From peddling minority shares in the franchise (and don’t even ask who’s buying) to reports Jose Reyes is all but gone to Miami, the Mets had to throw their fans a bone this week. Even if it were just a cosmetic bone. On Thursday, while unveiling plans for the club’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, Howie Rose confirmed the blue & black hats would be eliminated, along with (eventually) most elements of the garish alternate uniforms that enraged everyone from sensible persons to Phil Mushnick. From the former category, UniWatch‘s Paul Lukas is a longtime opponent of these aesthetic atrocities, and as such, deserves the his victory lap.
Disappointments? I count three, all fairly minor: (1) The black alternate jersey and solid-black cap have not been eliminated — yet. They’ll be used sparingly on the road in 2012, and then scrapped altogether in 2013. (2) I was hoping they’d go back to a blue squatchee for 2012, but they’re sticking with orange. (3) I was also hoping they’d restore the little “NY” to the skyline logo, but no dice. In the grand scheme of things, however, I can live with all of these.
And there you have it. After a dozen years of campaigning for most of these moves, I don’t mind saying that the long-awaited ditching of the black — VB Day — tastes pretty sweet. Today my giant souvenir Mets cup is filled with champagne. (Actually, I don’t own a souvenir cup, and I don’t particularly like champagne. But you get the idea.)
My thanks to everyone else who’s helped with the cause over the years. Enjoy the moment, people — an all-too-rare triumph of Good over Stupid.