NEW YORK — The New York Mets have a storied history, and it’s time to commemorate that history with the addition of statues around Citi Field.
The stadium, which opened in 2009, is home to the New York Mets’ Hall of Fame & Museum, a delightful museum worth visiting when at a game. The addition of statues would help elevate the team’s history.
The topic is hardly a new one.
In June 2016, for example, a writer for the New York Daily News urged the team to add a statue to Hall of Famer pitcher Tom Seaver to the stadium landscape.
“I have been screaming about this for years, about the Mets not having any statues,” the newspaper quoted WFAN host Joe Benigno as saying.
“I go to all these other places and I see how they’ve honored the great players that they’ve had,” Benigno added, per the report. “We’ve been around since 1962, why not do what everyone else has started to do and honor our best players?”
Indeed, there is no shortage of statues that could be erected to bring to life the Mets’ history.
How about Gary Carter leaping into the arms of Jesse Orosco after winning the 1986 World Series? What about Mike Piazza belting the Sept. 21, 2001, home run at Shea Stadium?
Let’s take it a step further and place a statue of Mookie Wilson leaping out of the way of Bob Stanley’s wild pitch in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Dedicate a few spots of Citi Field’s parking lot and place the statue precisely where the epic event happened: Shea Stadium’s home plate.
The plaza in front of the stadium is currently home to the Home Run Apple from Shea Stadium. Debuted in 1980, the Apple is a favorite meeting point and backdrop for group photos and selfies alike.
Just think what level of excitement statues will engender.
While honoring the legacy of Jackie Robinson is a worthy endeavor for all teams, the homage to the Brooklyn Dodgers, an organization that abandoned the city 60 years ago, at Citi Field irked many Mets fans. It is not too late to change that, and it starts with statues commemorating significant moments in Mets history.