Page 6 - Discover Fall 2020
P. 6

Editor’s Note









                                                              By Tim Ernandes


         I’ve been a Mets fan since 1964, when I              occurred to us that we might take in a game
      was seven years old. I still don’t know why, but        when the Mets were in town.
      I guess it’s because I don’t like following the
                                                                 The Mets came to town in August. My
      crowd. Most of my friends and relatives were
                                                              brother and his family live in Northern VA,
      Yankees fans, understandably so in the days of
                                                              so it was arranged that we would all gather
      Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford,
                                                              at his home, spend the night, and from there
      and Mel Stottlemyre.
                                                              we would all head to the game. At the time,

         When the Corona-stunted 2020 baseball                the “Nats” played in RFK stadium, which was
      season finally got underway, I watched                  easily accessed via the Washington Metro.
      the Mets play to an empty stadium, with
                                                                 We followed my brother to the nearest
      corrugated plastic cutouts occupying some
                                                              Metro station, which was still some distance
      of the seats. For their part, the announcers
                                                              from the stadium. We were all very excited,
      were isolated from one another, and indeed,
                                                              not only to be going to a ball game, but
      from the ballpark itself. Canned “crowd noise”
                                                              because it appeared that as Mets fans, we
      provided what passed for stadium ambience.
                                                              outnumbered the Nationals fans. It was an
      The abbreviated season, with its lopsided
                                                              exciting game, in which the Mets prevailed
      schedule, made it seem even less familiar.
                                                              by a score of 6 to 2. We headed back to the
         This caused me to reminisce about one of             Metro station amid a throng of fellow fans, all
      my most cherished baseball memories, which              cheering for the Mets.

      occurred following the very last baseball game
                                                                 The crowd on the platform was
      that I had attended.
                                                              overwhelming. We had to wait for two or
         My family and I had moved from Long                  three trains before we could get near enough

      Island to the lake in June of 2000. We                  to board one. As the doors opened to the car
      continued to follow the Mets via TV, radio,             directly in front of us, my family swooped in. I
      and online streaming. Going to the ballpark             stood alone on the platform as they urged me
      was a thing of the past. However, when the              to try and squeeze in. They pulled me into the
      Montreal Expos pulled up stakes and surfaced            car, crushing me up against them as I barely

      in Washington, D.C. as the Nationals, it                cleared the closing doors.


      4      Discover Smith Mountain Lake  FALL 2020
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