It has been easy to become a dyspeptic Mets fan the last few years. Injuries. Insipid performances from ownership promising change and not delivering. Some times, the talk of playing competitive ball, or just being a positive fan base sounds like prattle. The Jason Bay contract several years ago is now seen as a document that reeks of meretriciousness. Sometimes following this baseball team has made me feel like a curmudgeon, rather than the youthful, optimistic 23 year old that I should be.
However, the last 24 hours has been a nice, jocular change of pace. Jose Reyes was traded to Toronto, which pretty close to a polar opposite of Miami. In a nice rejoinder of all of the criticism of Mets BFBS alternate uniforms that have been with us through the years, the Mets displayed two new, beautiful color alternates that are filled with team history this morning.
But the icing on the cake, the big moment of the day, was hearing R.A. Dickey’s name announced as the Cy Young award winner. The pitcher whose knuckle ball has become iconoclastic in the small world of knuckleball throwers, breaking every rule about the pitch won the award today that he so deeply deserved. The Mets might not have had a winning record this season, but the Cy Young award has supplanted the dark feelings of being Mets fan.
And honestly that is what Dickey has done all along. He has forced out negative feelings about the Mets because he is so humble, talented, optimistic and realistic that it is impossible to not hope with him, to not achieve with him. His incredible demeanor sometimes feels like an idiosyncrasy when compared to today’s average public portrayal of an athlete, and that is why he is great. For example, Kershaw and Gonzalez both wore T-shirts in their pre-Cy Young interviews. Dickey (and David Price for that matter) knew to dress for the occasion.
R.A. Dickey’s story has been incredible and humbling to follow. He continues to be a source of inspiration for all of us, not just as fans of baseball, but as a source of hope for the human condition. Cheers R.A.
