We Are What We Repeat
Gertrude Stein wrote, several times as a matter of fact, that we are what we repeat. Look around you. This is true. Each of us is composed of the things we say and do over and over and over.
We can see why this might work with individual people. We can see why this might work with nations and cultures, who tell themselves the same stories through generation, who pass on a set of beliefs. It’s a mystery to me, however, why this also sometimes works with baseball teams.
The Red Sox kept doing the same thing for over a century. They finally broke the pattern in 2004, but it looks now as if they are trying to slip back into it. The Mets right now are doing something they’ve done many times before. Why is this happening? The Mets, for the most part, did not grow up as Mets fans, unlike most of their fans. How much do they even know about the team’s history? What could be inside of them that would cause them to repeat this ancient, primordial, obsessive pattern? I don’t know and you don’t know. But we all know that we have been here before.
No matter how good they are in any individual year, the Mets never stride into the room, take what is theirs, and exit in triumph. What happens instead is something like what happened in 1969, when the Mets charged almost to the very top, after years of humiliation, by mid-July, and then collapsed completely to play like a last place team for a month, falling 9 and a half games behind the Cubs by mid-August. That time, they revived and won the pennant by 8 games and went on to win the World Series. In 1972, they got off to their best start ever and looked as if they would repeat 1969. Then they collapsed. But they never revived. 1973 was a crappy last-place season all the way to the final month. The Mets were back to where they had been in the ’60s. But then they won the pennant. In 1984, the Mets roared back to life and led for most of the season, but then they lost it. In 1985, the Mets had one of their best seasons ever, winning 98 games, but because of some heartbreaking games in September, they came in second. 1986 was the best Mets team ever. But the Mets got Mike Scott into their head and almost didn’t make it to the Series. Then when they got to the Series, they got spooked by a dramatically inferior Red Sox team and almost lost the Series in 6. The best Mets team won a World Championship, but not before coming as close as they could to losing it twice. The 1988 Mets were probably the second best Mets team ever. They dominated the National League all season. But after one ill-advised article by David Cone, and two unexpected late inning homers by the Dodgers, and they went home before getting to the Series, which they would not see again for 12 long years. Remember having a Mets miracle comeback season in 1997, but not making the playoffs because we couldn’t win just one of the last six games we played? Remember almost the exact same thing happening in 1998? Remember their solid lead in the Wild Card in 1999 and how they lost that lead by losing seven in a row, in a year in which they would win 97 overall? Remember how heroically they came back? Remember winning the one-game playoff? Remember beating Arizona on Todd Pratt’s homer? Remember digging our second grave of the season by dropping three to Atlanta? Remember how we almost came back? But didn’t. Until next year when we did win the pennant, with a grand triumphant team that still couldn’t win the division, but could win the Wild Card and the playoffs with ease? Remember what happened in the Subway Series you had dreamed of all your life? Remember what a Yankee team that had won only 87 games did to our sterling squad that had won 94? Remember the great, exciting comeback season in 2005, and then sinking back into the herd by losing 11 out of 14 on a roadtrip in September? Remember 2006, the most evenly triumphant season since 1986? Remember rolling over the Dodgers. And then do you remember whatever it was that happened in that series against the Cardinals?
Why am I telling you all this? I’m telling you because this is what you are. This is what they repeat. This is what you repeat. This is what you are. Sorry. Always, they dig their graves. Always they lie down in it and get comfortable. Sometimes they climb out of the grave and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they are beaten even though they climb out. And sometimes, twice to be exact, in 45 years, they win it all.
Live with it. Live it. You have no choice. You don’t love them for it. You love them in spite of it. But you love them. That stays the same. And if you don’t, go away. We want to be alone with our team.
September 20th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Interesting piece. Need to think about it more. The initial question that occurs to me is whether the pattern that you describe (and I’m not sure its a pattern) is one that is shared by many other teams. I don’t know the stats, but even in the case of the Yankees, there are quite a number of seasons where they needed 7 games to win the series and went down to the wire in snagging the pennant. (1949, 1964, 1978, and 2000 are the ones immediately coming to mind.) The Cardinals have also had a lot of close calls.
I don’t think you can really compare the Mets with the Cubs. The Mets don’t have a real record of blowing big leads. Maybe 1997 (but there they were shooting for the WC) and 1985 was probably the biggest heartbreaker, but for better or worse (probably for worse — unfortunatey too many seasons the Mets don’t have any kind of lead to blow), they don’t really strike me as the “epic collapse” sort of team that is often the Cubs or Red Sox.
But I do agree that they often have to do it hard. I suspect that is partly because they are an NL team, so there is inevitably more strategy and tougher calls then over in the American “Company Softball” League.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Let’s not forget the Phillies history. What they often repeat is a spectacular run that falls apart some time in September.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I think that there are patterns that teams can have that might have scientific explanations: a management that consistently favors veteran players so that there is a September slump as the veterans tire; a team built around a slugger who tends to hit better in some months than others; a team that is built around offense because of the nature of the stadium that does poorly in the post-season in which pitching is more important.
And it is possible, since 29 out of 30 teams don’t win the World Series, that every team has its own myth of the inevitability of collapse. I have even heard Yankee fans speak of their own curse in not having won the World Series for seven years.
But I think that there is a consistent and possibly unexplainable pattern in the story of the Mets. They never make it easy. And when it looks as if it will be easy, they find ways to self-sabotage, but not inevitably collapse. So many of the most memorable moments in Mets history have this pattern: surge - collapse right up to the point of death -miraculous resurrection. Now other teams do this and the Mets don’t always. But I think that there is something here. And even if you could disprove it, it is the story that we repeat to ourselves. And so it has a mythic validity.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Dana:
I agree wholeheartedly that it has a mythic validity in the classic sense of the term.
I’ve given your piece more thought (in the interest of procrastinating with a looming deadline). Here are a few factors that maybe explain why the Mets never have it easy:
1. Shea. Its the last remaining pitchers park, not very run friendly. Lends itself to tighter games, and, in years where the Mets staff isn’t A plus, doesn’t provide as much of a home field advantage. Also, the surface of the field is awful, which may also account for problems to at least some degree.
2. Media pressure. NY is unlike anywhere else on earth in that regard.
3. The “Yankees” effect. More so than in any other two team market I’ve ever visited, everything the Mets do is held up in view of what is happening across town. This affects the front office for sure (i.e. - last year’s comment “we’re the only show in town”), perhaps some trickle down effect. I am quite sure that, on top of everything else, the Yankees overcoming a 14.5 game deficit to make the postseason puts pressure on the Mets not to blow their chances at the post season. If the Mets blew it and they were the only team in town it would be awful (a la Philly 1964), but with the cross town rivalry it makes it even worse. Unfortunate, but reality.
Finally, at least for this season, I think, in the interest of fairness, one also has to simply credit the Phillies heart. Its not just the Mets. Even in the loss to St Louis last night, that team has been playing with a fire and aggressiveness you have to respect.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:15 am
Dana, I’m curious. Do you think we’ll weather this out and be there in October? I’m not asking from any rational perspective. I’m wondering what your gut is telling you, if anything.
September 21st, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Anthony, my gut is telling me that we’re going to be there, but it is going to involve a great deal of anxiety and misery, and perhaps some weak triumph at surviving. My hope is that just hanging on and making it will feel like a triumph and that it will inspire the team. Something like this happened to the Cardinals last year.
But I have to warn you. My gut is not only not always right. It is, more often than not when it comes to the Mets, wrong.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Interesting. Well, obviously I hope your gut is right this time. I honestly don’t know what my gut is telling me. My gut is clueless, and so is my brain. The way this season has gone, nothing would surprise me at this point. If we went 0-10 to finish the season, I wouldn’t be surprised, and if we went 10-0, I wouldn’t be surprised. I just hope the team is not in mental-crisis mode. That’s what I worry about the most - the mental state of the team. I just hope they still believe in themselves.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:19 am
Both you and JD have very valid reasons for the difficulty the Mets have. JD’s are really spot on, especially the Yankees effect. I do hope, Dana, that your gut instinct is correct. After watching tonight’s game, I came away with hope. I would rather they would have not resumed play, because the 8th inning was hairy, but Schoeneweiss, my favorite scapegoat, came through in spades, as did Mota. We need consistency in the bullpen, and I hope those guys can repeat it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I was also happy to see Carlos Delgado’s home run. I love Carlos Delgado and I want him to emerge as a hero in the final leg of the season.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I am at a loss for words…was at the Nats triumph over the Phils today, left with the Mets still trailing (according to the out of town scoreboard) and come home to see the Mets rallied to win in the 10th…my emotions are in a blender on puree…guys…we are in control…let’s just get this thing done, please!
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:48 pm
All I knew was that the Mets were trailing when I left RFK (for the last time)…and saw that we’d pulled it out…just checked out how…enough with the drama, guys!
September 24th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Amen Chris! I am going to the game Monday at Shea. 4 is a lucky number for me, so let’s get the magic number to 4 with a 4th win in a row!
September 24th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
No one should worry. Whenever I boil chicken entrails and scatter them in a west-facing crescent pattern, the Mets always win. I’ll be doing that this afternoon. If I want the Phillies to lose, I also have to stand on one leg and face the sun for an hour. I’ll do that too. So everybody should relax. Now that I’ve figured out how to control whether we win or lose, they’ll just win for now on. My next book will be a book of spells.
September 24th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Funny, yesterday I was cheering lustily for the Nationals in their last-ever game at RFK Stadium (which actually turned out to be a nice venue for baseball these last 3 years, with excellent food–by ballpark standards–and beer.)
Tonight, I hope they lose!
September 24th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I almost cried when Billy gave up that homer to Uggla yesterday. To make it worse, because I live in Houston and therefore have to watch the games on mlb.tv, I had to sit through the Florida announcers, who may be the biggest homers in baseball. Thank god our MVP bailed us out.
You know, last year we had the best bullpen in baseball, and yet it was our bullpen that let us down in the NLCS. Maybe this year it will be just the opposite.
September 24th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Yes, Anthony. So much in the Mets universe does follow the principles of Jerry Seinfeld’s universe and I’m sure that you remember that episode in which George discovers that everything in the universe works backwards (want one thing, get its opposite).
September 25th, 2007 at 2:23 am
Dana, did you scatter those entrails in an east facing crescent by accident? Please make sure to stand on one leg and face the sun for an hour tomorrow, as tonight’s train wreck is the last they are allowed to have until the clinch. ok?
September 25th, 2007 at 2:58 am
No, Subie. Turns out that they were turkey entrails. They were mislabelled in the Stop and Shop.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:02 am
You’re right, Dana. This is going to be excruciating right down to the very last pitch. It’s very hard to remain calm right now. adsfsafha;sdlfh;adshfskl;jf;lkdsj
September 25th, 2007 at 4:57 am
I attended that train wreck tonight Subie, and I held on until the bottom of the 8th. By the time I walked to the car and turned on the radio, I heard Howie announce the gopher ball thrown by Dave Williams. Dana, whatever you do, work your voodoo magic and get it going pronto. I can’t believe I am going to root for Atlanta to sweep the Philles, but desperate times call for desperate measures!