all time.  Colin has been on social media for the better part of a decade, connecting with fans of  Howard.  I have told Colin what an inspiration  Mr. Cosell has been for me.
In the last few years, Colin has been working with family members  and fans to get Howard into the NFL Hall Of Fame.

New York Times Supplement Honors The Mets

A supplement in a recent issue of the New York Times is dedicated to the first National League pennant and World Championship of the New York Mets. It is titled  1969-The Mets Magical Mystical  Year.  

The issue was sent by a friend and has several articles celebrating the 50th anniversary of their amazing run.  Of, course it was a wonderful year in general for New York teams, especially two teams that had not even existed 10 years before, Both the Mets and Jets won world championships against incredible odds.    

The Mets were down 10 games in August to the Chicago Cubs who seemed to be cruising to their first post season in decades.  Cub first baseman, Ernie Banks was won of the most popular players ever to play the game.  He had never played in a world series and his career was coming to a close.  

The Mets, on the other hand, had never had a winning season.  They were always in last place, yet had become popular in a city which also the storied New York Yankees.  

Fans knew the Mets were improving, but no one could see what would transpire,  the Mets would go on to win their division (it was the first year ever that baseball had any post season other than the World Series), easily beat the Atlanta Braves and then take down the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.
Unlike the Jets, the Mets would win another world title.  That would come in 1986. 

Howard Cosell Grandson Lands Mets Gig.

Colin Cosell, grandson of legendary sports announcer Howard Cosell, revealed on his Facebook fan page that he will be one of two PA announcers for the New York Mets.  Cosell and Marysol Castro, the first woman announcer for the Mets will alternate by series.
Cosell is no stranger to this blog, as I enjoyed linking to his SNM commentaries a few years ago.  Colin comes across a nice guy and a real people person.  He was the winner of 3 Emmy Awards during his run with the MSG Varsity Network.  

Mets Foil Cubs Again

Not long after when I first got interested in baseball, I read a magazine article about a star player for Detroit named Al Kaline.  Kaline was a veteran outfielder who was playing his last season in 1968.  He has never played in the World Series and this was his last chance.  As it turned out, the Tigers went to the series that year and became world champions.  During the season, on the NBC game of the week, after the Tigers had clinched the American League, Curt Gowdy mentioned that Kaline had gotten a letter or telegram from Chicago Cubs star Ernie Banks congratulating him for being able to play in the upcoming series and hoping that he (Banks) would get the chance.
The next season (1969) it looked like Banks and his team would get the chance.  Stocked with all time greats like Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, and Banks, it looked like it would be the Cubs year.  How could you not love the Cubs?  They played in Wrigley Field, a beautiful traditional baseball field in  the middle of a neighborhood.  At that time, it had no lights and the all the games were played in the daytime.  Everyone loved Ernie Banks, considered one of baseball's ambassadors.
However, post game play was not to be.  The New York Mets, who were only 7 years old, most of them as a baseball laughing stalk. Suddenly they starting winning and winning.  The Cubs were sputtering, soon the Mets had overtaken the Cubs.  The Mets would go on to win it all and go down in history as the "Miracle Mets".
This year, The Cubs won a post game series for the first time since 1908,    It looked like this was the year for them to go to the World Series and perhaps win it. Except once again, someone stopped them in the National League Championship Series.  After 46 years, the Cubs dream was once again crushed by the New York Mets.

1969 Year Of The Mets And Jets

The Mets and Jets were emblematic of the era, the 1960s was known for a generation gap and of the emergence of youth as a voice.  Neither team was in existence ten years earlier.  The Jets were part of a brand new league the AFL, that challenged, before it became part of the NFL.  The Mets  were an expansion team, a consistent cellar dweller, that shared a town with the storied New York Yankees. The Jets shared the spotlight with the New York "Football" Giants.  Many noticed that the two teams had names that rhymed.  Both teams played in Shea Stadium.  A field that was also famous for hosting the Beatles.
In  the Super Bowl of 1969, the Jets pulled off one of sports greatest upsets beating the Baltimore Colts. In the two previous Super Bowls, the NFL's Packers easily beat the 2 best AFL entries. The top picture is of Joe Namath, the Jet's brash, outspoken but talented quarterback. Namath was unlike any sports figure at the time. A mod dresser and a lover of the night life.
In the World Series, the Mets upset Baltimore's Orioles, also a heavily favored team.  On a related note.The NBA New York Knicks would beat the Baltimore Bullets on their way to the championship in the upcoming NBA season. Of course the Knicks had been around for a while, but can be tied to the Mets and Jets by the year, the city, and the fact that it also beat a  team from Baltimore in the post season.  Not long afterwards, New York would get the Nets, who would play in the ABA, a team with a rhyming name with the city's two hottest clubs.
In a year that saw Woodstock and a man walk on the moon.  The respective championships of the Jets and the Mets, would put a definitive cherry on top of a decade, forever known for the explosion of the youth culture.

It's Felix Hernandez In Historical Win And Loss

Mariner pitcher Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam homerun by an American League pitcher in 37 years also making him the first Mariner pitcher ever to hit a home run in in a 5-2 victory over the New York Mets last night.
The feat was dampened when Hernandez was injured covering homeplate in an atttempt to stop Carlos Beltran from scoring. The ensuing collision left Hernandez with a sprain ankle and he had to leave the game. His prognosis is uncertain at this time.