{"id":179,"date":"2026-06-09T09:11:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=179"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:11:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:11:04","slug":"opinion-why-the-mets-are-the-real-working-class-team-of-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Why the Mets are the real working-class team of New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

From President Donald Trump\u2019s visit to the Yankees\u2019 clubhouse last fall to Mrs. Met\u2019s enthusiastic embrace of Mayor Zohran Mamdani this spring, New York City\u2019s greatest sports rivalry has taken on a distinctly political tone. Central to it all is a question that sounds more at home in the pages of \u201cThe Daily Worker\u201d than a WFAN shouting match: Which team best represents New York\u2019s working class?<\/p>\n

Read more Commentary: All New York politicians love the Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

The struggle session began when a Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated X account asked this question in reference to the remaining playoff teams in October 2024. The Mets won handily, taking 61%, compared to 22% for the Yankees, and 17% for the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

It was the predictable result. The New Left, from which DSA emerged, has loved the Mets since the beginning. Historically bad as they were, the team had been something like a late sewer socialist project of Mayor Robert Wagner\u2019s little New Deal: their municipal home, Shea Stadium, a mid-century modern work of brutalism. Branch Rickey, the ex-Dodger owner who pushed the integration of baseball in 1947, helped win over old Brooklyn leftist fans, as the beatnik-like rants of Casey Stengel brought considerable attention from downtown bohemia. Activist Jerry Rubin said whenever someone asked him for the yippies\u2019 political program, \u201cI hand them a Mets scorecard.\u201d Some of the players even felt the same \u2013 Tom Seaver linked their miracle 1969 championship run to ending the war in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

The legacy continued with the volatile relatability of the 1980s party-rocker Mets, the union militantism of John Franco and Bobby Bonilla, the unifying pride of Mike Piazza\u2019s post 9\/11 home run, Dominic Smith\u2019s walkout following the Kenosha, Wisconsin, shootings in 2020, and the progressive-coded humor, whimsy and joy of the Gay Grimace Mets.<\/p>\n

Read more Editor\u2019s note: Mamdani\u2019s blessed by good sports fortune<\/a><\/p>\n

A small left cadre of Yankee literati blasted the 2024 poll, however. They claimed the common sense that Mets are more working class is transplant propaganda straight from the Commie Corridor politburo. A broader, more authentic <\/em>working class desires to become king of the hill, top of the heap.<\/em><\/p>\n

This nativist triumphalism, far from encouraging an egalitarian spirit among its fanbase, instead lets them roleplay as \u201cThe Boss.\u201d This is why they demand daily \u201croll call\u201d acknowledgements from their players, quickly demand any player not living up to their statistical potential be fired and consider any year not ending with another championship an injustice against the cosmic order.<\/p>\n

Us rabbinical scholars of losing have a very different perspective. We have directed far less ire this year, for instance, toward Bo Bichette and Brett Baty than David Stearns and Steve Cohen. We see the players for what they are: wage-earners who, win or lose, are ultimately just struggling through a shift at work. This is why Roger Angell once described our cheer-jeer \u201cLet\u2019s go Mets\u201d as \u201cyells for ourselves,\u201d recognizing that the players are workers engaged in a bizarre workplace that resembles our own, because it is, in fact, our own.<\/p>\n

Read more In case you didn\u2019t know, Kathy Hochul really loves the Bills<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its history is deeply intertwined with the birth of the New Left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,47],"tags":[21,50],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-york-city","category-opinion","tag-new-york-city","tag-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nOpinion: Why the Mets are the real working-class team of New York City - Business Relocation Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=179\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: Why the Mets are the real working-class team of New York City - 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