EMPTY FEELING: The Post’s Mike Vaccaro writes that he can’t blame fans from staying away from ballparks — as they did during a Yankees-Red Sox game at the Stadium in April — but even infrequent outings can be unforgettable. (N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg)
I Suppose I understand the obsession we have now with attendance. I do. It’s a bad visual to have so many empty seats within the camera’s eye. It’s a bad look when a foul ball lands in a grandstand and bounces around like a pinball because there’s no actual human flesh to stop it.
Still …
I also have a hard time assigning any kind of guilt to the people who don’t go. And, really, this has little to do with the economics of how much it costs (and it costs plenty) to go to a game, or how hard it is (and it’s plenty hard) to get excited about going to the park if your team is beaten up (like the Yankees) or buried (like the Mets), but more about this:
Since when is being there an essential element of being a fan? When I was growing up, there were no bigger baseball fans than the three members of my family. We watched both teams religiously. We listened when we couldn’t watch. On vacations upstate, with no reception, we waited patiently for the afternoon Post to deliver last night’s scores, since the early-edition Daily News only had the afternoon boxscores.
And yet, we went to the ballpark only twice a year. Once to see the Mets. And once to see the Yankees. That was it. Twice. We could probably have afforded to go more. We could have saved the Dairylea cartons that could’ve gotten us to the stadiums more than that.
But twice was enough. Twice was plenty. Twice made every step across the threshold and into the yard a sensory buffet that meant you remembered every single detail. You don’t think so? Well, memory can be a sketchy thing. And too much of a good thing can make those memories blur. I have an array of old ticket stubs in a scrapbook, and memories that go along with every one. So I wanted to see how closely my memory matched up with the reality of Retrosheet:
1. June 29, 1974. MY MEMORY: Jon Matlack throws a one-hitter. … The only Cardinals hit was by the opposing pitcher, John Curtis, in the fourth inning. … Cleon Jones and Wayne Garrett hit home runs. … Willie, Mickey, the Duke & Joe D walked in from center field during Old-Timers’ Day ceremonies. ACTUAL: Curtis’ hit came with one out in the third. … Jones and Garrett absolutely went deep. … I still have the poster to prove there really used to be Old-Timers’ Days at Shea.
2. Sept. 21, 1974. MY MEMORY: Rainy, miserable day at Shea. … Roy White steals home early in the game. … Bobby Murcer hits his first homer at Shea to cap a frustrating summer, and cap a comeback. … Win moved Yankees into first place. ACTUAL: A 90-minute rain delay. … White’s steal came in the first inning. … Murcer’s blast made my old man stand on his chair, and capped a Yankees rally from 7-2 down. … Yankees moved a game into first place when Orioles lost to the Red Sox.
3. July 17, 1976. MY MEMORY: Just as we settle into our seats in the right-field mezzanine, Cesar Cedeno hits a ball that lands just underneath us for a homer. … Tom Seaver allows only one more hit the rest of the way, strikes out about 14. … Mets lose 1-0 because they can’t touch Joaquin Andujar. … 2013 version of me visits for a moment and tells 1976 me, “You think this is bad, let me tell you a story about Matt Harvey…” ACTUAL: Seaver only fans 11, throws a three-hitter; Andujar throws a five-hitter. No evidence of 2013 me anywhere in the box score …
Maybe those memories would be as sharp if I spent every day of my summers at the ballpark. But I doubt it.
Whack Back at Vac
Richard Siegelman: The Nets need to know that a “garnet” is usually used as either a gemstone or an abrasive, and that Kevin Garnett is no longer a basketball gem but he can be pretty abrasive.
Vac: The magic of sports, of course, is that things Garnett did that seemed “dirty” and “asinine” to Nets fans on Wednesday night suddenly seem “intense” and “relentless” this morning.
Oshuategri: Former Mets GM Steve Phillips once said having Alex Rodriguez is like having a team of 1 plus 24. I think Mr. Phillips has been vindicated. Alex has done very little for the millions he had been paid, and now is 1 plus 1,199.
Vac: Rare is the time you’ll see a mea culpa in this space in regards to Steve Phillips. But right is right. And back in the day, he was right.
@sambolef: We don’t know what kind of coach Jason Kidd will be, but I’ll take not knowing Kidd to knowing Mike Woodson — no one will squat on the ball.
Vac: Unless Kevin Garnett tells them to.
Joseph Claudio: Enjoyed your column on early-departing Heat fans. I left the U2 360 show after the first encore because I had an early meeting, and they apparently played for another hour and a half. It still haunts me. But I would never leave a Ranger game early as I was raised right myself.
Vac: Many angry Heat fans asked if I planned on writing about empty seats this October at Yankees playoff games. Which, you know, may be a punch line that writes itself.
Vac’s Whacks
Put it this way: If the Mets can lose the Endy Chavez Game, was it really a surprise to anyone they could lose after the White Sox pulled a Double Castillo with two outs in the ninth the other night?
* Honestly, I think we’ve reached our quota for the year — or the decade — of sentences that include both of these words: “Sanchez” and “butt.”
* YES telecasts should include this message from the Surgeon General once the Yankees reach the second half of their batting order: “WARNING: We have now temporarily left the competitive portion of our program.”
* The most inspired bit of casting this year: adding Harry Hamlin to “Mad Men,” since Hamlin, as Michael Kuzak on “L.A. Law,” was in many ways the ’80s precursor (or, since that show was set 20 years later, is that a post-cursor?) to Don Draper.