There's Only One Way To Force The Wilpons Out

In what's becoming yet another disappointing (so far) season for the Mets, the Wilpons' declaration of changing the culture of the team are looking like political promises - easily made, easily broken and the results are nothing new for Met fans. The starting pitching and the offense have been inconsistent (despite the presence of two very bright young stars in Jeff McNeil and powerhouse Rookie Of The Year candidate Pete Alonso) and the bullpen's been bull. And, inexplicably, manager Mickey Calloway and agent-turned-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen had zero job experience when the Wilpons hired them. Not surprisingly, that lack of experience is showing with Calloway's poor handling of the bullpen and the drive-by firing of respected pitching coach and designated scapegoat Dave Eiland.

 McNeil greets Alonso after a two-run homer at Wrigley Field.

So what to do this time? Well, Met fans, desperate times indeed call for desperate measures and if you're genuinely prepared to back up your demands that the Wilpons sell the team, there's one sure-fire way to make it happen. And that is (barring a pennant race down the stretch), stop going to the ballgames. Yes, that's a bitter pill but the long-term results can be satisfying if not rewarding. If the Mets fight their way back into the race that's one thing, but if they fall out of it and become sellers once again, the question you need to ask yourselves is, are you getting your money's worth? So why give the Wilpons their money's worth?  

Look, it's obvious nothing's going to change unless serious action is taken. Met fans did just that during the 1970s and by 1979 they brought to an end the ownership of Charles Shipman Payson, the skinflint husband of Joan Payson who, as team owner before she died in 1975, wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to improve the team.

Mets first owner Joan Payson flanked by Tom Seaver and Art Shamsky

M. Donald Grant

Unfortunately, after 1975 came the notorious mismanagement of infamous board chairman M. Donald Grant, who earned the fans' wrath by trading off the team's most popular and valuable assets for very little in return. This included Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Dave Kingman, Rusty Staub and Jerry Koosman among others. And to make matters worse the Mets sat out the free agent market while the Yankees, under George Steinbrenner, regained their former glory as the Mets crashed into the cellar.

Watching the Mets at Shea in virtual privacy, circa late 1970s

From 1970 to 1979 the Mets' attendance went from 2,697,479 to only 788,905, a drop of 1,908,574 paying admissions in only nine years. Management stubbornly ignored the fans' message, but by the late 1970s Shea Stadium began to look as neglected as the team was. Paint was peeling off the scoreboard backdrop, the parking lots were always flooded rain or shine, the amenities were becoming unsanitary and the entire inside of the ballpark became unkempt.

Finally, after drawing the fewest fans in their history in 1979, the Mets were sold to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon for a reported $21.1 million. They promised to do whatever it took to win and they started out by hiring Frank Cashen as general manager (He built the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the late 1960s and early '70s). Shea Stadium was refurbished inside and out, and with the necessary funds provided by the new owners, Cashen assembled a championship team that won the World Series in 1986 and the National League East in 1988.

 "The Mets have won the World Series!" ~ Bob Murphy

In 2002, Wilpon bought out Doubleday for $135 million and became the principal owner, something he was never prepared to do as evidenced by the Mets falling into mediocrity after The Subway Series in 2000 (although they did rise to a first place finish in 2006). 

Mike Piazza sends the ball on its way

With few exceptions (Mike Piazza, Carlos Delgado Carlos Beltran), ownership has shown little ability to make the right moves. Even when they opened their bank vault in 1993 and 2003 the Mets finished with the worst record in the league. 

In recent years, particularly since his involvement in the Bernie Madoff scandal, Fred and his son Jeff, the team's COO, have persistantly maintained a reluctance to spend and do whatever it takes to build a winning team while the Yankees have regained their former glor---wait a minute, haven't we been down this dead end before? In spite of a National League pennant in 2015 the whole thing feels hauntingly like the M. Donald Grant years after the 1973 pennant, doesn't it? 

Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Like father like son

Met fans back then knew the answer to the ownership problem. A losing team is a bad draw. Even a mediocre team. If Met fans today want the same end result of 40 years ago there's only one thing to do. Hit the owners where it hurts: Their pocketbooks.

Although things aren't nearly as bad for the Mets now as they were during the '70s, it's just as frustrating for the same reasons. The time has come to finally demonstrate to the Wilpons just who has the real power within a sports franchise and that power belongs to the fans who pay for tickets, parking, concessions, souvenirs, memorabilia and the Mets' cable network, because without those paying customers, professional sports as we know it would not exist. And since the Wilpons, like Charles Shipman Payson before them, are very wealthy mizers they'll feel the pinch very quickly. But you better act fast, Met fans. Fred is now 82 and when he dies Jeff will take over and the Wilpon conundrum will only continue ad infinitum ad nauseum.