Idea: All Mets Fans Should Wear Blue to Citi Field

September 25, 2009 at 10:40 am · 25 comments

by Matthew Cerrone

Next season, I’d like to see every Mets fan who attends Citi Field wearing a blue shirt… nothing but blue… wear a blue Mets jersey, where a generic blue t-shirt, a blue jacket, this Mets jacket, whatever… but make it blue… this way, Citi Field will get the splash of blue paint it is sorely missing.

Cardinals fans wear nothing but red to games, like this, creating a powerful, cohesive sea of Cardinal Red in every corner of the building… I think it would be equally powerful if we did the same with blue in Citi Field.

Why?  Well, earlier in the season, I was talking with someone high up in the Mets organization, who said, “Blue and orange are fine for the uniform, but they’re kind of tacky for the ballpark,” which would explain the buidling’s overusage of gun-metal grey.

So, if every fan in Citi Field wore blue, we could at least take some control of how the ballpark looks.

Update, 11:07 am:

Why blue and not orange?  I have a feeling more people already own blue shirts… from looking at the team store, Modells, etc., it seems like there are more shirts available in blue than orange.

{ 25 comments }

mark4212 September 25, 2009 at 10:44 am

What about Orange?

Half wears blue, Half wears Orange.

ARTIE412 September 25, 2009 at 10:44 am

Great idea.

And it doesn’t even have to be the SAME Met Blue.

Any blue will do.

mr.gee21 September 25, 2009 at 10:54 am

Kindly let that higher-up person know that their opinion about what is “tacky” has ruined what is supposed ot be fun about going to a ballpark.

Blue and orange t-shirts for everyone!

Make the outfield wall blue, too. Thanks.

Tidewater September 25, 2009 at 11:58 am

Yes! Make the outfield wall blue. That black wall is characterless!!!

jay15 September 25, 2009 at 10:56 am

I hope this higher up official also has insight to whether or not they will be lowering tix prices. Because if you want me back in that ball park you better do something this off season.

Shake Shack is good but $75 to just get in the door is a little steep.

mark4212 September 25, 2009 at 11:01 am

Especially when the alternative is FREE at home.

Beltranmynewfavmet September 25, 2009 at 10:58 am

Best idea ever

jamie_ September 25, 2009 at 11:06 am

great idea, but I’m pretty sure everyone who bought jerseys over the last 40 years are going to want to wear them. that’s a lot of white, grey, and black.

starz31 September 25, 2009 at 11:15 am

majority wear blue…some wear orange…it’d be a nice collage throughout

Xavier22 September 25, 2009 at 11:21 am

It would be a nice counterpoint to all those Philly fans when they show up to Citi wearing red.

FelixMillan September 25, 2009 at 11:27 am

Come here to Wisconsin in November during deer hunting season and stock up on orange shirts, pants and vests!

shawon_dunston September 25, 2009 at 11:29 am

So blue-and-orange, the team’s official colors, is too tacky to be a part of the ballpark, but plastering Citi logos on anything nailed down and Nikon symbols on the oversized photo banners isn’t? Are you kidding me? Every half-inning we have to sit through some half-baked product placement disguised as an advertisement (Hands up!, pizza box races, and my personal favorite, a race between a mini-excavator and a fork lift, because what else says new york city pride like light industrial trucks?) but a paint job that reflects the colors of the merchandise the team makes a killing on? Yeah, you’re right, that’s going a little too far.

This is the second time that Matt’s quoted a high-up source in the Mets organization that’s left me feeling bad about being a Mets fan. The other time that I felt like this was when the Mets didn’t sell out the 1969 reunion game, and an executive blamed the fans for clamoring for more history, and then not showing up to pay for it when the Mets finally delivered. Stay classy, Mets front office.

I can tolerate losing and bad free agent signings and low effort, since these are things that happen in sports. you’re not guaranteed anything, and i understand. but outright scorn for the fans from the team itself is inexcusable.

starz31 September 25, 2009 at 1:01 pm

well said.

racemccloud September 25, 2009 at 1:41 pm

“This is the second time that Matt’s quoted a high-up source in the Mets organization that’s left me feeling bad about being a Mets fan. The other time that I felt like this was when the Mets didn’t sell out the 1969 reunion game, and an executive blamed the fans for clamoring for more history, and then not showing up to pay for it when the Mets finally delivered.”

And that exec… has a point. You know what’s as unattractive to big-time free agents as the organization itself? The team’s fans. We are a bitter (rightfully so), unforgiving lot.

dave27 September 25, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Agreed on all fronts…this comment is yet another indicator of the lack of understanding the Mets have of their own fans, which often borders on outright condescension.

Blue and orange are tacky, but a dozen tiled panels of Jackie Robinson, including pictures of his family and Dodger teammates, was deemed just right.

Bottom line, the Wilpons and their executives don’t give a crap about their fans – they will invest in whatever they think will make them money.

KickedintheMetsiclesAgain September 25, 2009 at 11:48 am

Matt:

They need to get fans back in the door. Empty seats will look green.

Last couple of games I went to have been pretty light on attendance.

I tried selling tickets on stub hub at almost 50% off and still was not selling. Last two games, my seats went unused.

Mets really do have a problem on how to market this team over the winter to season ticket holders.

They need to overcome:

(i) a bad team with zero expectation of improvement, without major upgrade, which seems unlikely.

(ii) hype of a brand new stadium is gone, and the reality of a stadium with flawed sightlines for the next 40 years (flaw: seats were moved too close to the field without raising height between rows. The result is that unless you are in first or second or third rows, you are looking into the head of the person in front of you when trying to look at something low on the horizon (i.e. when trying to look at home plate from behind home plate, if you are not in the first three rows and the section is full, then you are looking at a head)).

(iii) prices are too high. Food and drink should be free at those prices. Access to a “club” is meaningless. Access give you a right to purchase a food item at a higher price then a vender outside of the club. Also, only the Promenade Club has a window, which allows you to see a game. I dont care how nice a bar is available. If I am going to watch a game at a bar, I might as well as stay home or go to a nice hotel in Manhattan rather than travel all the way out to the stadium just to spend time in the bar. I think the whole club concept was a failure. Make all clubs optional to ticket holders. For those who need a mixed drink from four star quality bar when the go to a ball game, then let those people may premium for the right. Why penalize all ticket holders for a right that they do not value?

MookieRules September 25, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Any Mets official who thinks blue and orange are “tacky” should be fired and escorted out the door by Mr. Met.

The biggest feeling I had when I went to Citi Field was, “where are the Mets colors?” It’s a disgrace that the outfield wall has another team’s colors all over it. A simple blue wall worked FINE at Shea for 40 years, and needs to be a part of Citi Field now.

More blue, more orange. Make the stadium belong to the Mets.

MetsWrightNow September 25, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Matt,
In all fairness, the SEATS at Busch Stadium are red, which lends quite a bit of color to the picture you posted. I know many of the fans do where red, but just as many are probably wearing white and the seat color is what really gives it that distinct look.

If the seats at Citi Field were Mets Blue, it would be pretty sweet, but alas they are not.

racemccloud September 25, 2009 at 1:38 pm

The upper-tier Mets management guy… is right. The REAL problem started when whoever-it-was decided in 1961 or so that the Mets colors should be blue and orange which, let’s be fair, are a pretty tacky combo. Painting the stadium blue and orange would be pretty garish.

I can’t believe Mets fans are still complaining about the color scheme at Citi Field. The ballpark is beautiful. It’s the ballclub that’s ugly. If the Mets wanted to change their colors officially to blue, black, and a little bit of orange detailing, I’d have no problem with that. In fact, I’d encourage.

Besides, black and blue seem like fitting colors for the Mets these days.

dave27 September 25, 2009 at 2:47 pm

We’re talking about sports team colors, not Calvin Klein’s fall line.

Anyway royal blue seems to work for Freddie’s beloved Dodgers, so why not the Mets.

I am already fearing an ill-advised change to something like the Broncos and Islanders switched to – navy and orange. It’s not like they haven’t taken enough of a dump on Mets heritage.

racemccloud September 25, 2009 at 4:28 pm

All right, keep Blue and Orange on the unis. The original criticism was that they’d look tacky in the stadium, and they would. I have no problem with the color scheme at Citi, nor the Citi branding.

theperfectgame September 25, 2009 at 3:39 pm

Yeah, let’s all go Citi wearing blue shirts. And instead of wearing random Mets hats, we should all wear blue hats with white stitching. But what should be the letters on the hats? I’m thinking “LA” for “Let’s A-Go”. I don’t know about you, but that would just scream “Mets solidarity” to me!!

And, hey, if you forget, I think there are plenty of blue caps sporting a white “LA” available in the various Mets gift shops around the stadium. Let’s go Dodg… er, Mets!

KD September 25, 2009 at 7:01 pm

While I like the idea of solidarity, it’s already been mentioned in the comment section that there’s no blue jersey (except for BP.) And going to the ball park is the best time to wear the jersey that we’ve spent so much on. (Though everyone wearing black with the classic college idea of “black out” could be fun.)

As for the Mets colors, the clash doesn’t bother me. It’s the Mets roots — a NY NL team to replace Dodger (blue) and Giants (orange.)

racemccloud September 25, 2009 at 7:48 pm

First of all, I love the blue BP jersey. Probably my favorite jersey. If I were actually to plunk down 100+ dollars on a shirt, that’s the one I’d get (Reyes, 7). I’d love it if that made the transition to a game jersey.

Secondly, I get your point, that blue and orange honors the Mets NL heritage… but then why are we all expending so much energy screaming that “THERE’S TOO MUCH DODGERS/GIANTS REMINDERS IN THE STADIUM” while at the same time we’re all screaming “THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE BLUE AND ORANGE IN THE STADIUM”… when Blue and Orange are colors that were chosen specifically to be reminders of New York’s NL heritage; AKA the Giants and the Dodgers. You just can’t have it both ways.

So I say this: either embrace the idea that the Mets were ALWAYS conceived in part as a way to honor the NL past of NYC (i.e. the Dodgers and the Giants) and Citi Field and the Wilpons are just doing their part to continue the grand tradition… or get rid of all ties to the NL past that is part of the Mets heritage, including changing the team colors AWAY from the blue and orange that were initially chosen specifically to remind NY baseball fans of… the Dodgers and the Giants.

I’m fine either way. Either way, I’m rooting for the Mets. I want to see good baseball. The trappings and color schemes in which the good baseball is played are meaningless to me.

(For the record, my LEAST favorite Mets jersey is the pinstriped one. Just another desperate attempt to look like the Yankees.)

metsfan82 September 25, 2009 at 10:37 pm

i totally agree however i wish all metsfan would read your blog; cuz there would b many a fan who would dawn those awful black jerseys. Blue is the way to go!

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