An Open letter to the Wilpons

By Matt Himelfarb
Posted Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Alas. winter has just about come and gone and circulating rumors have given way to the boring part; indeed, Carla Bruni should make for a great foreign diplomat as the French president returns to more important matters like re-colonizing Chad, as will one day Prince William, who I am looking forward to seeing his weekly emailbag as he begins his career in journalism following a well publicized few months.

And oh yeah, the Mets acquired Johan Santana along the way too, which presents me with a unique situation as far as finding something to write about this week. I could try and lavish the Omar and co. with praise following the acquisition of the best pitcher in baseball, but that’s boring, so the hell with that. I could try and explain why I wrote a week ago that including Deolis Guerra was “overwhelmingly too steep a price”, and how a look a back at the Jason Schmidt-Denny Neagle trade of 1996 reminded me that the future of a pitcher five-six years down the line should be of little interest to the Mets, but I guess the greater lesson there was when I realized the epiphany that, if you say you think one way about something and don’t actually believe it, that’s trustworthiness.

So let me turn me tempered enthusiasm for Johan Santana into something I feel more passionate about: the need for a Pedro Martinez Appreciation Day in 2008.

Dear Mr. and Mrs.Wilpon and beloved son Jeff,

I am sure it has come to your attention as of late that F.U. has been as kind to the Wilpon establishment as the Daily Mail has been to Prince Charles’s ears. I, on the other hand, am pleased to inform you that I do not share those beliefs, at least until you are done reading this letter.

One of the main concerns among the Shea Faithful seems to be that making the trip to Flushing will give you the thrill of a ballgame and little else. There appears to be a good portion of fans still clamoring for old-timer’s day, which is exactly what I see transplanted Mets fan’s living in their white Spanish-style home in Boca Raton taking time out of their day to watch a plethora if has-beens try and play a pick-up game. I know that you would love to devote a day commemorating Sandy Koufax’s career and even I believe in the deep ties between the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers and that of the New York Mets, but most others do not see such extravagances and would therefore only be interesting if we could get a one on one interview between Larry King and the Dodgers great.

Last year, however, you drew rave reviews from thousands of Mets fan who flocked to Shea Stadium on a warm summer night to watch “Ralph Kiner Night” at Shea. For many of these fans, the image of Kiner strolling down the warning track in white Plymouth Belvedere from the early ‘60s reminded them of the old, cheesy set from Kiner’s Korner, allowed them to romanticize how much better the game was in Kiner’s age, and how being a Mets fan had stayed consistent with them their entire life. Which is all great, except for a young fan like myself, watching Kiner come in every now and than for an inning and provide analysis for SNY is like watching Jack Clark cover the New Year’s Festivities.

So, with the intention of pleasing Mets fans from all ages all around the globe, I am asking you to do one thing before Shea Stadium kicks the bucket: Have a Pedro Martinez Appreciation Day.

I know, such a celebration in the middle of a pennant race for a player that has spent a good portion of his tenure with the Mets on the D.L. just might seem a bit tacky. Meanwhile, when you consider the N.Y. Post is proclaiming the Johan Santana trade a “glorious day” in Mets history, than just how do you capture the enormity of the day Pedro Martinez signed with the Mets? As great as the Santana trade appears to be on the surface, it is still compounded by high expectations and the fear that Deolis Guerra will creep into a top 25 prospect list by the end of this year. When the Mets officially inked Martinez to a four year contract, Mets fans had little to look forward to; We were hoping that Mike Piazza would be dealt for Jose Guillen, and Jose Reyes’s and David Wright’s potential had been far from realized.

As a person that has yet to attend a Mets playoff game in my life, watching Pedro Martinez take the mound four times in the year 2005- including his debut- are among my most cherished memories of being a Mets fan, and I still keep the ticket stubs for sentimental reasons. I vividly remember the lead up to his debut on April 16th that year, because all the small things- the “New Mets” commercials, the “Subway” posters featuring Carlos Beltran and Pedro that became more and more plentiful as we got closer to Queens were even exciting, because it was all new. Dozens and dozens of people wearing Mets jersey’s, (I had a Beltran t-shirt that day myself) before boarding the subway ride to Shea was a new phenomenon itself. The ticket brochures, the programs, anything that you could procure that day meant something because it had Pedro’s face on it.

From day one, Pedro managed to also leave on me the impression that he unilaterally had delivered the identity “Los Mets.” This type of identity finally became fully apparent to me and my dad during a tie game in the 9th inning on “Hispanic Heritage Night” in the summer of that year, when we had to have been the palest people sitting on the first base side that night.

Thank you for your time and I hope that you take my concerns into your strongest consideration.

Sincerely,

Matt “The Stat” Himelfarb

You can contact matt at matthimelfarb@gmail.com