Let's Go to the Videotape: Mets Promos of Yesteryear

by Matthew Callan on Jan 27, 2012 10:00 AM EST

With the first embryonic forms of baseball still weeks away, I am feeling wistful for the Mets promos of yesteryear. Come with me on a video journey through time, won't you?

The earliest example of a Mets promo I could locate is this no-frills commercial for a 1978 double header against the Pirates on longtime home of the Mets, WOR. Stick around for the opening of channel 9's bygone talk show, Straight Talk.

This promo comes from 1983. The Mets were just on the cusp of relevance again, though it's hard to tell from this ad, as the biggest stars you'll see in it are Rusty Staub and Craig Swan.

By 1985, the Mets were a team on the rise, as exemplified by their "Catch the Rising Stars" slogan of that year (which I defy you to not get stuck in your head) and the production values on display in this commercial.

The next season, though they hadn't yet won a championship, the Mets were the toast of the town and dreaming of big things. This promo from 1986 shows just how much anticipation (and expectation) was placed on the Mets that year.

If you watched a game this season, you would have seen an opening like this one, from the Mets' division-clinching game against the Cubs.

For the 1987 season, the promos switched over to a more celebratory "here we come" type theme: "Let's Do It Again," in ads that made liberal use of the "Let's Go Mets Go!" video/song of the year before. This commercial also brings you way closer to Keith Hernandez stretching his quads than you probably want to be.

The splashy opening for Mets games on WWOR ran during the 1988 season.

Flash forward several years. In 2005, the Mets produced a series of ads to remind you that the team was returning from a road trip. They featured Mr. Met getting into some shenanigans back at Shea in their absence. These commercials only ran that season, as far as I know, which surprises me, as they were were all pretty clever. This one is far and away my favorite.

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Those are great!

Much better than the SNY 2012 promo.

"RBI’s does measure something – Wins."
-Bayonne Mets Fan on MMO

by Dandy Salderson on Jan 27, 2012 10:36 AM EST reply actions

Love these

Even though I’m old enough to have seen all these seasons, I don’t remember half these promos.

by MetsFan4Decades on Jan 27, 2012 1:36 PM EST reply actions

Great memories there, but you missed my all-time favorites from the early part of the century:

“With your help, the Mets can win”, with Mike Piazza (and I think a couple of other players, but I mostly remember Mike) getting advice from fans on their way to the stadium. From the current set, I like all the Mr. Met promos except “Your handwriting is terrible.”

I also like the “Meet the Mets / Greet the Mets / Step right up and beat the Mets” song from the late seventies, which you had to admire for its honesty. Maybe we could revive that.

Finally, I had not remembered that Lindsey Nelson was still with the broadcasting team as late as 1978. Good job.

by Curtis3331 on Jan 27, 2012 4:40 PM EST reply actions

I had totally forgotten about

the NYNEX Yellow Pages commercials of that time. Hilarious.

Here’s one of my favorites.

Ralph Kiner: You've gotta change the script, I don't like the script.
Gary Cohen: What's wrong with the script?
Ralph Kiner: Well the script should be the Mets win every day.

by StorkFan on Jan 29, 2012 4:11 PM EST reply actions