The black jerseys of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s are coming back.
In a pre-recorded Q&A on YouTube, Steve Cohen said the beloved uniforms (or loathed, if you have bad opinions on jerseys) will return for a couple games in 2021. The team announced they’ll be available to purchase in the future, too.
We have worked with and thank MLB and NIKE for their help in the return of black jerseys for a limited number of games later this summer; replica jerseys will be available at retail in time for the holidays. We’ll have further information in the weeks ahead.
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 29, 2021
Cohen said the black jerseys remind fans of a positive time in the team history, so he made sure the jerseys would be able to give the fans a nostalgia boost by bringing them back.
He also said he wants the current players to help with the design of the upcoming black jersey, citing the excitement from players like Pete Alonso and Marcus Stroman (who expressed his love for them in an MMO interview).
The return of the jerseys was one of a couple highlights from the Q&A with Wayne Randazzo, so let’s get into the rest.
Offseason, Luxury Tax & Contract Extensions
Steve Cohen said he thought the offseason “went pretty well,” highlighting how much depth the team acquired. While he was “disappointed” the team couldn’t sign Bauer despite “a heck of an offer,” he was happy with the moves the front office made.
Uncle Steve, which he said he was fine with people calling him, said he would’ve felt comfortable blowing past the luxury tax for a player like Trevor Bauer. He noted, however, that when the team does pass by the tax line, he doesn’t want to do for “just a couple of million dollars.”
It seems like Cohen realized the first-time penalties for going over the luxury tax are pretty insignificant, and they’re more than worth it if it gets you a high-caliber player. It truly is a new era of ownership for Mets fans.
Cohen also said that (as of last week when the interview was recorded) the team was focusing on extensions for Francisco Lindor and Michael Conforto at the moment, but they’d also like to talk about an extension for Noah Syndergaard.
Organizational Culture
The offseason was filled with questions about the Mets organizational culture after former general manager Jared Porter was fired for admitting harassment and ensuing reports about Mickey Callaway’s lewd behavior when he was with the team.
When asked about what he was doing to change the team’s culture, Cohen touted Jeanne Melino, a new member of the Mets Foundation board, and Kathryn McElheny, who Cohen said was recently announced as team doctor, as diversity hires.
While hiring two people certainly isn’t enough to fix an organization’s diversity issues, it was also announced today that the Mets were hiring an independent law firm to assess “workplace culture.”
Sandy Alderson also said recently they’ve changed their vetting process for interviews to make sure they include more women. They’re small steps, but they’re steps nonetheless.
Fan Experience
A fan asked Cohen about developing the area around Citi Field as a way for out-of-towners to be able to come into the Citi and spend a weekend in and around the park. Cohen said he’d like the develop the area, but it would have to come as a public-private partnership because the city and state own the land around Citi, not the Mets.
With regards to the stadium, Cohen said he’d like to see more Mets history at Citi Field, but he stressed the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and the Ebbets Field homage are important to pay respects to “one of the most important baseball players ever.”
Cohen also announced frontline healthcare workers would be throwing first pitches out at various games this year as a small giveback for their work over the last year-plus during the pandemic.
Celebrating the Past
Cohen said he wants to make sure teams and players of the past are celebrated by ownership moving forward.
An Old Timers Day is in the works for 2022, and he also wants the organization to celebrate the 1986 World Series team in the near future.
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