Some of you may have noticed that on April 25th, in the "Catching Up" post, I said "Not one, but two things related to TV to talk about" and then only mentioned one TV related thing. Most of you probably just thought I made a mistake - that i simply forgot to add the second item or that there was no second item.

If you thought either of those things, you are wrong. The second TV related item is this:

Andrew and Cathie (Lonnie couldn't make it to the filming) from SaveTheApple.com will be on Mets Weekly(scroll down to the 4th item under New York Mets) on SNY! Right now, it looks like we will be on the episode premiering May 17th at 12:30pm!!! Will this be what helps finally push us over 10,000 signatures?

So, on April 25th, we got to go out to Shea, enter through the press gate, and film a small piece out on the bleachers with the Apple behind us. What you won't see when it airs is Joe Smith, during batting practice, yelling "Watch out" and then laughing as a ball smacks in to the side of the bleachers right below where we're standing. After filming with SNY, they let us walk around and take pictures, which we are going to share with you now:

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of some things that will likely never be seen again after the end of this season. The neon guy at Gate D:


Shea itself:


The Apple from just up the 1st base line:


The Apple from the bleachers. Citi Field is roughly 20 feet behind it:


The Apple from just up the 1st base line, with Citi Field looming large:


The Apple from right field:


The Apple and Citi Field from right field:


So check us out on SNY on May 17th, repeating a few times that following week!

Don't forget to sign the petition, spread the word, enter the contests, buy a t-shirt or two and Call Fred Wilpon on the 13th!

T-shirts are here!:

If you order a t-shirt, it's not longer a pre-order! T-shirts are now in our possession and ready to be mailed out. Once again, those who previously ordered shirts last fall, we will be contacting you shortly; we're just waiting to hear from someone before we can do so.

But, enough talk. They say a picture's worth a thousand words... so I just penned 6,000 words for ya.








Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend Marina for modeling the women's shirts. Check out the store to purchase your t-shirt(s) today!

Phone it in:

Intrepid reader and Apple enthusiast Aubrey wrote us this morning with an idea - a damn good one, at that. Now, we like to think that we're fairly well-versed with the internet, but Aubrey brought our attention to a website called Flood The Lines, which none of us had heard of before. Aubrey even went so far as to fill out all of the information and start our Flood The Lines campaign for us, which is AWESOME! We love to see other fans taking initiative to help make a difference.

So, here's how it works. You go here: http://www.floodthelines.com/savetheapple/. You click the "Join the Campaign" button and you fill out your time zone, the date you choose to call (Aubrey has set it up as May 13th), the time you want to call, and your e-mail address. Then, Flood The Lines will send you an e-mail reminder to call at the time you specified. BAM - instant phone campaign.

Is Fred Wilpon going to be pleased with us if his office is receiving calls from SaveTheApple supporters all day? Probably not. But the more noise we make, the more of a difference we can make - so I urge you to check out the phone campaign and sign up if you can.


Stay tuned in the next few days for more GIANT Apple news...

T-Shirts:

Just a quick update to let you know that the SaveTheApple.com store is now open for t-shirt pre-orders. The images are what t-shirts are EXPECTED to look like. Once we have the actual t-shirts, we will take newer pictures that will show more precisely what they do look like.

Catching Up:

Ok, ok, I admit it, I've been slacking on the baseball front. I'm still in full-fledged hockey mode - growing a playoff beard in support of the Rangers. They open their second round series tonight in Pittsburgh, and I can hardly stand the wait.

But enough of the non-Apple talk, I've got some catch-up to do.


TV

Not one, but two things related to TV to talk about. First, Will McKinley sent me a transcript of the second (that we know of) on-air discussion of the Apple by the SNY announcers:

Saturday 4.12.2008 2:28 PM SNY broadcast of the Mets game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium, with commentators Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and guest Ralph Kiner.

Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks at bat, facing pitcher Johan Santana.

GARY: Here's our "Dodge Ask the Booth" question for today. Marge from Sunnyside wants to know, "What do we think should be brought over from Shea to Citi Field?"
RON: Rubble? How about Mr. Kiner?
GARY: That's for sure.
RALPH: All right.
GARY: Well, it's the Ralph Kiner Television Booth [at Shea] and it will continue to be the the Ralph Kiner Television Booth at Citi Field.
THE DIRECTOR CUTS TO A SHOT OF THE APPLE.
RON: I think, for the Mets fans that I talk to, they want the Apple. They want the Apple to come over. (Ron comments on the pitch)
GARY: People love that tired old Apple. (laughs)
RON: They love the Apple.
GARY: It's so low-tech! (both laugh)
Rickie Weeks knocks a home run over the left field fence.
#

For those who are keeping track, as I am, both times the Apple has been mentioned during a Mets broadcast, someone has hit a home run to end the discussion. One for the Mets, and now one for the visitors. Interesting...


T-Shirts

We will be selling t-shirts again SOON! VERY VERY SOON! "How soon?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell you! We expect to have t-shirts, in our hands, available for sale... are you ready? ... On or around Monday, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo! What does that mean? We are going to open up the store this coming Monday, April 28th, for pre-orders. We have a limited quantity on this first order, but if we sell out, we will definitely order more. If you already ordered a t-shirt from us, we will be contacting you separately, please don't order a new one, unless you want an additional one


Website

These may seem like idle promises, but I really am going to update the other pages of the website very soon. As I've repeatedly said, I have more info and pictures from the Applefather to put up. Also, I haven't updated the Press page in some time, and I'll try to fill that up a bit more. The links page has a new addition, it's our new friends at Develop Willets Point which is a blog devoted to pushing for the development of the area around Shea/Citi Field to become a beautiful, full-day destination with restaurants, bars, hotels, etc. The website was started earlier this month, and is a great resource to find out about the progress of developing Willets Point. Personally, the sooner there aren't chop shops lining the sides of the parking lot, the better. Nothing against those businesses or their workers, but it's time for the whole area to get revitalized. The boys over at Loge13 have some info on this issue too.

As always, Sign the Petition if you haven't and keep spreading the word. 7500+ signatures! We're almost there, and we've got something up our sleeves that might push us over 10000! Stay tuned this weekend for more on that.

Daryl Loves the Apple!:

If you happened to read the Daily News, you may have seen this wonderful article this morning.

Great to see some more information from the Applefather. And I really am going to update the Applefather section on the site with tons more stuff that he's sent us.


"Love it," Strawberry says with a giggle. "It's the Big Apple, you know? I have a lot of fond memories of making that thing come up. That apple has always been special to me - it means you've done something good."

What more do we need to say than that? I'm smelling a new motto... The Home Run Apple: Daryl Strawberry approved!