The Baseball Hall of Fame is Disney World for baseball fans. It's simple. I got giddy as soon as I started seeing all of the baseball memorabilia. But being a Mets fan at the Baseball Hall of Fame is kinda like being a fan of foil at the Hershey's Museum. There's probably going to be some mention about it being the wrapping of choice but in the end, it's all about the Yankees - I mean chocolate.
When you are a Mets fan, there's Tom Seaver and...uhh...well...uhh...hmmm. You have to travel through 2/3 of the Hall before you even find Tom Seaver. Granted, it's in chronological order and the Mets weren't around until 1962 but it still takes a long time to see Mets stuff. I even had my wife take pictures of New York Giants memorabilia because it was close enough.
Well, there's Tom Seaver!
Once we got to the Seaver portion of the Hall, we stayed. We set up camp and lived off a rationed lollipop in the shape of Dave Winfield (on clearance since 2002). At one point, some people in Reds apparel came by and we stared them down until they left. Seaver belongs to us. After four days of worship, we moved on.
At the time of wearing, my shirt was not "retro."
If there was any indication of the lack of respect for all things Mets at the Hall of Fame, it came in the locker room section of the current teams. They have a room where each team gets a locker. The contents of the locker are bats, gloves, cleats, and so on from memorable moments in the team's recent history. Along with that is a jersey for a great player from that team. I imagined David Wright or Johan Santana but no. The Hall of Fame selected a Tom Glavine jersey. Tom Glavine, the most hated Mets player in recent memory. Thanks, Hall.
If you take away the fact that the Mets don't have a lot of Cooperstown-worthy greatness, the Hall of Fame is fantastic. Seeing Hank Aaron's section and realizing how amazing his career was. Walking through the plaques of all the inductees. There was even a Newark Bears hat for Rickey Henderson. (Did you read that? The Newark Bears are almost as well-repesented as the Mets. Alright, I'm done!) If you love baseball, go. But don't start a fire when camping out in front of Tom Seaver's wall. They hate that. We caused the sprinklers to turn on and ruined the area dedicated to the current World Champions. Eat it, Phillies.
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