You may remember a local TV commercial from the 1980s in which Chicago actor Dennis Franz uttered the line: “What’s a Met?”
That question has haunted me ever since, so I ventured out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday to try to find the origin of the nickname. Unfortunately, no one at the information desk knew what I was talking about, and I couldn’t find anyone wearing a Mets cap in the entire museum, even in the Monet wing.
New York isn’t anything like Chicago when it comes to the postseason. When the Cubs made it into the playoffs in 2003 and the White Sox last year, civic pride was everywhere, from banners on Michigan Avenue light poles to signs in storefronts to bedsheets in apartment windows. It was a happening that everyone wanted to be part of, knowing it might not happen again in our lifetime.
But a stroll on the Upper East Side revealed no such fervor for the Mets, despite the fact they are one step away from the World Series. I only saw one homemade sign in a restaurant window, and relatively few people wearing Mets caps.
Maybe it’s because New York is so accustomed to hosting world-class sports events, or that there’s so much else to do here. But there doesn’t seem to be any real excitement for the Mets’ postseason run, which is a shame because the team is exciting and easy to like.
Before the game I finally found someone to answer my question: What’s a Met?
“It’s short for Metropolitans,” former Mets closer John Franco said. “They wanted to represent the whole metropolitan area–Dodgers fans, Giants fans . . . “
Then why does Mr. Met have a head like a giant baseball?
Some things in life are unexplainable.
