Mets fans who have been there since the team’s start in 1962 have taken special pride in an Amazin’ fifth World Series appearance, which begins Tuesday in Kansas City, as well as a trip down memory lane.
Aaron Stein, 61, who became a Mets fan growing up in Brooklyn and now lives in Englewood, New Jersey, attended the 1986 and 2000 World Series. He plans to be at Citi Field this weekend.
“It’s kind of like ’69,” he said, when asked what he thinks of this year’s team, referring to the Miracle Mets squad that erased a 9.5-game deficit en route to a title. “That team was lovable because they worked so hard to get there.”
Jerry Ghinelli, a 64-year-old Corona native, has attended every Mets World Series, and said the excitement is far more tame now than in years past.
He remembered fans rushing the field after each win in the 1973 series, when the Mets lost to the Oakland A’s in seven games.
“It was a rock and roll atmosphere,” he said. “You couldn’t walk into any part of the city without seeing a Mets sign.”
Still, Mel Collazo, 55 of Orange County, says this year already compares favorably with 2000, when the Mets lost to the Yankees in five games.
“In 2000, we saw what they were doing across the city in the Bronx and they were dismissing us,” said the Brooklyn native, who has attended two previous series.
These longtime fans say their kinship is unlike that of any other fan base.
Larry Rader, 54, of Croton on Hudson, went to a World Series game in ’73 with his father, who attended a 1969 game. The two went together again in 2000.
Rader’s father passed away more than a year ago, but the former Manhattanite said he’s passing along the tradition to his son Joe, who has become a huge Mets fan.
“It’s great because my son is 8 and I was 8 when they won in 1969,” he said. “I’d like to get tickets, but it still will be fun watching the series with him at home like my dad did.”
