Not a Banner Day for ESPN

God damn Sunday night baseball gonna ruin banner day. Will be lesser crowd and 8 sucks for kids. @mets you gotta move it!!!!!!!!!!

— metspolice (@metspolice) January 15, 2013

Banner Day had been a Mets tradition for years as a way for fans to create clever signs showing support for their heroes in orange and blue. Most of the Mets yearbooks from the 1960′s and 1970′s highlight this day as one of the great days of the season for both the fans and the franchise.

After the 1996 season, Banner Day was no more and for a time was a long forgotten tradition of a franchise that almost seemed like it was hell bent on leaving the past….well, in the past. Hell, in the 40th anniversary season in 2002 and the final season of Shea Stadium in 2008, the tradition was still forgotten by the Mets.

One of the most dedicated fans and bloggers, Shannon from Metspolice.com, wanted to see Banner Day returned and was the leading voice when it came to the fans outcry to bring it back. In the winter of 2011, with the 50th anniversary of the Mets coming up the next season, Banner Day was brought back and the tradition was re-born.

It was a beautiful day on May 27th, 2012, the fans came out in droves with their banners in hand. Creativity was flowing and although their was only one winner (seen above), everyone won for getting to see Banner Day return. The Mets even won as R.A. Dickey threw a three hit shutout against the Padres, the day was perfect.

Fast-forward eight months later, with Banner Day ready to return for May 26th when Mets face off against the Atlanta Braves, ESPN throws us all for a curve and moves the game to 8 pm for its Sunday Night Baseball package.

The question now becoming, will the Mets move Banner Day to another weekend that is not interrupted by ESPN, or just go on as planned, moving Banner Day to a late evening affair like the game will be.

Now, in the interest in full disclosure, Banner Day means little to me as a Mets fan. I became a Mets fan in 1998, and so 2012 was the first time I saw a Banner Day held. If they have it, great, if not, ok then. I wont live and die with Banner Day.

But this is not about me. This is about all the other Mets fans, like Shannon of Metspolice who worked hard to keep the flame of this event alive, or the young kid who will grow up with this tradition for years to come. A tradition I was robbed of as a young kid, I don’t want to see robbed from other young Mets fans in the future.

What ESPN has done was well within their rights as the TV partner of MLB and so you wish they picked from 14 other games, but the onus is on the Mets.

They can easily change the date to a game that will be a Sunday home date that will be at 1 pm. They can take what is really an unfortunate scheduling decision from ESPN and make it right by moving Banner Day.

My suggestions would be either May 12th before a game with the Pittsburgh Pirates or June 9th before a game with the Miami Marlins.

The point is that the Mets have hit a home run by bringing back Banner Day and earned a curtain call in the process. I just don’t want them to take a walk this time and pass on doing the right thing, by moving Banner Day and making the fans that loved, love or will learn to love Banner Day happy again.