PLAY BALL!

PLAY BALL! Those are some of the sweetest word one can utter. The Mets, my addiction since 1969, begin the playoffs against the Dodgers today. This leads me to list songs that factor in Mets history. I doubt you will be downloading any of these into your iPod, but they did have their moment.
1. Meet the Mets. The team's theme song which is still used today. It was written in 1961 before the team played a single game by Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz. If I remember correctly, the version we hear now, which was recorded in 1984, is sung by Joy Askew who sang with Joe Jackson during his hit making days. The original version is awash in it's banjo and clarinet glory.
2. 1986 was a big year in song for the Mets starting with Get Metsmerized. Ok this is scary. A Mets rap! Maxim says that Darryl Strawberry's first wife Lisa sang background vocals. (We are going to ignore his single Chocolate Strawberry) Ponder these lyrics: I'm George Foster, I love this team/the Mets are better than the Red Machine or Lenny D. your spirit's contagious/what ya do to your body is really outrageous or my favorite rhyme When they want a batter filled with terror/they call on me, Rick Aguilera.
3. Let's Go Mets Go Not only was this a song/record, but it was a video. The scary facts according to Shelly Palmers website (he wrote and recorded the song): This was a gold record meaning 500,000 units were sold and the video went triple platinum. I confess to buying the record. There was a rumor, which my friends and I may have started, that Mookie Wilson sang lead on the song.
4. The Mets also had an album out after they won in 1969, but I think that was audio highights from the games. There seems to be a remastered CD out there with naration by Lindsey Nelson. I read somewhere that the Mets sang classics like You Gotta Have Heart on this record. This I am not aware of this and maybe it's better left unheard.
Of note: When WNEW-FM was a rock station in '86, they recorded parodies such as Lenny & the Mets using the backing track for Benny & the Jets.
Current sounds at Shea: Boggie Shoes. Who is at bat?