Mets by the Numbers: The World’s Baddest Met Fan: The George Thorogood Interview

I once saw an interview with John Fogerty where he said that George Thorogood knew more about baseball than any other rock dude…but then again Fogerty also said that ‘Mardi Gras’ was CCR’s best album. (BONK!)

So you’re a big Met fan. But why? Most kids growing up in Wilmington would be Phillies fans.

I was a Phillies fan, and then came 1964. They had 12 games to go and they lost 10 of them. I said, you know what? If I’m going to root for a team that’s going to lose, I’ll pick the biggest losing team of all time. A team with no expectations. And I wanted them to be in New York, and in the National League, and carry on the tradition of the Giants and the Dodgers. It was the Mets by default.

I liked the Mets, and the tough Cleon Jones. Not just Cleon Jones, see, but The Tough Cleon Jones. When ever my friends mention him to me it’s The Tough Cleon Jones. So they’re my team, and they’ve been my team since 1965.

When they won the World Series in 1969 it was the greatest thing to happen in baseball. It was David slaying Goliath. It was fantastic. After that, I was content for them to slide back into the second division.

What happened last year was the Mets meeting all of my expectations. These were the Mets I loved. These were the real Mets! When you walk around in the streets who can you identify with? Derek Jeter? He’s so beautiful, he looks like Harry Belafonte. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. The real baseball fan identifies with Wally Backman or Ed Kranepool. The salt-of-the-Earth regular guys. The Dodgers had Gil Hodges. The Mets had Ron Hodges.