What If? the Mets were not named "Mets"....

[B-Rich]

Last week, a good friend of mine (and big Mets fan) sent me a link to a Mets blog that had a couple of really interesting entries, based on the 'what if?' scenario in which 'Mets' was not the chosen name. What was really cool was how a NY-based designer (Jim Haines of Zed Duck Studios) worked up a couple of early '60s looking logos to show how the 1962 New York NL expansion franchise might have looked like in different alternate realities. The logos were for two of the names under consideration: the Skyliners and the Meadowlarks. He used the Mets colors (blue and orange) for both. Here they are:

I kind of like the Meadowlarks one; it really captures the look and feel of that time. Plus the Skyliners logo (as respondents to the blog have pointed out) is anachronistic; it has the Verrazano-Narrows bridge in there 3 years before it was even opened, and the "orbit globe" from the 1964 World's Fair...

Anyway, the blog is called Faith and Fear in Flushing, click on it to link directly to it.

[hecticbro]

That's neat. The Meadowlarks logos seem a bit inappropriate for a team based in the biggest city in the country though. They look like they should be playing in Topeka or something.

[24 Hour Charleston]

I love Meadowlarks as a team name, but not for the NY NL team. Can't use it these days, because Peter Angelos would sue.

[grmuckrakers]

I love Meadowlarks as a team name, but not for the NY NL team. Can't use it these days, because Peter Angelos would sue.

You have to read Greg's post on the subject on that site, which is required reading for alll Mets fans. He's a great writer.

[jws008]

Plus the Skyliners logo (as respondents to the blog have pointed out) is anachronistic; it has the Verrazano-Narrows bridge in there 3 years before it was even opened, and the "orbit globe" from the 1964 World's Fair...

While I can agree that the "orbit globe" would be out of place in the logo, you could argue that the Verrazano-Narrows bridge image is not that particular bridge, but is the Bronx-Whitestone bridge instead. Very similar design to the Narrows bridge, but opened in 1939. BTW, the Whitestone Bridge can be seen from the upper levels of Shea Stadium, beyond the outfield walls looking North to Northwest (though much of that view is now blocked by the shell and construction equipment from the building of CitiField).

Both those bridges and the similarly looking Throgs Neck Bridge were designed by architect Othmar Ammann, which probably accounts for their similar styles.

You could argue that the bridge is the Throgs Neck, which was opened in 1961, but that bridge's towers have a slightly broader arch at the top than Ammann's other two similarly designed New York bridges.

[Gothamite]

Great finds - thanks!

I've always preferred the "Meadowlarks" name, it's nice to see what that might have looked like. Great mascot logo.

[njmeadowlanders]

That "orbit globe" would be the unisphere from the 1964/65 New York World's Fair...

...according to the Mets Media Guide, like it says every year, the names up for consideration (in addition to Skyliners and Meadowlarks) were Jets (The Titans would take that one), the Islanders (again, eventually taken), NYB's, Burros (obviously a play on "Boroughs"), Avengers, Continentals, and Rebels...

[illwauk]

That's neat. The Meadowlarks logos seem a bit inappropriate for a team based in the biggest city in the country though. They look like they should be playing in Topeka or something.

Well the logo doesn't represent all of New York, it represents Flushing, Queens where Shea is.

[leopard88]

That's neat. The Meadowlarks logos seem a bit inappropriate for a team based in the biggest city in the country though. They look like they should be playing in Topeka or something.

Well the logo doesn't represent all of New York, it represents Flushing, Queens where Shea is.

Specifically, Flushing Meadows, which is where the name comes from.

[njmeadowlanders]

...and then maybe you could add a wedge of lime, seeing as it is located even more specifically within Flushing-Meadows Corona Park .

[leedsunited]

I think they made the right choice with Metropolitans.

[24 Hour Charleston]

Whenever I read about the Meadowlarks, it makes "Strange Meadow Lark" by Dave Brubeck get stuck in my head. It's not the worst fate in the world when it comes to songs in head, though.

[Mac the Knife]

"Meet the Meads" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[24 Hour Charleston]

I'm no Mets fan, but I love "Meet the Mets." Every baseball team needs a theme song.

[Gothamite]

I think they made the right choice with Metropolitans.

Not "Metropolitans," just "Mets."

[BallWonk]

I think they made the right choice with Metropolitans.

Not "Metropolitans," just "Mets."

The franchise was organized as the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc., in tribute to the American Association New York Metropolitans. Not sure if the corporate structure is still organized as the Metropolitan Baseball Club, but Metropolitans is just fine for the Mets. In fact, with the invention of the Nationals/Nats, I suspect we'll be hearing Metropolitans a bit more often from the sporting press.

My favorite WGN Cubs commercial of all time featured two stereotypical Chicago bleacher bums, one saying to the other, "What the heck's a Met?"

[illwauk]

That's neat. The Meadowlarks logos seem a bit inappropriate for a team based in the biggest city in the country though. They look like they should be playing in Topeka or something.

Well the logo doesn't represent all of New York, it represents Flushing, Queens where Shea is.

Specifically, Flushing Meadows, which is where the name comes from.

[Gothamite]

I think they made the right choice with Metropolitans.

Not "Metropolitans," just "Mets."

The franchise was organized as the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc., in tribute to the American Association New York Metropolitans. Not sure if the corporate structure is still organized as the Metropolitan Baseball Club, but Metropolitans is just fine for the Mets. In fact, with the invention of the Nationals/Nats, I suspect we'll be hearing Metropolitans a bit more often from the sporting press.

Yes, but the name of the Washingon team is the Nationals. The same has never been true of the Mets. It's not like the Knicks.

In fact, other than the one too-cute radio moron who also talks about the "Ice-landers", nobody ever calls them "Metropolitans" in the sporting press or otherwise.

My favorite WGN Cubs commercial of all time featured two stereotypical Chicago bleacher bums, one saying to the other, "What the heck's a Met?"

Never seen that one, but I think I'd like it.

[Bob Wilmot]

This is a bit off-topic (off-sport anyway), but regarding "Meadowlarks" as a team name, I distinctly remember the Name The Team contest in Portland for the expansion NBA team in the 1970. Meadowlarks was the runner-up. The western meadowlark is common throughout the Northwest, and presumably this Meadowlark basketball connotation wasn't ignored. My own entry (and that of many others), Portland Pacifics, was 3rd place. The most common entry, Portland Pioneers, was rejected as the exisiting nickname of a local college.

[winghaz]

I'll bet not too many New Yorkers have even heard the unique chirp of a meadowlark. To me, hearing that means spring is really here.