While looking at the Mets schedule I see no celebration of the closing of Shea Stadium. I am really surprised there is no evening or day where a plethora of great Mets ballplayers of the past are brought back to Shea Stadium. It could be done in a similar way in which the Mets celebrated the 20th anniversary of the ’86 World Championship team two years ago.

Again, the Mets organization does a very poor job of promoting itself. In the past, the Mets traditionally had an Old Timers day but haven’t had one in years. While the Yankees continue to bring out old time players to cheering fans once each year, the Mets have almost taken the stance that no one cares so why bother.

This year would be the perfect opportunity to bring out the great Mets in Shea history as well as old timers who competed against the Mets. Yet all we get is a countdown each home game to when the old girl will be dismantled. I think the Mets are making a huge mistake in not promoting the greatness of Shea Stadium’s history. Regardless of its architectural shortcomings, Shea, and the players who have graced her field, hold a special place in Mets fans hearts. A special day devoted to the end of this edifice should be a no brainer. Yet the closest thing I see on the schedule is New York Jets night.

Who would not want to see the Mets-Shea all time team standing on the first base line with the all time Shea opponents on the third base line? After the introductions, they could play a 2 inning game. Who wouldn’t pay to see Seaver fire one in from the mound or Keith Hernandez drive one into the opposite field gap? It would be a great night and a fitting solute to a stadium that many of us grew up with. Fred Wilpon loves to talk about his childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Well, regardless of its immense size and lack of character, a great many Mets fans feel the same way about Shea Stadium. Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are two of them.

Here’s a small list of who the Mets could bring back for the evening. Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, Ron Swoboda, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Ed Kranepool, Ed Charles, Cary Carter, Ron Darling, Mike Piazza, Al Leiter, Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, John Olerud, Davey Johnson, Bud Harrelson and on and on and on. Why not? The celebration two years ago of the ’86 club was hugely successful. I really thought after that evening, the Mets would have reinstated an Old Timers day again but it never happened.

You get the feeling that because the Mets have not won 26 World Championships that they are not worthy of promoting themselves the way their cross town cousins do. That’s a shame. No one in baseball can compete with the history of the Yankees. In fact no one in the world except maybe Manchester United could compare to the history of the Yankees.

On the eve of another subway series, the last in the two current stadiums, the Mets need to start being more concerned with their fans and stop being so worried about what the Yankees are doing. For goodness sake, the Mets could win the next 10 World Series in a row and they still would not match what the Yankees have done.

The Mets have reached the playoffs seven times in their history, all while playing at Shea. In those years they took home 4 National League pennants and 2 World Championships. There are many teams in baseball that cannot make that boast. So to celebrate 45 years of Shea Stadium, each day the Mets are bringing special guests to tear off a number of remaining home games. Most fans in the ballpark are likely getting their hot dogs and beer while that’s going on. To me, the truly just thing to do is to have a special day with speeches, introductions, a tribute video, and an old timer’s game – all the pomp. That my friends would be closure.

Update - September 2008 - The Mets did hold a celebration at the end of the last game on September 28. They did a fantastic job. The only thing that went wrong was the Mets losing the last day of the season. I was unaware of such plans for a celebration at the time I wrote this article.