Meet the Mets

"Meet the Mets" is the fight song of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. It was written in 1961 by Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz. A rewritten and modernized version was recorded in 1984.^[1]

The song first appeared in 1962, heralding the return of National League baseball to New York City. "Meet the Mets" has also been featured in a "This is SportsCenter" commercial starring Mr. Met as well as on Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond.^{[citation needed]} Rock band Yo La Tengo recorded a version of "Meet the Mets" live on New Jersey's WFMU that was included on the 2006 compilation album Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics.

The instrumental of the original version opens and closes Met games on WFAN and is used for lineup rundowns during home games on SportsNet New York, while part of the 1984 update opens and closes WFAN's Mets Extra pre- and post-game shows. For the 2009 season, with the closing of Shea Stadium and opening of Citi Field, the 1984 version was edited by WFAN to cut to the instrumental portion just before the singer sings "Hot dogs, green grass all out at Shea/ Guaranteed to have a heck of a day." According to the New York Times, the song's original lyrics -- “Bring your kiddies, bring your wife/ Guaranteed to have the time of your life" -- were viewed as "arguably sexist."

In 2008, the song was also recreated with a more Rap/Hip-Hop vibe, purportedly to appeal to a younger generation. In the second half of the 2009 Mets season, the team's first at Citi Field, the original 1962 version was often played in the ballpark during a break in the late innings as a crowd sing-along.

Sportswriter Leonard Koppett affected the role of classical music critic in 1963 to tweak the song's simplistic composition: “There is little in the score of interest to a mid-20th-century audience. The harmony is traditional; no influences of atonality or polytonality can be found. In fact, it’s sort of un-tonal.”

"Meet the Mets" was not the first enduring baseball-related song for songwriters Roberts and Katz. The duo had earlier written "I Love Mickey," a tribute to New York Yankees centerfielder Mickey Mantle recorded in 1956 by Teresa Brewer, and “It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame,” well known to fans who heard it played regularly at Dodger Stadium home games.^[2]

See also

• "Let's Go Mets Go," the rally song of the 1986 Mets

External links

• History of The Mets' fight songs
• 1962 version of the song

References

1. ^ Peter Keepnews (July 4, 2011). "Ruth Roberts, ‘Meet the Mets’ Songwriter, Dies at 84". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/arts/music/ruth-roberts-meet-the-mets-songwriter-dies-at-84.html?ref=deathsobituaries. 
2. ^ Keepnews, Peter (July 4, 2011). "Ruth Roberts, ‘Meet the Mets' Songwriter, Dies at 84". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/arts/music/ruth-roberts-meet-the-mets-songwriter-dies-at-84.html?_r=1&hpw.