A Public Service announcement to Public Broadcasting fans who may be...

1.  Feeling guilty about not pledging enough or anything at all.

2.  Worried about what will happen if Congress cuts back any more than they already have in funding CPB.

3.   Fearful that any harm to CPB or PBS or WNET or NPR could result in losing favorite programs.

4. Especially concerned if anything in any way may put next season of Downton Abbey at risk.


Don't worry.  Be Happy.  All's well in the land of Corporate Private Broadcasting.
(Or at least better than they'd like you to believe, cause they still want you to Pledge)

Metropolitans Diary  
Part I



My home field was the East Bronx till our family moved to Jackson Heights, Queens during the summer before I started Jr. High School.  And it wasn't long before I put away childish things like my infatuation with the NY Yankees and a particular affection for their middle infield of Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson (with catcher Elston Howard and 3rd sacker Clete Boyer close behind--apparently my preference for infielders reflected my Little League experiences where 2nd, 3rd and catcher were where I found myself stationed during my short career on the dusty diamond adjacent to the southeast gates to the Bronx Zoo.) Mantle and Maris loomed like Olympian giants, whereas the peskier infielders (though Maris wasn't all that big) appeared more accessible to small skinny wiry types like myself in those pre-teen years.

Now ensconced in the momentarily more up and coming world of Queens, with a new World's Fair a mile down the road in Flushing dominating the current cultural climate, it was The Mets (playing next door to The Fair in the Brand New Shea Stadium) who inherited the spirit of the late lamented and departed Giants and Dodgers and rekindled the flame for National League partisans for whom those bombers from the Bronx were, despite all their success and history of glories past, never true reflections of the culture of New York neighborhood/street life. The Yankees were like white collar professionals in a blue collar town. And for many, that corporate image still holds today.

The Polo Grounds. Home to Giants and early Mets. 
279 ft in Left.  258 ft. in Right.  483 inCenter.  
Yes, 483!  Left Center and Right Center were 450!

Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges were National Leaguers, and thus a breed apart--a more colorful, dynamic and emotionally compelling breed. I like to think that the DH could only have come from the American League tradition..the triumph of efficiency over community and teamwork...  but all that is mostly myth and perception based on childhood impressions, nostalgic memory and the popularization of Brooklyn/Manhattan lore in movies, books etc-- and mere way of prelude to the years that followed...

 ...when the Mets established their own tradition--with the early years steeped in such failure and ineptitude that it became forever ingrained into the consciousness of a fan base that embraced the perennial underdog persona even up to and beyond the years when Championships were won and great seasons became commonplace.  Before 1969, every Met win felt like winning the lottery --with luck being the factor assumed to have played the most critical role.

...Coming Next on
 Metropolitans Diary. Part II
"The Broadcast Booth"