Welcome to Flashback Friday: I Saw The Decade End, a milestone-anniversary salute to the New York Mets of 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999. Each week, we immerse ourselves in or at least touch upon something that transpired within the Metsian realm 40, 30, 20 or 10 years ago. Amazin’ or not, for the final time, here it comes.
This is literally the Flashback to end all 2009 Flashbacks, which is appropriate since its subject is the tribute to end all tributes to the Mets season to end the last millennium.
Prepare to meet the Amazin’ Medley, my musical homage to the 1999 Mets.
What you are about to read is a transcription and explanation of all 156 segments of a montage I produced almost ten years ago. I sat on the floor in front of my stereo with cassettes, LPs, 45s and CDs laid out around me and I created a twenty-minute remembrance of what I’d just recently lived through. It exists as a tape, not the most Internet-friendly format here on the cusp of this century’s second decade.
Nevertheless, I take it out now and then, maybe twice a year, pop it into a cassette player (I still have several) and listen to it. It shoots me right back to that December day when I decided to follow through on my impulse and hit PLAY, RECORD and PAUSE a whole lot. It shoots me back a little further, to the 1999 postseason, then to the 1999 regular season and to seasons before that. It may be the purest expression I have of how my mind works where the Mets are concerned, particularly those Mets. I didn’t write a word of anything on that tape. It’s all songs and play-by-play. But it all makes sense to me as if it’s coming from me.
Over the years, I’ve dubbed a dozen, maybe fifteen copies for friends whom I thought would enjoy it. Some said they did. Some said they’d let me know. Some people are weirded out by stuff like this. I understand. But obviously I don’t care. I love the Amazin’ Medley. In revisiting it here, I love it all over again. I hope you like it. I hope you kind of get it.
But mostly, I love the Amazin’ Medley and the team that inspired it.
Some of these audio choices require little explanation, but I’ll at least drop in a token thought for each of them. Links are provided where possible to the music to give you an idea regarding anything with which you’re not yet familiar. Some of these songs I like a great deal on their own. Some of them I don’t care about stripped of their Met context. I did gather each of them up to make sure this project would be exactly what I wanted it to be in 1999. These days I just make playlists and the whole thing goes a lot quicker. Back then, doing a tape like this was the ultimate labor of love. But so was what the 1999 Mets did for me, so we’re even.
Without further adieu…meet the Medley.
1. Final notes of “Meet The Mets” (organ instrumental)
FROM “Meet The Mets” by Jane Jarvis, 1996 recording, given away at Shea on Meet The Mets CD Day, 9/15/96
BECAUSE Not that I needed to fall in love with this song all over again, but I did. The fall of ’96 was a very bittersweet time to be a Mets fan. You had the usual melancholy of a losing season winding down. You had the distracting uplift of the team records tied or set by Lance Johnson, Todd Hundley and Bernard Gilkey. And you had that whole other thing elsewhere in the city. Hearing “Meet The Mets” over and over again on CD was just what I needed.
2. “It was a very good year.”
FROM “It Was A Very Good Year” by Frank Sinatra
BECAUSE 1999 was a very good year.
3. “Many years since I was here.”
FROM “New York Groove” by Ace Frehley
BECAUSE First playoff appearance in more than a decade. I had this song in my mind as the soundtrack for the 1996 run to glory that never occurred. I could see Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher starring in a video that would be shown before every game on DiamondVision. I swear I could.
4. “The summer here is over in a million different ways.”
FROM “It’s Never Too Late To Be Alone” by Del Amitri
BECAUSE The pervading sadness that the playoffs and all that preceded them were over in a million different ways.
5. “Give me one more summer.”
FROM “One More Summer” by the Rainmakers
BECAUSE The pervading determination to relive those playoffs and all that preceded them.
6. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. We’re gonna get it started.”
FROM “C’mon C’mon (We’re Gonna Get It Started)” by Sloan
BECAUSE Rebooting and reliving 1999. When I discovered this song via the defunct MuchMusic channel in 1998, I wished the Mets would take the field to this.
7. “Are you ready?”
FROM “Are You Ready For Love?” by Elton John and the Spinners
BECAUSE The Mets’ ’99 enigmatic marketing theme was Are You Ready?
8. “Baby, I’m ready to go.”
FROM “Ready To Go” by Republica
BECAUSE After the painfully short Wild Card bit of ’98, I sure as hell was ready to go in ’99. Orel Hershiser warmed up to this jock jam staple as a Met though I doubt he specifically requested it.
9. “Keep the ball rollin’, keep the ball rollin’.”
FROM “Keep The Ball Rollin’” by Jay & The Techniques
BECAUSE Twofold meaning here: a desire to keep this positive vibe going and a reference to the most famous play in Mets history, one that involved a ground ball rolling ’til it rolled through a first baseman’s legs. I secured this 45 during the summer of ’99 for reasons unrelated to baseball. Every Memorial Day, WABC would air “Rewound,” a salute to their awesome MusicRadio heritage. I’d come out of it with a yen for three or four songs I hadn’t heard before or in ages. This one wasn’t on CD — and what was an MP3, exactly?
10. “Heaven let your light shine down.”
FROM “Shine” by Collective Soul
BECAUSE The runup to 1999 begins with the theme songs I attached to the years directly preceding it. I had a song for the 1994 Mets, and this was it. Perfect confluence. The Mets were playing not bad, which was a big step up from previous seasons. And this was a big hit on the radio while they were improving.
11. “These are better days.”
FROM “Better Days” by Bruce Springsteen
BECAUSE This was 1995’s theme, second half, when the Mets finished on a 34-18 tear, leaving me bursting with optimism for ’96.
12. “It’s going to take some time this time.”
FROM “It’s Going To Take Some Time” by the Carpenters.
BECAUSE The cold slap of reality in 1996 showed me it wasn’t going to be easy to follow up the perceived steps up from ’94 and ’95.
13. “Hope of deliverance from the darkness that surrounds us.”
FROM “Hope Of Deliverance” by Paul McCartney
BECAUSE This described the mood that came over me as the 1997 season revealed itself as the delightful surprise of the decade. We were being delivered from the disappointments of the preceding six losing campaigns. Temporally, this song also reminds me of the early spring of 1993 when there was a horrible nor’easter that foreshadowed a horrible blizzard of baseball to come.
14. “Coming out of the dark.”
FROM “Coming Out Of The Dark” by Gloria Estefan
BECAUSE Continuing the 1997 deliverance theme.
15. “I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life, baby.”
FROM “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind
BECAUSE As revelatory as 1997 was, I noticed that as the Mets rose, I became more and more wrapped up in all their ups and all their downs. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time and, as exhilarating as it was, it was also wearing on me. 1997 really ignited a whole new level of passion for the Mets that I continue to maintain to this day. It’s often a wonderful thing. Sometimes it’s only a semi-wonderful thing.
16. “It’s been one week since you looked at me.”
FROM “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies
BECAUSE The one week in question is the final week of the 1998 season, the week when the Mets went 0-5 and lost the one-game Wild Card lead they held on the penultimate Sunday of the season. The song was a hit that fall. Seemed too close to be a coincidence. That last week of ’98 weighed heavily on me vis-à-vis making it to the playoffs in ’99.
17. “Everything falls apart.”
FROM “Everything Falls Apart” by Dog’s Eye View
BECAUSE Everything fell apart during the aforementioned week.
18. “Someday, you will ache like I ache.”
FROM “Doll Parts” by Hole
BECAUSE Future collapses have perhaps obscured it, but boy did that one week hurt.
19. “Through all the gloom, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light. And glory!”
FROM “Is Anybody There?” by William Daniels as John Adams in the motion picture version of 1776
BECAUSE For some people, the Beach Boys represent a summer soundtrack. For me, it’s this movie’s soundtrack. It has been a staple for Stephanie and me every Fourth of July since 1991. John Adams saw victory over the horizon despite the odds stacked so dauntingly against him. And that’s how I had to make myself feel after 1998 and again as 1999’s regular season careened to its exciting conclusion.
20. “Turn this thing around. I will not go quietly.”
FROM “I Will Not Go Quietly” by Don Henley
BECAUSE This first became a Mets song for me in 1997 as that season progressed, though the first time I heard it was the first time I was dragged (yes, dragged) to a strip club, in 1989. It was a beverage convention in Las Vegas and kind of a rite of passage. It was a cringey experience, but least I got this song out of it.
21. “Take this losing hand and make it win.”
FROM “Leaving Las Vegas” by Sheryl Crow
BECAUSE Same principle as above (same city, too!). Heard it one morning on my Walkman in ’97 and its match for what I was thinking floored me. I walked around thinking about the Mets a lot in 1997.
22. “It’s not over ’til it’s over.”
FROM “It’s Not Over (‘Til It’s Over)” by Starship
Revived from the 1987 divisional run when this was a hit. Points to Starship for co-opting from Yogi when he was managing the Mets. Points deducted for this and most of their songs rather sucking. And for the Mets being over a few games too soon in 1987.
23. “Maybe I’m amazed.”
FROM: “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney
BECAUSE Thought I should have a song with some variation of Amazin’ in here. Was surprised I didn’t own it when I was doing the medley. Ran out to the CD Warehouse in Rockville Centre to purchase a used copy. I was quite devoted to my medleys.
24. “Here they come again. Catch us if you can.”
FROM “Catch Us If You Can” by the Dave Clark Five
BECAUSE Another 1997-born Mets connection. In very early July of that seminal year, the Mets had begun to look like pretenders. Then they re-energized and took three in a row from the Wild Card-leading Marlins before the All-Star Break. Here, I thought, we come again. And maybe we’ll be the ones being chased before this semi-charmed kind of year is over.
25. “Said that we can do it, you know I wanna do it again.”
FROM “Every Morning” by Sugar Ray
BECAUSE A call for another playoff year in 2000. And a call to replay the thrills of 1999.
26. “No retreat, baby, no surrender.”
FROM “No Surrender” by Bruce Springsteen
BECAUSE This was the theme of the official highlight video for the patron saint of near-miss Met seasons, 1985. No surrender in ’85 and we got ’86. No surrender in ’99 either, baby.
27. “You make me believe.”
FROM “You Make Me Believe” by Simply Red
28. “And I just can’t help believing.”
FROM “I Just Can’t Help Believing” by B.J. Thomas
29. “Now I’m a believer.”
FROM “I’m A Believer” by the Monkees
30. “I believe…”
FROM “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion
31. “Still I look to find a reason to believe.”
FROM “Reason To Believe by Don Williams
The previous five tracks are BECAUSE You Gotta Believe.
32. “If you believe within your soul, just hold on tight and don’t let go.”
FROM “Make It Happen” by Mariah Carey
BECAUSE It’s not enough just to Believe.
33. “Don’t let go. Don’t let go.”
FROM “Don’t Let Go” by Isaac Hayes
BECAUSE When you’ve lost seven in a row in September, it’s tough to hang on.
34. “I’m alive. Yeah, yeah.”
FROM “Power To The Meek” by Eurythmics
BECAUSE We were alive after the mess we were in.
35. “Winter’s gonna turn to spring.”
FROM “It Only Takes A Minute” by Tavares
BECAUSE Spring equals baseball. Baseball equals hope. Hope equals 1999 Mets.
36. “There’re just so many summers, babe, and just so many springs.”
FROM “The Last Worthless Evening” by Don Henley
BECAUSE We only get one baseball season per year. Let us not blow it.
37. “No, they can’t take that away from me.”
FROM “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by Lisa Stansfield
BECAUSE Win or lose, my baseball season is my baseball season. Most every season in the ’90s gave me a reason to want to give that up, but my love for this game was too strong.
38. “Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night.”
FROM “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen
BECAUSE The “because” is pretty obvious, but a word on the version used, the acoustic one from the Live box released in the fall of 1986. I was visiting a friend shortly after the World Series and we were in my rented convertible playing the first cassette from the boxed set, and it was only then that the lyric struck me as perfect for what the Mets did on October 25. It also didn’t hurt that we were on Nebraska Avenue. I knew a guy in high school who used “the town full of losers” line as his obnoxious yearbook quote, so I never really liked this song until that moment. Post-Buckner, I claimed it for the Mets.
39. “I see fireworks! I see the pageant and pomp and parade!”
FROM “Is Anybody There?”
BECAUSE John Adams saw great things that awaited beyond Independence. I saw those awesome fireworks they set off at Shea during the NLDS and imagined a whole Continental Congress worth of ticker tape.
40. “A miracle in the rain.”
FROM “Riders To The Stars” by Barry Manilow
BECAUSE You tell me what the Grand Slam Single was.
41. “I guess the Lord must be in New York City.”
FROM “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City” by Harry Nilsson
BECAUSE You tell me Who was in the Upper Deck that night. (Song re-entered my consciousness after hearing it in You’ve Got Mail, which was the only redeeming feature of You’ve Got Mail.)
42. “Can’t you feel the town exploding?”
FROM “With A Little Luck by Paul McCartney & Wings
BECAUSE In the spring of 1986 when the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup semifinals, WAPP (The Apple 103.5 FM) put together a montage not unlike this one to cheer on the local team. This very snippet was used, and I couldn’t wait for October, anticipating the even greater montage the station would compile on the Mets’ behalf. ‘APP switched formats to dance in August, so there went that modest dream.
43. “So baby, you better believe I’m back — back in the New York groove.”
FROM “New York Groove”
BECAUSE The town exploded because of the Mets.
44. “Heaven — it was heaven. I have never known a bliss. Witnessed anything like this.”
FROM “The Way To Your Heart” by Soulsister
BECAUSE This was a minor hit in the summer of ’89 that I spent about four years trying to track down until something called the Internet made it available on CD in the summer of ’99. First thing I ever found via this crazy series of tubes. Anyway, I never witnessed anything like the next sound you’ll hear.
45. “Ventura is waiting. McGlinchy staring in has his sign. The two-one pitch. AND A DRIVE IN THE AIR TO DEEP RIGHT FIELD! THAT BALL HEADED TOWARD THE WALL… THAT BALL IS… OUTTA HERE! OUTTA HERE! A GAME-WINNING GRAND SLAM HOME RUN OFF THE BAT OF ROBIN VENTURA! VENTURA WITH A GRAND SLAM! THEY’RE MOBBING HIM BEFORE HE CAN GET TO SECOND BASE! THE METS HAVE WON THE BALLGAME!”
—Gary Cohen
46. “The New York Mets are on the air!”
FROM Let’s Go Mets, an LP of audio highlights from the 1964 season. The announcer welcoming you to Mets baseball is Ralph Kiner.
BECAUSE Believe it or not, everything up to “Ventura is waiting” was prelude. The real tribute starts now.
47. “We got the teamwork to make the dream work. Let’s go…let’s go Mets!”
FROM “Let’s Go Mets!” by New York’s Dream Team
BECAUSE Some concepts, such as teamwork and dreams working are eternal, whether it’s 1986 or 1999.
48. “Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.”
FROM “Miracle Of Miracles” by Leonard Frey, who played Motel in the film version of Fiddler On The Roof.
BECAUSE I saw Fiddler on Broadway in 1971, but it always puts me in mind of 1969.
49. “It’s a miracle (miracle), a true blue spectacle, a miracle come true.”
FROM “It’s A Miracle” by Barry Manilow
BECAUSE Hitting you over the head with a big Met theme, of course. This song also pulls me back to 1975, the Sunday I attended my first baseball card show at the then Statler Hilton across from Penn Station. We went out to dinner afterwards and my dad asked to see which cards I got. I handed him a bunch of old Mets, one of which — Ron Locke, 1965 — he dropped in some salad dressing. Not much miraculous there, I admit.
50. “You have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way.”
FROM “Magic” by Olivia Newton-John
BECAUSE In the summer of 1980, The Magic [Was] Back. And as it was tightening its grip on my imagination, Olivia Newton-John gave the season a soundtrack.
51. “It’s a kind of magic, magic, magic, magic.”
FROM “A Kind Of Magic” by Queen
BECAUSE I somehow managed to never hear this song ’til like 1995. But once I did, I knew what it was about, about, about, about.
52. “Oh, ho, ho, it’s magic, you know, never believe it’s not so. It’s magic.”
FROM “Magic” by Pilot
BECAUSE I think we have a pretty solid theme going here. Big favorite when it came out in 1975. Amazin’ revival for it, in my head, in 1980.
53. “We’ve got magic to do just for you. We’ve got miracles plays to play.”
FROM “Magic To Do” by Ben Vereen
BECAUSE In the fall of 1973, a commercial for Pippin showed up an awful lot on local TV. Off Broadway, over in Queens, an even bigger production was generating great reviews. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the Mets were making magic at the same time.
54. “Mantei’s one-oh, and a high fly ball deep to center field, back goes Finley, goin’ back, warning track, AT THE WALL…JUMPING…”
—Gary Cohen
55. “We’ve got parts to perform, hearts to warm. Kings and things to take by storm…”
FROM “Magic To Do”
BECAUSE The song came roaring back to me 25 years later, down the stretch in 1998. Didn’t work, but it bubbled up yet again in June of ’99. We had been making something of a move on first place just before Stephanie and I were heading to Boston to visit Fenway. Of more import to me was the Mets were traveling to Atlanta that very same weekend. “Kings and things to take by storm,” eh? The Mets won the first game of that series. A sweep would tie them for first. It didn’t work yet again, but the Mets were always finding magic to do.
56. “AND…IT’S OUTTA HERE! IT’S OUTTA HERE! PRATT HIT IT OVER THE FENCE! FINLEY JUMPED AND HE MISSED IT! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME! ON A HOME RUN OVER THE CENTER FIELD FENCE, BY TODD PRATT! THE METS HAVE WON THE SERIES, THREE GAMES TO ONE!”
—Gary Cohen
57. “As we go along our way.”
FROM “Magic To Do”
BECAUSE Miracle plays to play, you say?
58. “True believers livin’ on the borderline.”
FROM “Hot Rod Hearts” by Robbie Dupree
59. “Do you believe in life after love? I can feel something inside me say I really don’t think you’re strong enough, no.”
FROM “Believe” by Cher
60. “I must confess, I still believe (still believe).”
FROM “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears
61. “Don’t stop believin’, don’t stop believin’, don’t stop believin’.”
FROM “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Olivia Newton-John
62. “Good god, I’m a believer.”
FROM “Are You Jimmy Ray?” by Jimmy Ray
63. “I believe in miracles.”
FROM “I Believe In You And Me” by Whitney Houston
The previous six tracks are also BECAUSE You Gotta Believe.
64. “When the night is falling, you cannot find the light (light). You feel your dreams are dying, hold tight.”
FROM “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals
BECAUSE Well, sure, the not giving up and all that, but on a more personal level, as the 1999 season was revealing itself as something special, I opted one Sunday to drive to Shea instead of taking the train. That’s never an easy decision for me, prone to panic attacks when behind the wheel, particularly on a highway. I tried it with trepidation. This song came on a tape I was listening to as I merged on to the Southern State. I accelerated against all doubt. (As an aside, I liked that this, as well as several selections dotting the medley, were actually from 1999. I didn’t realize I was still paying that much attention musically at the then ripe old age of 36.)
65. “Talkin’ baseball — baseball and the Mets.”
FROM “Talkin’ Baseball (Baseball And The Mets)” by Terry Cashman
BECAUSE Dreams dying…holding tight…you know what you’re talkin’ when you’re talkin’ like that. And you know who’s talkin’ it. Terry Cashman recorded a Mets version of his original “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey & The Duke)” in 1982 and would re-record to keep up with roster additions as events merited. [Cashman would do one for 2000 and another for 2006, the latter of whose historical cataloguing included the line “Ventura hit that one-run grand slam.”]
66. “Clontz is ready to go. Pitching off the stretch. Deals to Piazza…Low and outside — IT GETS AWAY! ONTO THE SCREEN! MORA SCORES! THE METS WIN IT! THE METS WIN IT! MORA IS MOBBED BY HIS TEAMMATES AS HE CROSSES HOME PLATE, THE METS WIN IN GAME NUMBER ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO, AND THE METS WILL PLAY AGAIN IN NINETEEN NINETY-NINE!”
—Gary Cohen
67. Opening notes to the single version of “1999” (instrumental)
FROM “1999” by Prince
BECAUSE The Mets would play again in 1999.
68.“Here’s the pitch…swung, lined hard, CAUGHT! The game is over! The Mets win it! They’re on their way to Arizona! The Mets have won the Wild Card in the National League.”
—Bob Murphy
69. “Wild boys! Wild boys! Wild boys! Wild boys!”
FROM “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran
BECAUSE Shea PA took to playing this in September ’98 and October ’99 as the Mets sought the Wild Card. Once it was captured in Cincinnati, somebody in New York had to play it.
70. “1999! Don’t ya wanna go? 1999!”
FROM “1999” by Prince
BECAUSE Don’t I wanna go? When it came to the moment when the Mets crossed the threshold from playoff hopefuls to playoff participants, I never wanted to leave.
71. “We’ve come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good.”
FROM “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim
BECAUSE At that moment of Wild Card clinching, I thought of everybody with whom I’d come through the hard times of Mets rooting. And now we had us some good.
72. “And your heart beats like a subway train. Ooh, it makes you wanna die.”
FROM “Maria” by Blondie
BECAUSE Debbie Harry knew exactly what my insides felt like, going to and coming from Shea.
73. “We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.”
FROM “Hotel California” by the Eagles
BECAUSE We begin our own historical cataloguing.
74. “Was the summer of ’69.”
FROM “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams
BECAUSE We don’t pass up the incredibly obvious.
75. “Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay.”
FROM “Ride Captain Ride” by Blues Image
BECAUSE Nor do we pass up the contextually obscure. Not a lot of songs mentioned 1973, but this one came close — and hinted at the vicinity of that year’s World Series!
76. “And after 1986, what else could be new?”
FROM “Modern Woman” by Billy Joel
BECAUSE A song that mentioned 1986, released in 1986, by my favorite singer/songwriter…yet I really couldn’t stand it when it was a hit. I now understand it was just waiting for its medley closeup.
77. “Hey — 98…”
FROM “98.6 by Keith.
BECAUSE I swear, this is the last time I dredge up the year that directly preceded 1999.
78. “Such a sad, sad season (sad, sad season), when a good love dies.”
FROM “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination” by Gladys Knight & The Pips
BECAUSE Except for restating how scarred that particular collapse left me, which is why I so desperately desired an antidote to cure the lingering aftereffects from that sad, sad season.
79. “99, I’ve been waiting so long.”
FROM “99” by Toto
BECAUSE Toto serenaded ’99 in 1980. Prescient fellows. Me, I waited eleven years for the Mets to return to the playoffs. Long enough.
80. “Finally, it’s happened to me, right in front of my face, my feelings can’t describe it.”
FROM “Finally” by CeCe Peniston
BECAUSE The wait was finally over. And once the hubbub died down on October 4, this is the song I opted to slide into the CD player.
81. “Maybe for the only time in my life, something in the air (something in the air) turning me around and guiding me right.”
FROM “Prime Time” by the Alan Parsons Project
BECAUSE I’d say this whole period was pretty unprecedented in my life, even as Metted up as I had been for thirty years to that point.
82. “High above all time and space, and I remember summer days.”
FROM “Summer Days” by the Partridge Family
BECAUSE Backing up a bit, to that summer that preceded that fall…
83. “Since that summer, since that summer.”
FROM “Summer Girls” by LFO
BECAUSE…when I sat high above all time, space and Shea Stadium and witnessed what was, to that point, the greatest thing I’d ever witnessed there.
84. “Now Rivera brings the hands together…runners take a lead at all three bases. One-two to Franco…LINE DRIVE base hit into right field! Henderson scores! Here comes Alfonzo…here comes O’Neill’s throw to the plate…Alfonzo slides…he’s safe, the Mets win it! THE METS WIN IT! MATT FRANCO WITH A LINE DRIVE SINGLE TO RIGHT AND HE’S BEING MOBBED BY HIS TEAMMATES! Matt Franco, a two-run single off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mets win it, nine to eight!”
—Gary Cohen
85. “So, what ya think? You like the Yankees or the Mets this year?”
FROM “Right And Wrong” by Joe Jackson
BECAUSE On July 10, 1999, as much as any day, the answer was easy.
86. “Hurray! I’m for the other team!”
FROM “Interjections!” by Essra Mohawk, from SchoolHouse Rock
BECAUSE Only for argument’s sake and the tenor of the times were the Mets the “other” team. They were the only team in my book…on July 10 and on any day.
87. “Polaroid camera, stereo sets, season box, to see the Mets!”
FROM “This Is The Life” by Billy Daniels and Sammy Davis, Jr. from Golden Boy
BECAUSE It was circa 1975 that on a Sunday night i was watching Sammy and Company, the talk show hosted by Sammy Davis, Jr. Even for its genre, it was pretty unctuous (parodied to perfection years later on SCTV as the Sammy Maudlin Show). Yet I carried with me one minute memory from those late Sunday nights with Sammy: He performed a number from a Broadway show in which he starred in the ’60s, Golden Boy, and the song mentioned the Mets in a very positive connotation — a component of the good life, as it were. One afternoon in September 1999, the lyric about a season box to see the Mets clicked on in my mental jukebox. For the hell of it, I headed to a nearby Barnes & Noble and…found it! Golden Boy‘s soundtrack from 1964 was inexplicably readily available 35 years after the fact.
88. “These are a few of my favorite things.”
FROM “My Favorite Things” by Al Jarreau and Kathleen Battle
BECAUSE Just echoing Sammy here. I don’t know about the Polaroid, but imagine a season box to see the Mets…
89. “Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’.”
FROM “L.A. Woman” by the Doors.
BECAUSE You didn’t think I was going to let this pitch go by much longer, did you?
90. “Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime.”
FROM “Hot Fun In The Summertime” by Sly & The Family Stone
BECAUSE This is a great song, and the ’99 Mets were hot fun in their summertime and all, but to tell you the truth, I just needed a breather after invoking Mr. Mojo’s rise.
91. “Talkin’ ’bout sweet seasons on my mind.”
FROM “Sweet Seasons” by Carole King
BECAUSE This, too, is appropriate enough to that sweet season, if a little on the nose. I’m still thinking about “L.A. Woman” and I’m still blown away by how the Mojo Risin’ thing caught on, how Robin Ventura invented it in the clubhouse and the rest of us were brought in. Metsdom’s greatest borrowed hit, Metsdom’s biggest inside joke, so to speak.
92. “Seasons of love. Seasons of love.”
FROM “Seasons Of Love” by Stevie Wonder & the Cast of Rent
BECAUSE I’d been looking to hook the Mets up with this song (particularly this version from the soundtrack) since I first heard it in September of ’96. 1996 was not a big season of love for the Mets, save for Lance Johnson, I suppose. As long as we were on the season theme, it worked for 1999. A lot to love, you know.
93. “Join us, leave your field to flower. Join us, leave your cheese to sour. Join us, come and waste an hour or two…doodle-ee-do.”
FROM “Magic To Do”
BECAUSE From one Broadway favorite back to another. The opening lyrics invite you to stay for the show, but they’re perfect for a ballgame. And they provide us the perfect entrée to check out the lineup, more or less, for your 1999 New York Mets.
94. Instrumental portion from “Searching” by Change Featuring Luther Vandross
BECAUSE It’s Rickey Henderson’s at-bat music.
95. Instrumental portion from “Happy Days” by Pratt & McClain, representing Edgardo Alfonzo
BECAUSE Fonzie! OK, I cheated here. Fonzie’s at-bat music in 1999 was “Ran Kan Kan” by Tito Puente, but I didn’t know the name nor was there a Google or an iTunes around to help me figure it out. But aaaayyyy, when Fonzie was a Met, they were all happy days.
96. Instrumental portion from “Beast Of Burden” by the Rolling stones.
BECAUSE It’s John Olerud’s at-bat music.
97. Instrumental portion from “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
BECAUSE It’s so Mike Piazza’s at-bat music.
98. Instrumental portion from “Runnin’ Down A Dream” by Tom Petty
BECAUSE It’s Robin Ventura’s at-bat music.
99. Instrumental portion from “Bennie And The Jets” by Elton John
BECAUSE It’s Benny Agbayani’s at-bat music, though the theme from Hawaii Five-O was known to sneak in from time to time.
100. “Quicker than a ray of light, quicker than a ray of light, quicker than a ray of light!”
FROM “Ray Of Light” by Madonna
BECAUSE Mild cheat here. They played this for Rey Ordoñez when he got a big hit (which means they didn’t have much cause to play it), but his prevailing at-bat music was, of course, “Boom Boom Boom” by the Outhere Brothers, immediately recognizable but irksomely unidentifiable, at least to me a decade ago.
101. Instrumental portion from “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project
BECAUSE I didn’t know that tense music Shea’s A/V squad cued up when the opposing battery conferenced when the Mets had runners on base in the late innings had a name. Then I got hold of the Alan Parsons CD with “Prime Time” on it and discovered that it was “Sirius,” as in time to get serious and drive this pitcher from the mound.
102. Instrumental portion from “All Along The Watchtower” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
BECAUSE It’s Matt Franco’s at-bat music. All that conferencing, and you have to face our best pinch-hitter!
103. Instrumental portion from “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen
BECAUSE I realize we’re batting out of order here (and have no centerfielder), but this is the music to which New Jersey’s own Al Leiter warmed up. I’m not certain as to whether he batted to it. It’s not like it particularly mattered now, did it?
104. Instrumental portion from “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry
BECAUSE It’s John Franco’s longtime trot-in music. Franco lost his closer role to injury and Armando Benitez, but I didn’t know what Armando came into in ’99 and I wasn’t about to ask him.
105. Instrumental portion from “Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…)” by Lou Bega
BECAUSE The role that “Lazy Mary” would eventually take on was, for a very brief period in September 1999 — maybe only for the Sunday I remember it playing, against the Rockies — the province of this contemporary semi-novelty hit. It was the seventh-inning stretch, it was after “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” and it was all Lou Bega. Very bouncy. Darryl Hamilton had hit a grand slam in the fifth. Everything felt bouncy. Not a little bit of worry to be had in Metland…right?
106.“Now it’s time for a breakdown.”
FROM “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” by En Vogue
BECAUSE We’re having so much fun watching our Mets. But now there’s a break in the action — and, yes, a breakdown in the 1999 Mets. A rather incurable breakdown.
107. “My beer is Rheingold the dry beer. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer.”
FROM The Rheingold jingle of yore
BECAUSE Our story is about to take a dramatic turn. So naturally there’s a commercial. And who better to serve as sponsor than the Mets’ original beer benefactor, and the brand that was making a modestly successful comeback in the marketplace in the late ’90s?
108. “Nothing new, Atlanta. Into the spotlight, one more time, just in time to play.”
FROM “Camellia” by Hall & Oates
BECAUSE Couple things here. First, this is the track whose deployment in all this, quite frankly, impressed me the most. I didn’t know this song from a hole in the head for most of its existence, yet somehow managed to stumble onto it while listening to a greatest hits CD after the playoffs were over. “ATLANTA? ONE MORE TIME TO PLAY?” Wow, I thought, Hall & Oates wrote a song anticipating Game Six. Stepping back from my appreciation of my medley luck, this is the moment more than any other on this tape that makes me choke up every time I hear it. I’m right back to eight o’clock, Tuesday night, October 19. I had such high hopes for that game. Win Game Six. Force Game Seven. It was all going to happen. C’mon Mets, into the spotlight. Play one more time and one more time after that…
109. “But it’s a rainy night in Georgia. Baby, it’s a rainy night in Georgia.”
FROM “Rainy Night In Georgia” by Brook Benton
BECAUSE Sigh.
110. “Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Dude, Kenny is dead. Son of a bitch!”
FROM “Mentally Dull (Think Tank Remix)” by Vitro Featuring the Cast of South Park
BECAUSE Kenny Rogers threw four balls, so he’s killed four times. Son of a bitch!
111. “I feel it’s raining all over the world.”
FROM “Rainy Night In Georgia”
BECAUSE It was dark, it was late, it was solemn. It was raining all over the world wherever a Mets fan stood without the sense to come in out of it.
112. “Come on babe, let’s kiss this thing. Come on babe, let’s kiss this thing goodbye.”
FROM “Kiss This Thing Goodbye” by Del Amitri
BECAUSE Acceptance, denial, whatever the stages of grief are. It’s worth noting that this song came up on my Walkman on the LIRR ride home after Game Three of the NLCS when we went down 3-0 and I was resigned to kissing this thing goodbye. But then Game Four and Game Five and I was anything but puckered up.
113. “Why can’t you just get it through your head? It’s over, it’s over now.”
FROM “It’s Over” by Boz Scaggs
BECAUSE Anger? Acceptance? I wasn’t buying it. How could it be over?
114. “Someday, yeah, we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun. Someday, when the world is much brighter.”
FROM “O-o-h Child” by the Five Stairsteps
BECAUSE This is where I say the hell with grief and start looking ahead.
115. “Some say better things will come our way.”
FROM “Someday” by Sugar Ray
BECAUSE Looking ahead with the kind of optimism that someone who watched the 1999 Mets go down fighting deserves as his worldview.
116. “Won’t be long ’til summer comes, now that the boys are here again.”
FROM “The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy
BECAUSE It’s the dead of winter, but leave me alone with that nonsense. It’s time to…
117. “Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets.”
FROM “Meet The Mets” by the Glen Osser Orchestra and Chorus
BECAUSE If the boys are back in town, even psychologically, somebody’s got to go pick them up at the station, right?
118. “Get Metsmerized! Get Metsmerized!”
FROM That George Foster record that’s so godawful that it’s…no, it’s godawful. Even I think it’s godawful, and I have dubious musical taste to say the least.
BECAUSE Nevertheless, it doesn’t take much to stoke us.
119. “Don’t stop believin’! Hold on to that feelin’!”
FROM “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
120. “If only you believed like I believe, we’d get by. If only you believed in miracles, so would I.”
FROM “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship.
121. “I believe in miracles since you came along.”
FROM “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate
122. “There can be miracles when you believe.”
FROM “When You Believe” by Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston
The previous four tracks are BECAUSE elimination from the National League Championship Series is no reason to let down.
123. “Gotta have faith (faith!) and get it fast. Faith and hope (hope!) if you let it last. Give us strength (strength!) to reach the stars. Put a song in our heart.”
FROM “Peace In Our Time” by Eddie Money
BECAUSE Giving up when, say, down four runs in the ninth against an ace pitcher never did anybody any good.
124. “The pitch to Olerud…line drive…BASE HIT INTO LEFT FIELD! In comes Lopez! Here comes Cedeño! Here’s comes Gant’s throw from left field…the slide…SAFE, THE METS WIN IT! THE METS WIN IT! Cedeño slides home under the tag of Mike Lieberthal, a two-run GAME-WINNING single for John Olerud, the Mets score FIVE RUNS off Curt Schilling in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mets win it in a REMARKABLE finish!”
—Gary Cohen
125. “‘Cause I gotta have faith. I gotta have faith. ‘Cause I gotta have faith, a-faith, a-faith. I gotta have faith, a-faith, a-faith.”
FROM “Faith” by George Michael
BECAUSE I developed faith across days like the Schilling game.
126. “All I need is a miracle. All I need is you. All I need is a miracle. All I need is you.”
FROM “All I Need Is A Miracle” by Mike & The Mechanics
BECAUSE It helps to have your faith validated every now and then.
127. “I’m talkin’ baseball — baseball and the Mets.”
FROM “Talkin’ Baseball (Baseball And The Mets)”
BECAUSE Believe, Faith and Miracle constitute the foundation of our shared lexicon.
128. “What a beautiful noise, comin’ up from the park.”
FROM “Beautiful Noise” by Neil Diamond
129. “It’s the New York City rhythm runnin’ through my life. (City rhythm!)”
FROM “New York City Rhythm” by Barry Manilow
130. “It’s a sign of the times, and a year ago, I never could have seen it.”
FROM “A Sign Of The Times” by Petula Clark
131. “I’ll make a brand new start of it in old New York.”
FROM “Theme From New York, New York” by Liza Minnelli
The previous four tracks are BECAUSE each was featured in the Mets’ 25th anniversary video, An Amazin’ Era, and each remained relevant in the Mets 38th season. I particularly like the allusion Pet Clark makes to never having seen 1999 coming in 1998. And in case you’re wondering, the Mets were the first team to regularly play “New York, New York” in their stadium, in 1980 — Liza’s version, which, happily, is the best version.
132. “But in Queens I wear the crown. And the boys never let me down. Someday we’re gonna tear up this town.”
FROM “Under The Clock” by Janey Street
BECAUSE Damn if some songs weren’t born for this kind of thing…
133. “The two-one pitch…HIGH FLY ball hit deep to left field…way, way back, it’s going…yah, there it goes! Mike Piazza, a three-run homer! Oh my goodness! Where did that land? It hit the picnic tent, beyond the left field bullpen, about halfway up on the picnic tent roof!”
—Bob Murphy and Gary Cohen
134. “Believe in the magic of a young girl’s soul. Believe in the magic of a-rock ‘n’ roll. Believe in the magic that can set you free…ohh!”
FROM “Do You Believe In Magic?” by the Lovin’ Spoonful
BECAUSE I also believed in Mike. He was tearing up this town.
135. Instrumental portion from “Rock ‘N’ Roll (Part 2)” by Gary Glitter, albeit punctuated by the occasional “Hey!”
BECAUSE Mike, not having let us down, is rounding the bases.
136. “You made me believe in magic. Your love’s put a magic into my life.”
FROM “You Made Me Believe In Magic” by the Bay City Rollers
BECAUSE Mike, the Mets, all of them. They all made me Believe in Magic in 1999.
137. “We can be heroes just for one day.”
FROM “Heroes” by David Bowie
BECAUSE The Mets played it after a Saturday afternoon win in June against the Red Sox. I guess it didn’t catch on. But still, for one day…for 97 regular-season days and five more in the postseason, they could be a lot.
138. “Singin’ we will, we will rock you. We will, we will rock you.”
FROM “We Will Rock You” by Queen
BECAUSE We perfected this in 1986. We popularized it. It’s ours. We will always rock you, whoever you are.
139. “And the Mets have won a ballgame!”
FROM Lindsey Nelson, in another wonderful nugget from the 1964 Let’s Go Mets album.
BECAUSE Whether you’ve won 108 ballgames, 53 ballgames or a slew of unbelievable ballgames, there’s always something to get excited about.
140. “Got to keep on risin’! Mister Mojo Risin’! Mister Mojo Risin’! Mojo Risin’! Gotta Mojo Risin’!”
FROM “L.A. Woman”
BECAUSE Why on earth would you want to stop risin’?
141. “Suddenly serene. The air is fresh and clean. Another rainy day in New York City.”
FROM “Another Rainy Day In New York City” by Chicago
BECAUSE Rain? New York? This can only mean one thing…ENCORE!
142. “A DRIVE IN THE AIR TO DEEP RIGHT FIELD! THAT BALL HEADED TOWARD THE WALL… THAT BALL IS… OUTTA HERE! OUTTA HERE! A GAME-WINNING GRAND SLAM HOME RUN OFF THE BAT OF ROBIN VENTURA!”
—Gary Cohen
143. “And I’d play all day if I could.”
FROM “All Day by Lisa Loeb, from The Rugrats Movie soundtrack
BECAUSE Fifteen innings. And they could have gone on another fifteen if it meant getting drive in the air to deep right field.
144. “The sun is shinin’, c’mon get happy, the Lord is waitin’ to take your hand. Shout hallelujah, c’mon get happy, we’re goin’ to the promised land.”
FROM “Get Happy” by Jane Horrocks on the Little Voice soundtrack
BECAUSE Watched this movie in early September. It was all right, but this song made me get the soundtrack. And Robin Ventura made me think of this song. And this song makes me think of Robin Ventura in the bottom of the fifteenth.
145. “Another rainy day in New York City.”
FROM “Another Rainy Day In New York City”
BECAUSE I’d reckon there was only one rainy day in New York City like October 17, 1999.
146. “You and me gonna touch the sky.”
FROM “Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…)”
147. “If I could reach higher, just for one moment touch the sky, from that one moment in my life.”
FROM “Reach” by Gloria Estefan
The previous two tracks are BECAUSE that’s what it felt like when Ventura hit that ball of McGlinchy. I felt I and we touched the sky. Maybe that’s why we couldn’t go any further than the eleventh inning in Atlanta. Maybe we couldn’t get any higher. Then again, the Mets played “Reach” on the final day of 1997 while saluting their incredible non-championship season and I didn’t know when I’d feel quite that high again. The answer was in just a little over two years.
148. “I gotta keep on risin’! Ridin’! Ridin! Gone ridin’, ridin’! Gone ridin’, ridin’! Gotta ridin’, ridin’!”
FROM “L.A. Woman”
BECAUSE The Mojo rose pretty high, didn’t it?
149. “All the fans are true to the orange and blue, so hurry up and come on down. ‘Cause we got ourselves a ballclub, the Mets, of New York town.”
FROM “Meet The Mets”
BECAUSE Every word is fact.
150. “We’re gonna make it, this time we’re gonna take it home.”
FROM “Let’s Go Mets!”
BECAUSE We’re true to the orange and blue, thus we and our ballclub deserve the happiest ending I know of. Contrary to what happened at Turner Field, this time we’re gonna make it.
151. “Mookie Wilson still hoping to win it for New York. Three and two the count. And the pitch by Stanley. And a ground ball…trickling…it is a FAIR BALL! GETS BY BUCKNER! ROUNDING THIRD KNIGHT! THE METS WILL WIN THE BALLGAME! THE METS WIN! THEY WIN! Unbelievable, the Red Sox in stunned disbelief!”
—Bob Murphy and Gary Thorne
152. “We’ve got magic to do just for you. We’ve got miracle plays to play. We’ve got parts to perform, hearts to warm. Kings and things to take by storm as we go along…”
FROM “Magic To Do”
BECAUSE Some stunned disbelief is better than others’ stunned disbelief.
153. “Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Mets! Mets! Mets!”
FROM “Let’s Go Mets!”
BECAUSE Here’s to New York’s dream team. Here’s to getting as close as possible to every season’s dream, whatever that may be.
154. “East Side, West Side, everybody’s comin’ down…to meet the M-E-T-S Mets of New York town…of New York town!”
FROM “Meet The Mets”
BECAUSE Because I thought this would be the perfect way to end this.
155. “LET’S GO METS!”
FROM “Let’s Go Mets!
BECAUSE Then I thought this would be even better.
156. “It’s soooo amazing!”
FROM “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel” from the South Park holiday collection, Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics, Eric Cartman on vocals
BECAUSE Just because.
What follows is the condensed version.
(Instrumental)
It was a very good year. Many years since I was here. The summer here is over in a million different ways. Give me one more summer.
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. We’re gonna get it started. Are you ready? Baby I’m ready to go. Keep the ball rollin’, keep the ball rollin’.
Heaven let your light shine down. These are better days. It’s going to take some time this time. Hope of deliverance from the darkness that surrounds us. Coming out of the dark.
I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life, baby.
It’s been one week since you looked at me. Everything falls apart. Someday, you will ache like I ache.
Through all the gloom, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light. And glory!
Turn this thing around. I will not go quietly. Take this losing hand and make it win. It’s not over ’til it’s over. Maybe I’m amazed. Here they come again. Catch us if you can. Said that we can do it, you know I wanna do it again. No retreat, baby, no surrender.
You make me believe. And I just can’t help believing. Now I’m a believer. I believe… Still I look to find a reason to believe.
If you believe within your soul, just hold on tight and don’t let go. Don’t let go. Don’t let go. I’m alive. Yeah, yeah.
Winter’s gonna turn to spring. There’re just so many summers, babe, and just so many springs. No, they can’t take that away from me.
Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night. I see fireworks! I see the pageant and pomp and parade! A miracle in the rain. I guess the Lord must be in New York City. Can’t you feel the town exploding? So baby, you better believe I’m back — back in the New York groove.
Heaven — it was heaven. I have never known a bliss. Witnessed anything like this.
Ventura is waiting. McGlinchy staring in has his sign. The two-one pitch. AND A DRIVE IN THE AIR TO DEEP RIGHT FIELD! THAT BALL HEADED TOWARD THE WALL… THAT BALL IS… OUTTA HERE! OUTTA HERE! A GAME-WINNING GRAND SLAM HOME RUN OFF THE BAT OF ROBIN VENTURA! VENTURA WITH A GRAND SLAM! THEY’RE MOBBING HIM BEFORE HE CAN GET TO SECOND BASE! THE METS HAVE WON THE BALLGAME!
The New York Mets are on the air!
We got the teamwork to make the dream work. Let’s go…let’s go Mets!
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. It’s a miracle (miracle), a true blue spectacle, a miracle come true.
You have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. It’s a kind of magic, magic, magic, magic. Oh, ho, ho, it’s magic, you know, never believe it’s not so. It’s magic.
We’ve got magic to do just for you. We’ve got miracles plays to play.
Mantei’s one-oh, and a high fly ball deep to center field, back goes Finley, goin’ back, warning track, AT THE WALL…JUMPING…
We’ve got parts to perform, hearts to warm. Kings and things to take by storm…
AND…IT’S OUTTA HERE! IT’S OUTTA HERE! PRATT HIT IT OVER THE FENCE! FINLEY JUMPED AND HE MISSED IT! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME! ON A HOME RUN OVER THE CENTER FIELD FENCE, BY TODD PRATT! THE METS HAVE WON THE SERIES, THREE GAMES TO ONE!
As we go along our way.
True believers livin’ on the borderline. Do you believe in life after love? I can feel something inside me say I really don’t think you’re strong enough, no. I must confess, I still believe (still believe). Don’t stop believin’, don’t stop believin’, don’t stop believin’. Good god, I’m a believer. I believe in miracles.
When the night is falling, you cannot find the light (light). You feel your dreams are dying, hold tight. Talkin’ baseball — baseball and the Mets.
Clontz is ready to go. Pitching off the stretch. Deals to Piazza…Low and outside — IT GETS AWAY! ONTO THE SCREEN! MORA SCORES! THE METS WIN IT! THE METS WIN IT! MORA IS MOBBED BY HIS TEAMMATES AS HE CROSSES HOME PLATE, THE METS WIN IN GAME NUMBER ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO, AND THE METS WILL PLAY AGAIN IN NINETEEN NINETY-NINE!
(Instrumental)
Here’s the pitch…swung, lined hard, CAUGHT! The game is over! The Mets win it! They’re on their way to Arizona! The Mets have won the Wild Card in the National League.
Wild boys! Wild boys! Wild boys! Wild boys!
1999! Don’t ya wanna go? 1999!
We’ve come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good. And your heart beats like a subway train. Ooh, it makes you wanna die.
We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969. Was the summer of ’69. Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco bay. And after 1986, what else could be new?
Hey — 98… Such a sad, sad season (sad, sad season), when a good love dies. 99, I’ve been waiting so long.
Finally, it’s happened to me, right in front of my face, my feelings can’t describe it. Maybe for the only time in my life, something in the air (something in the air) turning me around and guiding me right.
High above all time and space, and I remember summer days. Since that summer, since that summer.
Now Rivera brings the hands together…runners take a lead at all three bases. One-two to Franco…LINE DRIVE base hit into right field! Henderson scores! Here comes Alfonzo…here comes O’Neill’s throw to the plate…Alfonzo slides…he’s safe, the Mets win it! THE METS WIN IT! MATT FRANCO WITH A LINE DRIVE SINGLE TO RIGHT AND HE’S BEING MOBBED BY HIS TEAMMATES! Matt Franco, a two-run single off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mets win it, nine to eight!
So, what ya think? You like the Yankees or the Mets this year? Hurray! I’m for the other team!
Polaroid camera, stereo sets, season box, to see the Mets! These are a few of my favorite things.
Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’. Mister Mojo Risin’.
Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime. Hot fun in the summertime. Talkin’ ’bout sweet seasons on my mind. Seasons of love. Seasons of love.
Join us, leave your field to flower. Join us, leave your cheese to sour. Join us, come and waste an hour or two…doodle-ee-do.
(Instrumental)
Quicker than a ray of light, quicker than a ray of light, quicker than a ray of light!
(Instrumental)
Now it’s time for a breakdown. My beer is Rheingold the dry beer. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer.
Nothing new, Atlanta. Into the spotlight, one more time, just in time to play. But it’s a rainy night in Georgia. Baby, it’s a rainy night in Georgia. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Ohmigod, they killed Kenny. Dude, Kenny is dead. Son of a bitch!
I feel it’s raining all over the world.
Come on babe, let’s kiss this thing. Come on babe, let’s kiss this thing goodbye. Why can’t you just get it through your head? It’s over, it’s over now.
Someday, yeah, we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun. Someday, when the world is much brighter. Some say better things will come our way. Won’t be long ’til summer comes, now that the boys are here again.
Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets. Get Metsmerized! Get Metsmerized!
Don’t stop believin’! Hold on to that feelin’!
If only you believed like I believe, we’d get by. If only you believed in miracles, so would I. I believe in miracles since you came along. There can be miracles when you believe.
Gotta have faith (faith!) and get it fast. Faith and hope (hope!) if you let it last. Give us strength (strength!) to reach the stars. Put a song in our heart.
The pitch to Olerud…line drive…BASE HIT INTO LEFT FIELD! In comes Lopez! Here comes Cedeño! Here’s comes Gant’s throw from left field…the slide…SAFE, THE METS WIN IT! THE METS WIN IT! Cedeño slides home under the tag of Mike Lieberthal, a two-run GAME-WINNING single for John Olerud, the Mets score FIVE RUNS off Curt Schilling in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mets win it in a REMARKABLE finish!
‘Cause I gotta have faith. I gotta have faith. ‘Cause I gotta have faith, a-faith, a-faith. I gotta have faith, a-faith, a-faith.
All I need is a miracle. All I need is you. All I need is a miracle. All I need is you. I’m talkin’ baseball — baseball and the Mets.
What a beautiful noise comin’ up from the park. It’s the New York City rhythm runnin’ through my life. (City rhythm!). It’s a sign of the times, and a year ago, I never could have seen it. I’ll make a brand new start of it in old New York.
But in Queens I wear the crown. And the boys never let me down. Someday we’re gonna tear up this town.
The two-one pitch…HIGH FLY ball hit deep to left field…way, way back, it’s going…yah, there it goes! Mike Piazza, a three-run homer! Oh my goodness! Where did that land? It hit the picnic tent, beyond the left field bullpen, about halfway up the picnic tent roof!
Believe in the magic of a young girl’s soul. Believe in the magic of a-rock ‘n’ roll. Believe in the magic that can set you free…ohh!
(Instrumental)
You made me believe in magic. Your love’s put a magic into my life. We can be heroes just for one day. Singin’ we will, we will rock you. We will, we will rock you.
And the Mets have won a ballgame!
Got to keep on risin’! Mister Mojo Risin’! Mister Mojo Risin’! Mojo Risin’! Gotta Mojo Risin’!
Suddenly serene. The air is fresh and clean. Another rainy day in New York City.
A DRIVE IN THE AIR TO DEEP RIGHT FIELD! THAT BALL HEADED TOWARD THE WALL… THAT BALL IS… OUTTA HERE! OUTTA HERE! A GAME-WINNING GRAND SLAM HOME RUN OFF THE BAT OF ROBIN VENTURA!
And I’d play all day if I could. The sun is shinin’, c’mon get happy, the Lord is waitin’ to take your hand. Shout hallelujah, c’mon get happy, we’re goin’ to the promised land. Another rainy day in New York City.
You and me gonna touch the sky. If I could reach higher, just for one moment touch the sky, from that one moment in my life. I gotta keep on risin’! Ridin’! Ridin! Gone ridin’, ridin’! Gone ridin’, ridin’! Gotta ridin’, ridin’!
All the fans are true to the orange and blue, so hurry up and come on down. ‘Cause we got ourselves a ballclub, the Mets, of New York town.
We’re gonna make it, this time we’re gonna take it home.
Mookie Wilson still hoping to win it for New York. Three and two the count. And the pitch by Stanley. And a ground ball…trickling…it is a FAIR BALL! GETS BY BUCKNER! ROUNDING THIRD KNIGHT! THE METS WILL WIN THE BALLGAME! THE METS WIN! THEY WIN! Unbelievable, the Red Sox in stunned disbelief!
We’ve got magic to do just for you. We’ve got miracle plays to play. We’ve got parts to perform, hearts to warm. Kings and things to take by storm as we go along…
Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Let’s go Mets go! Mets! Mets! Mets!
East Side, West Side, everybody’s comin’ down…to meet the M-E-T-S Mets of New York town…of New York town!
LET’S GO METS!
It’s soooo amazing!
The original Mets’ pinstripes were white — reappropriating the blue of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the orange of the New York Giants. Jet-age white, JFK Camelot white, moon-race white, pre-hippie Sixties white. A basic and enduring legacy of the Mets is that they’re the New Breed — the successors to the Dodgers and Giants, the Anti-Yankees, the team you’d root for by being funny and raucous and ironic instead of dour and demanding. The Mets were shiny and new, not some pre-aged franchise meant to feel like it had roots in the days of John McGraw and Connie Mack. (And in their early years, remember, they consistently outdrew the Yankees.) Yes, the first Mets clubs were an old-age home for a number of former Dodgers, Giants and Yankees — but with a couple of exceptions (Casey Stengel, irrepressible in any context) those players were sops to Joan Payson’s sentiments. The legends of the early Mets aren’t great players in their autumn years, but castoffs and never-to-be’s — Marv Throneberry and Hot Rod Kanehl and Choo Choo Coleman. They’re the players the early Mets were stuck with, rather than the imports the club thought would draw fans.
