By Chris D’Olimpio
Growing up I teased Mets fans, saying “Mets stands for My Entire Team Sucks,” and all sorts of other jokes. But I figured, I like the sport, so this would be a good opportunity to learn about the history of at least one team.The exhibit is wonderful. It has all kinds of memorabilia from the start of the Mets career in 1962 to the present day. There is everything from footage of pitcher Jesse Orosco throwing his mitt in the air after striking out the last batter in game seven of the 1986 World Series to old jerseys that Hall of Fame (and other not-so-distinguished) Mets players wore. I was particularly fond of some art pieces that were made partially with Wite-Out depicting the past four decades of the team. There were also old photos from the 1969 Miracle Mets era and the 1986 World Series. All-in-all, it was a great show.I also took some time to peruse the other exhibits on hand at the museum. Having been born and raised in Queens and never having seen the Panorama I was shocked by the complexity of the exhibit. The scale map of the five boroughs is shown in both night and day. It's just as beautiful to see the skyline all lit up in this scale as it is to see it in person. But to see the buildings on a scale like this, with thousands upon thousands of models to depict each building, landmark, airport and the like, and to see each street drawn to scale, amazed me. I especially took note of Central Park, which in the exhibit gives the viewer an idea of just how huge it really is, and how it is considerably bigger than those in cities like Boston, which is dwarfed in comparison. I even got to see my street in Bayside minimized and it made me think I should bring binoculars next time to get a closer view of my house and do a little wave. I'll have to go back.
