by David Skolnik

Created on: March 19, 2010

"Meet the Mets, Meet the Mets, head for the park and greet the Mets, hot dogs, green grass all out at Shea, guaranteed to have a heck of a day"...

I had many "heck of a days out at Shea" . I was 15 in 1969 and the mood was right at the big ballpark. Jane Jarvis was playing the Thomas Organ while Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner and Lindsay Nelson were warming up the microphones. It was a few  days past the Fourth of July and Tom "Terrific" Seaver strode to the mound against the Chicago Cubs. What unfolded in the next two hours and fifteen minutes was nothing short of magnificent as No. 41 took a perfect game into the ninth.

With one out, light hitting Jimmy Qualls (who?) lifted a lazy, hazy pop into short left for a dinger. Not Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo or Don Kessinger, but Jimmy Qualls.

Then there was a day in 1970 when Mr. Seaver struck out the last 10 San Diego Padres. Total dominance. When he was on his game, his teammates had a relaxing day at the office.

Thirty one years later, the Mets hosted the first home game at Shea after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Late in the game, trailing by a run to the Braves, Mike Piazza came to the plate and had a moment, not for himself, but for a city that was dealt a crushing blow just days earlier. That home run made folks forget about the pains, losses and horrors, if only for a few precious moments.

When Shea closed forever following a game 162 loss to the Marlins in 2008, the two players who shut the center field gates for the final time were Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza. Well done, fellas, well done. Appropriately so, Seaver and Piazza were the battery for the honorary first pitch at Citi Field in 2009.

Now we're on the cusp of the 2010 season and the Mets are looking for the next Seaver and Piazza. Easier said than done, eh? Well, Johan Santana has a chance to be the next Tom "Terrific" from the left side. Santana has shown flashes of brilliance, but 25-7? That's a pipe dream.

And where's the next Mike Piazza going to come from? Omir Santos? Rod Barajas? No and no. Now, Shea is a parking lot, Jane Jarvis has passed along to an organ in God's kingdom and Bob Murphy has no more "happy recaps."

What are Met fans left with? Ever since Adam Wainwright silenced Carlos Beltran to end the '06 NLCS, it's been "nine miles of bad road," as Murph used to say.

Is there any hope on the horizon? We'll wait and see. In the meantime, I have great memories of Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza.

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