Joey's World Tour: I'm Going Back To Cali, Cali, Cali

The Mets could have used these bats when I went to see them in San Diego.  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

Greetings and salutations, Mets fans!  This is your favorite Studious Metsimus roving reporter and culinary expert, Joey Beartran.  I just got back from the West Coast, where I fulfilled both of my duties as reporter and eater.  On this trip, I visited Angel Stadium of Anaheim and then traveled south to see the Mets play in San Diego.  Both stadiums were beautiful.  The Mets, however, were not.

Most of the trip to Southern California was under the cover of clouds.  But the blue sky did make an appearance when we were in Anaheim, just in time for our ballpark tour.  The first stop on the tour was the area outside home plate. In addition to the gorgeous home plate entrance, which you can see in the photo above, the Angels have two large caps on either side of the plaza.  How large are they?  At size 649½, they might even be a little too big for Bruce Bochy's head.

Under one of the caps is a giant Mickey Mouse painted in Angels colors.  In 2010, Anaheim hosted the All-Star Game, making a deal with Disney (Disneyland is only a hop, skip and jump away from the stadium, you know) to produce giant Mickey Mouses (Mickey Mice?) with each team's colors and logo featured prominently on them.  The friendly rodents were then placed all around the city so that fans could find them.  This is similar to what the Mets did when Citi Field hosted the Midsummer Classic in 2013.

The other item of note outside the Home Plate entrance was a built-to-scale baseball diamond made out of bricks.  Our tour guide told us that this diamond is usually hard to spot on game days because of all the fans congregating in that area.  But on this beautiful morning, it was as visible as Brandon Nimmo's smile after he hits a home run.

Home is where the heart is, or in this case, where my sister, Iggy, is.  (EL/SM)

Once inside the ballpark, we saw reminders of the Angels' one and only World Series championship.  Even though the Angels have won nine division titles, it was their only wild card-winning season in 2002 that produced their sole pennant and Fall Classic victory.  Winning a single crown means that they only need one large display case to show off their hardware and other memorabilia from that magic campaign.  But they have many interesting items in that case.

Included in the display are various newspaper headlines, the ball and glove used to secure the final out of the World Series, a cowboy hat worn by the late owner Gene Autry (who passed away four years before the Angels won it all), photos from the championship parade in nearby Disneyland and of course, the World Series trophy.  I guess it isn't just Super Bowl MVPs that get to go to Disneyland after they win a ring.

Trophies won in the 21st century look much shinier than ones that have been collecting dust since 1986.  (EL/SM)

From here, we were brought to the visitors clubhouse, which doesn't have the amenities the home team's players have.  However, it was spacious and had its own video area where coaches can discuss flaws in swings, pitching mechanics, etc.  The bathrooms were also equipped with every kind of toiletry you can imagine so that opponents don't have to worry about trying to sneak large bottles of hair gel past the TSA agents in the airport.

Near the home team clubhouse we were taken to a special press conference room for former Angels manager Mike Scioscia.  The room was built at the request of the man who gave us post-traumatic Mets disorder in the 1988 NLCS so that he wouldn't have to trudge up a few levels to the regular press conference room to give post-game interviews.  I guess running around the bases after homering off Doc Gooden in the ninth inning of Game Four tired him out so much that he ended up having difficulty going up a few flights of stairs a quarter century later just to talk to reporters.

One of the interesting features of Angel Stadium is the dugout suites.  As you may know, all stadiums have suites for those who have large groups of people and a few thousand dollars burning a hole in their pockets.  But most of those suites are above field level.  The Angels have ten suites behind home plate that are a few feet below field level.  This gives a unique perspective to what's going on in the game, assuming you're not back in the suite trying all the delicious food that is included in the deal.  One unfortunate thing about these suites is that it's really hard to see fly balls from such a low vantage point.  Also, the suites are really HOT, as in sweat-through-your-fur hot.  I mean, I almost had to take off my Mets hoodie just to cool down, which probably would've made the tour experience less memorable for the other tourgoers in our group.

At least the dugout suites are close to - wait for it - the dugout!  That means they're also close to the field.  And why do we do ballpark tours in the first place?  It's not to see memorabilia of other teams winning championships or custom-made press conference rooms for Met killers.  It's also certainly not to visit suites we could never afford even if my colleague gave me a 100% raise.  (Speaking of which, my direct deposit never hit my bank account this week.  Just because I'm not human doesn't mean I can't complain to human resources about this.)

The reason we do these stadium tours is to sit in the dugout and walk on the field.  And that's just what this roving reporter did.  I came, I saw, I roved.

Who needs to sit in a dugout suite when we can sit right here?  (EL/SM)

After the tour was complete, we decided to walk around the park to get a glimpse of some of the banners and of course, the "Big A".

For all you kids out there, the "Big A" is not just the nickname for Angel Stadium, it's a 230-foot tall structure situated in the parking lot that's shaped like the first letter of the alphabet.  The "Big A" is topped by a halo that lights up after every Angels victory, which is perfect if you're a big fan of rubbernecking on the nearby freeway.

I give a big A-OK to the "Big A". (EL/SM)

From Anaheim, we went down the coast to San Diego, where we attended two Mets games.  Of course, the only game in the three-game series we didn't go to was the one game the Mets won.  You can thank my colleague for buying tickets to the wrong games.

Anyhow, if you're a longtime reader of my World Tour series, you know that we visited Petco Park in 2011.  (You can read about that trip by clicking here.)  But a lot has changed in those eight years.

For one thing, it's not all about Tony Gwynn anymore.  There's a lot of Trevor Hoffman love in and around the ballpark now that the closer has a plaque in Cooperstown.  And it's not just love for Gwynn and Hoffman.  The Padres now have a wall dedicated to all players and coaches who wore the team's uniform, whether it was for the old San Diego Pacific Coast League team or the current major league club.  There's even one for Mike Piazza, who played just one season in San Diego.

And the Padres Hall of Fame?  Well, that's just a sight to behold.  Within the 2,000-square-foot hall, we found photos and stories of the old PCL team, as well as newspaper clippings (including one of a game against the Mets in which a bad managerial decision may have cost the Padres a chance at their first no-hitter), bats, gloves, awards and videos of great moments in club history.  The centerpiece of the hall is a section devoted to every member of the Padres Hall of Fame.  But one particular Padre is missing.

Steve Garvey, whose No. 6 was retired by San Diego the year after he played his final game in the majors, is not in the Padres Hall of Fame.  My colleague and I were intrigued by this and asked one of the employees working in the hall about it.  The hall worker smiled and said that no one has any idea why that's the case.  Indeed, after further research by my colleague, we found nothing on the subject.  It's a mystery why Garvey's achievements as a member of the 1984 pennant-winning Padres led to his number being retired by the team, but the entirety of his five-year career in San Diego wasn't enough to warrant enshrinement into the club's Hall of Fame.  Truly bizarre.

The only way Steve Garvey will find himself in the Padres' Hall of Fame is if he buys a game ticket.  (EL/SM)

One place we had to visit when we were at Petco Park was an area that non-Mets fans wouldn't care to see.  It's certainly an area former Padres pitcher James Shields isn't comfortable with.

On May 7, 2016, Bartolo Colón hit the only home run of his long career off Shields.  The ball landed under the "Hit it Here" sign in front of the Western Metal Supply Co. building.  To mark the event, the Padres gave what Gary Cohen called "one of the great moments in the history of baseball" the Steve Garvey treatment, meaning there's nothing to mark where the ball landed.  But thanks to my colleague's calculations of exit velocities and launch angles, as well as me letting him know that he could've just watched Colón's clout on YouTube for research purposes, we were able to find the spot where the ball landed.  And we took some photos in the area before Padres security gave us their own version of the Garvey treatment.

I'm glad security didn't call the San Diego Zoo to have us removed.  That's worse than the Garvey treatment.  (EL/SM)

The Mets won the game we didn't go to, erasing a three-run, seventh-inning deficit to eke out a 7-6 victory.  The two games we did attend, the Mets scored a combined two runs and left runner after runner on base.  Because the Mets didn't give us much to cheer about in the stands, our photographer spent a good chunk of each game taking photos of the players.

Speaking of which, I'm glad our budget allows us to spend an arm and a leg on tickets and then we end up spending all of our time at the games behind a camera instead of, you know, watching the games.

They came, they played, they lost.  Twice.  (EL/SM)

The tour in Anaheim didn't take us to any of the stadium's food stands.  But the games in San Diego allowed us to pig out on a San Diego staple - burritos!  And the ones served in and around Petco Park were some of the best and most unique we've ever had.

Before going to the park, we enjoyed a California breakfast burrito filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, home fries and avocado.  That burrito was served with Mexican rice and refried beans.  Then at the Lucha Libre Taco Shop inside the ballpark, we had a Fryer Cali Burrito, which was both a play on words on the Padres being Friars and also incredibly delicious.  This burrito had steak, jack cheese, French fries, chipotle sauce and pico de gallo.  Apparently, putting potatoes in burritos is a big thing in San Diego.

As Weird Al Yankovic would say, "Might as well face it, I'm addicted to spuds."  (EL/SM)

So that's it for our California trip, in which we visited Angel Stadium of Anaheim for the first time and revisited the fun and festivities at Petco Park in San Diego.  On this trip, we learned that dugout suites are only good if you like searching in vain for fly balls while relaxing in a sauna.  We also learned that Met killers get lazy with age and there are hats that are even too big for Bruce Bochy to wear.

In addition, we found out that the Padres embrace their history more than the Mets do, but still have a strange relationship with Steve Garvey.  Also, Tony Gwynn isn't the only player who is celebrated in San Diego and oh yeah, they put taters in everything.

On behalf of the Studious Metsimus staff, I'd like to thank you for reading about our trip to Southern California and if you can find out why Steve Garvey isn't in the Padres Hall of Fame even though his number is retired, please let us know.  You should probably let Garvey know as well.

The Mets were washed out to sea on this trip.  Good thing we weren't.  (EL/SM)

For previous installments of Joey's World Tour, please click on the links below, where you will be entertained by Joey's wit, photos and love of ballpark cuisine:

World Tour Stop #1: Baltimore
World Tour Stop #2: Washington, DC
World Tour Stop #3: Pittsburgh
World Tour Stop #4: Texas
World Tour Stop #5: Los Angeles
World Tour Stop #6: San Diego
World Tour Stop #7: Toronto
World Tour Stop #8: Chicago (NL)
World Tour Stop #9: Milwaukee
World Tour Stop #10: Seattle
World Tour Stop #11: Cleveland
World Tour Stop #12: Brooklyn (Ebbets Field site) and Manhattan (Polo Grounds site)
World Tour Stop #13: Baltimore (again) and Pittsburgh (part deux)
World Tour Stop #14: Cincinnati
World Tour Stop #15: Colorado
World Tour Stop #16: Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame)
World Tour Stop #17: Detroit
World Tour Stop #18: Atlanta
World Tour Stop #19: Miami
World Tour Stop #20: St. Louis
World Tour Stop #21: Kansas City

 

Ghosts of Metsimus Past: No Experience Required (Unless If You Want To Win)

Welcome to another edition of Ghosts of Metsimus Past, where we have a Dickens of a time bringing back classic Studious Metsimus posts from the past.  In today's installment, we'll conjure up a post that was originally published on November 29, 2011.

It was around this time a year ago that the Mets allowed Jose Reyes to pack his suitcase for the warmth of South Florida.  Twelve months and one fire sale later, Reyes will now be trading in his new park in warm Miami for a new parka in chilly Toronto.  While Reyes is trying to figure out what the currency exhange rate is in Canada, his former infield partner in New York is counting the currency in his recently expanded bank account.

When Wright steps onto the field on Opening Day 2013, he will become the first Met since Mookie Wilson to be a Met for ten seasons.  In 2014, Wright will become the first player to be a Met for over a decade.  Who was the last player to accomplish this rare combination of loyalty and longevity?  Well, that's where this edition of Ghosts of Metsimus Past comes in.  Enjoy!

With the impending departure of Jose Reyes, the Mets will be left with David Wright and Mike Pelfrey as the only two players who have been with the team for at least five seasons, with Wright making his debut in 2004 and Pelfrey making his first major league appearance in 2006.  It would also leave David Wright as the only player left from the Art Howe era.

If Reyes has indeed played his last game as a Met, he will have played a total of nine seasons in New York, falling one year short of the decade mark.  That got me thinking.  Do you remember the last non-pitcher to play at least ten seasons for the Mets?  Would you believe it was Mookie Wilson?

Even before his famous ten-pitch at-bat in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Mookie Wilson was a beloved Met.  He was admired by the fans and respected by his teammates.  He was also a player the team wanted to have around, as he made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1980 and remained with the team until he was traded to the Blue Jays in 1989.

Mookie Wilson played for the Mets in every season in the '80s, experiencing the highs ("little roller up along first") and lows (George Foster).  He was also the last everyday player to suit up for the Mets at least once in ten consecutive seasons.  (Lee Mazzilli also played ten years for the Mets, but his time was split into two stints, from 1976-1981 and from 1986-1989.)

To find the last non-pitcher who played more than ten seasons in New York, you have to go all the way back to a player who played his first game for the Mets during their "Ya Gotta Believe" pennant-winning season in 1973.  Ron Hodges played 12 seasons for the Mets, ending his career in 1984.  However, despite the fact that Hodges was a non-pitcher, he was far from an everyday player, never collecting more than 250 at-bats in a single season.

How much time has passed since Ron Hodges became the last non-pitcher to play more than ten seasons with the Mets?  Let's just say color photography didn't exist back then.

It's amazin' that the Mets haven't had an everyday player spend ten years with the team in over two decades and even more amazin' that it's been over a quarter century (more than half of their existence) since a non-pitcher surpassed the decade mark.

In fact, in addition to Wilson, Mazzilli and Hodges, the only other everyday players to play at least ten seasons for the Mets in their fifty-year history are John Stearns (1975-1984), Ed Kranepool (1962-1979), Jerry Grote (1966-1977), Bud Harrelson (1965-1977) and Cleon Jones (1963, 1965-1975).  That's a total of eight everyday players in 50 years to play at least ten years with the Mets.  Compare that with 15 such players on the Astros (who also came into existence in 1962).

Free agency has definitely changed the landscape of the game.  Since its advent in the 1970s, players have been more likely to move from team to team than they are to stay with one franchise.  However, every team has a homegrown star or exceptional player that they try to lock up for as long as possible.  Not every team can boast a Tony Gwynn (20 years in San Diego) or Cal Ripken, Jr. (21 years in Baltimore), but they can claim a Jay Buhner (14 years in Seattle) or Mike Sweeney (13 years in Kansas City).

It's not only small market teams that keep their players around.  Large market teams do it as well.  For example, that other team that plays in New York (their name escapes me at the moment) has had a number of ten-year everyday players since they started winning division titles and World Series championships.  Players such as Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada all played key roles on those teams.  None of those players was playing in the major leagues the last time the Mets had a non-pitcher play at least ten years for them.

Don't look at us like that, Jose.  It's true.  You really would have been the first Met everyday player since 1989 to play at least ten years with the team had you decided to stay.

 

If Jose Reyes leaves the Mets during the offseason, he will fall one year short of reaching the decade mark, leaving it up to David Wright to try to end the streak in 2013.  Of course, he might be traded by then.  If that ends us happening, the longest-tenured everyday player on the Mets would be (get ready for this) Angel Pagan, assuming he's still on the team as well.

A good team has to have youth and a core of veterans who can share their wisdom and experiences with those novices.  Players who have seen the highs and lows (a la Mookie Wilson) are always key members of a winning team.  They've been in the clubhouse long enough and can help bring the team together in ways that can't be seen in a boxscore.

It's been almost a quarter century since the Mets have had a veteran like Mookie Wilson play at least ten years with the team.  It's also been a quarter century since the Mets last won a championship.  That's not a coincidence.