The Applefather just sent me a note about the passing of Jim Plummer, a long-time Mets employee. You can read about it at mets.com and newsday.com (to name just a few).

The Applefather, in his e-mail to me, had the following things to say, and I found them moving and wanted to share them:

Jim Plummer, my assistant in the promotions dept. 1980-81-82, passed away earlier this week. As you know Jim was with me "at the beginning" of ideas and designs for The HR Apple. He was one of the all-time SPECIAL GUYS. Always there for you. Everybody loved him. He helped, by my count, thousands of ballplayers over the years.

I plan to be at the Celebration of Jim's life on Monday in Queens. If I am The Applefather, Jim is certainly at very least The Beloved Uncle. I miss him.

Goin out to Shea:

Lonnie and I have decided to head out to Shea tonight to spread the word. We'll be sitting somewhere in the upper deck, and we should be pretty easy to spot with our SaveTheApple t-shirts and Save The Apple posters.

Feel free to come say hi (Kevin Burkhardt, this includes you), we love to talk Mets, baseball, and The Apple at any and all times.

Web Roundup / Catching Up:

Not too much to report on the Apple front, but there are always things happening around the web. I was on vacation for the last two weeks, so here's what I've been reading to catch up on our boys in Blue and Orange.

The guys over at Develop Willets Point have been extremely busy. If you don't know their site, you should go check it out and catch up on what they're fighting for.

At Mets Mesmerized Online they wrote a great piece about us! If you're not familiar with this blog, you need to be, they have a lot of great writers and keep updating constantly so that you can get your Mets fix.

We've just added Magic Mets to our links page, you should check them out.

Will over at metsfansforever.com has been hard at work and we always enjoy his writing too.


Don't forget: Spread the word (tell all your friends about us, join the facebook group and invite all of your friends to it, etc), Sign the Petition (which just broke 8000!!! signatures), Buy a T-Shirt, and Let's Go Mets!

Backward progress:

We received an e-mail tip from Keith who pointed us to StadiumPage.com. We think these pictures speak for themselves...

original design


original design (note the "Mets Ballpark" name)

current design



original design


current design


We hadn't seen these early design pictures before... But it sure looks like the Mets initially planned to BRING THE APPLE AND TOP HAT and have since CHANGED THEIR MINDS. They've put in that concrete hole 408 feet away from what will be home plate to house either the same Apple or a new apple:



Photos courtesy Tom Kaminski/WCBS 880

But concrete is not that expensive. It's not too late for them to change their minds, fill in the hole with dirt and put the Apple (and TOP HAT) on the side of that hill, like in the original design pictures.

Thanks Keith and Tom!

Besides that, we have an air date. THIS SATURDAY, May 31st, at 12 noon, we will make our TV debut on SNY's Mets Weekly!

Please keep spreading the word. If you haven't, please Sign The Petition. Buy a t-shirt! But most importantly, make it out to Shea this summer, catch a game, and see the imperfect beauty that is Shea and is The Apple. Let's Go Mets!

Bumped:

Just a note that our spot on Mets Weekly on SNY has been bumped back at least one week. We'll let you know when our new air date is as soon as we know.

Misinformation:

It seems every few days now, an article or blog posting pops up saying "Yes, the Mets' Big Apple will live on at Citi Field." Yesterday, Jim Baumbach on his Newsday.com Blog used that exact headline and in a second article that should have been in today's Newsday, says "Looks like Mets will have big apple at Citi Field." In his blog posting, Baumbach says, "So they can shut down this Web site."

Well, thank you Jim. You've done some mighty fine reporting, sir. [Let me pause here, I've read Mr. Baumbach's articles before, and I don't generally have a problem with him, and if it seems like I'm picking on him in particular, I'm not. I'm using him as an example of what a lot of reporters have been doing to us.] He says that he's seen with his own eyes the new concrete home of the apple. Well, so have our readers, Jim - February 25th, photos from Tom Kaminski clearly show this same concrete structure. Further, he goes on to say "Wilpon didn't know if it would be the same apple or a new apple, but my bet is on a new apple. In any case, the apple lives on. Rejoice."

Now what have you done here, Jim? You have BLATANTLY misinformed people, you have obviously NOT done research on us or our cause, you have obviously not read the AP article from FEBRUARY 25TH which says pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS YOU, and you have done this campaign a major disservice. As far as I'm concerned, in this case, you have absolutely not done your job as a reporter.

And now, what do WE have to do? We have to keep telling people that The Apple has, in fact, NOT been saved yet. And that gets tougher and tougher every time another article comes up like yours Jim.

But I have to hand it to the Wilpons. They have gotten reporters, over and over again, to report that the apple has been saved, and then as an aside mention it might not be the same apple. The Wilpons can call up reporters, tour them around Citi Field, and trick or convince them in to writing articles that hurt our cause; and we can't do the same in our favor. We're fighting an uphill battle, and it's not easy. And now, it's even harder.

And, though I hate to admit it, it looks like we've already partly lost. The Top Hat doesn't have a place in that concrete hole.

As I posted to Jim Baumbach's blog, "Blog postings and articles like yours do us a great disservice. You are making it easy for the Mets to not take The Apple by making people think that The Apple is already coming. The original Citi Field construction photos show AN apple, but that is not what our website is about. To us, it is about honoring a small piece of Shea in a stadium that is made to honor Ebbets field. Why shouldn't the Mets honor their own history?" And why not a new apple? Because a new apple wouldn't be Shea-like. I love Shea Stadium, but it is NOT a new apple, it IS The Apple - its dents and imperfections are what makes it great.