A conversation with Laurie has raised between us a very good question:
Why are the Mets selling Tom Seaver's locker?
I know why: because they can [1]. For $41,000.
Why would the Mets sell it, though? Why wouldn't you preserve the locker of your only indisputable Hall of Famer and display it somewhere at Ebbets Faux? Why wouldn't you fix it up, recreate its 1969 persona, embellish it with era-specific equipment and a few Tom tchotchkes and place it somewhere where Mets fans could ooh and aah over it? And if it doesn't fit in with the Ebbets Faux motif, why wouldn't you make sure it meets the public eye? Why not donate it to the Queens Museum or the Museum of the City of New York or the Sports Museum of America? Why not Cooperstown?
It is understood and accepted as common business practice that you close a stadium, you sell off [2] as much of it as you can. Better than it winding up in a Dumpster. Fine. But everything [3] must go? There is no space at Ebbets Faux for a few key Shea mementoes representing the history of the New York Mets? You can't keep Tom Seaver's locker on the premises? Or at least on the premises of somewhere where it might be appreciated?
Is nothing — besides the cherished tradition of blowing a playoff spot on the final day of the season — sacred to this franchise?