In 1967, the Mets were determined to rise from the depths of their tenth- and ninth-place beginnings. They didn’t just yet, but Willard Mullin’s illustration of the effort is just one reason the ’67 yearbook stands as a gem from another time.
 
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans. Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here. Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here. Got something to say? Leave a comment, or email us at faithandfear@gmail.com. Need our RSS feed? It's here. Use Facebook? Come check out our page, or drop by the personal pages for Greg and Jason. Or follow us on Twitter: Here's Greg, and here's Jason. |
Up the Down Staircase4 comments to Up the Down Staircase |
The Faith and Fear in Flushing "numbers" shirt has been seen from Verona, N.J., to Venice. You can get yours right here -- price about as cheap as we can make it. 
Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History by Greg Prince (foreword by Jason Fry), is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. |
|
Copyright © 2013 Faith and Fear in Flushing - All Rights Reserved |
||
Maybe I'm dense, but why is just one step broken?
It was the first time the Mets didn't have a better record than the year before…
Things That Only A Graphic Artist Notices:
1. This entire cover (except for 'Revised Edition') is hand-lettered. The price, the weird googly 'oo' in yearbook-even the Mets logo is all done in one swoop.
2. No Marketing Department got to question (read 'ruin') everything. Why yellow? Why a little kid? who's the NL guy? What do those numbers mean? How about a big, strong Met man running up steps that aren't cracked?
3. Good God, it's a 'concept' piece. It's conveying an actual idea, or a hope for the coming season. We can't have that…what if we're wrong?
4. Who draws anymore?
Willard Mullin rules still.
Things That Fans Sure Notice:
It was just 50 cents! In today's money, that'd be just about $3. Last year's dreadful book cost $10. FWIW, mid-60's Mets Yearbooks in good condition fetch $20 or $30 in the collectibles market. The rare-ish '62 one is over $100 in good to excellent condition. But I bet nobody ever pays much more than $10 for the 2006 model.