Say Bye-Bye to the Home Run Apple

If you make it out to Shea Stadium the rest of this season and next season, and you witness a Mets home run, be sure to wave bye-bye to the Home Run Apple. We previously wrote about the movement to save the Home Run Apple when the Mets move to Citi Field in 2009, but recent reports makes it look like its days are numbered.

The Times reported yesterday that the apple will be retired during the move to the new stadium. Dave Howard, the Mets executive VP of business operations told The Times that "We are considering various possibilities to have it on display for our fans at Citi Field." Howard previously told the Daily News that "I appreciate the passion, but fans don't understand the reality that this particular apple is barely holding on and it wouldn't make any sense to use it in that manner. We will save it in an appropriate way." At least it's good to hear that the team won't be selling "authentic Home Run Apple Slices" to add to its revenue stream.

Despite the quotes out of the Mets front office, the two guys behind SaveTheApple.com are still hoping that the Shea apple sits just beyond the outfield walls at Citi Field. Their online petition now has 3736 signatures.

Photo of the Home Run Apple in 1994 by Triborough on flickr

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By tien mao on August 13, 2007 1:03 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

oh please. if they really want to i;m sure the mets can afford to reinforce it and fix the motor and make it run smoothly for another 50 years. they just have no taste like the rest of baseball. they named their stadium after a bank. it's so lame. soon enough teams will be named after corporations as well. "The New York Citibank Mets!"

guest

just build a new one. It has character which is more than I can say for the big jumbotron.

leonwestbrook

They should get rid of it. It looks so beat up.

They just should make it nice and shiny and not add LED or infrared lasers to it!

Jen Chung

This apple has seen a World Series championship, so the very least the Mets could do is display it.

I want to know why the Mets haven't worked on Home Run Apple gear for fans. That and showing Mr. Met's family.

guest

Jesus Christ the people who run this site sound like old men - Alter Kockers all. If they don't throw the thing out, we should call ourselves lucky. Not everything can be saved y'know. Next thing you'll be waxing philosophical about the splendor of the Iron Triangle. I once heard that Jake Dobkin comes from Brooklyn - funny, because growing up in the city taught me to invite and adjust to change, to look forward to new things.

guest

Starvation in Darfur, war in Iraq, trouble in North Korea, losing the Home Run Apple.....oh this is a cruel world

guest

#10, my reference to "baseball's humble beginnings" was with respect to the apple's appearance, not its age.

guest

it has charm and is a reminder of baseball's humble beginnings.

Yeah if consider baseball's "humble beginnings" was 1980 when the apple debuted!

guest

Save the Apple. Get rid of Mota.

guest

Personally, I'm a fan of the home run apple. Despite its appearance, it has charm and is a reminder of baseball's humble beginnings. Maybe the developers of CitiField can include an updated apple for the park?

guest

Maybe I'd be more sympathetic to the apple if didn't look like a remnant of a defunct county fair. I'm not sure if it's paper mache but the fact you can see the internal support structure showing through the skin isn't helping.

Auction the thing on eBay and give the money to the city to make up for the massive tax subsidies the Mets and Yankees are receiving.

guest

It is a piece of baseball history and at the least it should be put on display at Shiti Field.

guest

that won't look right in the new park.

it's sun faded and looks like a school art project for paper mache.

jake dobkins art history thesi

a ballpark named after a bank doesn't deserve such an honor as that apple.

JRod5417

Good riddance! That apple looks rotten anyway.

Nick S

i dont understand why new yorkers have such a hard time letting go.

cwbuecheler

I really don't understand why people care about things like this. It's a big, goofy looking apple. It's like worrying about the fate of the "survivor's staircase" only even dumber.