There may not be any baseball come Thanksgiving day, but that doesn’t mean the New York Mets don’t have some Thanksgiving history of their own.
The New York Mets were the first MLB team to take part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade. They did so on in 1961 as a way to introduce New York to their new baseball team.
The Mets were given a float and toured the city in the parade. The float featured a few teenage age kids, as well as some of the future members of the team. It was highlighted by the Mets’ first manager and Hall of Famer Casey Stengel.
So, Thanksgiving will always play a huge role in Mets’ history because it is the day that they were introduced to the city of New York.
The Mets returned to the Parade in 1969 after their miracle season. Having won the World Series the Mets put three players in a convertible and drove them around the city as a part of the parade.
The three Mets who were given the honor of riding in the float were Outfielder Ron Swoboda, relief pitcher Ron Taylor, and Closer Tug McGraw. McGraw was especially important to the float because he gave the Mets their identity. It was McGraw who gave the Mets their signature slogan in 1969 “Ya gotta believe”. He was also the Met who threw the final pitch in the world series that year.
Having any sort of celebration of the 1969 New York Mets without Tug McGraw just wouldn’t feel right. So, it only made sense that iconic Met would headline the Team’s float in the parade.
It was an extra victory lap for the team after they already had a parade of their own for winning the World Series. Though, considering how unbelievable of a run that year was maybe the fans just needed a reminder that the Mets did win the World Series. It wasn’t a dream.