New patch to say 'Farewell' to Shea

The Mets are to wear this neat patch next season. I love how it combines the original look of Shea with the orange and blue panels and the modern neon players.

Truth be told, the Mets have mixed success with special patches. We know the team doesn't do an especially good job showing off its glorious history, and that extends to shoulder-ware.

We won't include memorial patches in the discussion -- although the Bill Shea design was a nice touch -- nor the patches worn by the entire league or even all the teams, as happened in 1969.

So let's review:

The Mets opened their new ballpark with a design commemorating the World's Fair. This is what was posted on the Chris Creamer site, but I think the team wore something a little different. I'll try to find a better photo.

But I've always had a soft spot for the Unisphere, and any attempt to link it to the Mets is OK with me!

Here we go! Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing fame noted that the glorious Ultimate Mets Date Base site had a photo of the proper patch -- which should be a surprise to no one because that site is an amazin' treasure chest of Mets history.

Can it be that the team went from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s without a special patch? The 25th anniversary design always will be special because of the link to the championship team. It's a little bland -- but not as bland as some to come -- but gets points for restoring the skyline logo, which was removed during the racing stripe years.

I've got some issues with this one. For one thing, it's more of a patch collar than an actual patch since the team had restored the logo to the sleeves by this point.

Then you have the whole debate about whether championship teams deserve such commemoration.

And players like Tom Seaver will tell you that using the word "miracle" implies that the team somehow lucked its way into a championship. Amazin' -- yes! Miracle -- nope, just good players playing great baseball.

It didn't help that the patch was attached to the abomination jersey with the big tail coming under the team name, a design that couldn't be scrapped fast enough for my liking. As Metstradamus correctly called it, the "wardrobe of failure."


Snore. Marking the 40 years was worthy, but this patch is boring beyond belief. And the Mets wordmark was already across the front of the jersey, so why include it here? Luckily two years later someone got a clue.



I love it! Note the shoutout to the World Fair design from the Shea's first year, fused with the neon players from the yard today. Brilliant! And, a rare instance of someone at the team knowing something about Mets history.