8/15/14

Gary Giordano - "Remembering..... The Beginning"



I guess I got it from my father.  Rooting for the underdog and going against the flow.  Gennaro Salvatore Giordano grew up in Brooklyn during the 30's and 40's a Giants fan.  When the Giants and Dodgers left for California he was left with only watching the hated Yankees and rooting for whatever team they played.  He even took his young son to a couple of Yankee games including one with the Red Sox where their 2nd baseman's blunder in the bottom of the ninth cost them the game.  His name was Pumpsie Green who was obviously destined to become a Met after that play.

Then at the tender age of 12 I and fans in NY were given the Mets.  Their initial roster was filled with former Brooklyn Dodgers: Clem Labine, Roger Craig, Charlie Neal, Don Zimmer and Gil Hodges.  There was even a token Giant (Hobie Landrith).  They were to play at the old Giants home (the Polo Grounds).


They did OK in spring training but then the real world began with 9 straight losses on the way to a record setting mark of 40 wins and 120 losses.  This 12 year old kept a diary that first year listing every score with some comments.  The comments generally reflected exasperation, frustration and despair.  As their manager Casey Stengel stated "Can't anybody here play this game?".  In the few games they had a chance of winning they seemed to perfect the ability of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  They lost every game we went to that first year.  The first Mets victory seen in person was the next year (1963) when Jim Hickman hit a lazy fly ball to left with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th that barely nicked the upper deck overhang for a game ending grand slam.


Being a Mets fan in the beginning at such a young age helped prepare me for life.  I learned how to handle adversity, failure and heartbreak.

1 comment:

Reese Kaplan said...

Welcome aboard.

It's always interesting to me to hear how people became fans. Like you, it was my father's rooting interest in the Mets that became a part of my DNA after his Giants left town.

At least those early 1962 teams had personality. This team is boring. Boring is worse than merely bad. It makes you irrelevant.