During theNew York Mets ’ 1979 time of year , other reaching to Shea Stadium could pass the time before the biz by watching a stout minuscule mule Trotskyist along the foul lines . Mr. Met , on the other hand , was nowhere in sight .
Though thebaseball - headed mascot had been a fixture at secret plan since he firsttookthe field in 1964 , the last sentence anyone had seen him was on the Mets ’ yearly back in 1976 . It ’s not clear why Mr. Met went miss in action , but it ’s possible that new management had something to do with it .
After owner Joan Paysondiedin 1975 , her daughter , Lorinda “ Linda ” de Roulet , fill over as chair of the team , and penny - pinchingbecamea prime direction of her administration . But the Mets ’ popularity ( and succeeder ) waned through the former seventies , and de Roulet ’s daughter Bebesuggestedan innovative morale booster : a brand name - new mascot in the variety of a living , breathing horse cavalry - donkey hybrid . It would n’t be the first meter MLB played legion to a mule . Owner Charlie Finley had introduced one namedCharlie - Oas the mascot for his Kansas City Athletics in 1965 . The mule stay in the part — through the team ’s move to Oakland a few years by and by — until his dying in 1976 .
Bebe ’s idea apparently proved popular , and Arthur the mule made his Shea Stadium debut in 1979 . His obligation were confined to pre - game prancing and posing for pic , but he could ’ve been a much more integral part of the team . “ in reality , there was serious public lecture in springiness training ( in 1979 ) by the de Roulets to have the relief issue forth in from the detention centre on the mule , ” former Mets promotions director Loren MathewstoldtheChicago Tribunein 1992 . “ I told them there was no way I could in undecomposed moral sense secernate Bob Apodaca that from now on he ’d be coming into a game with the tying run on substructure , bottom of the ninth frame , ride in from the outfield on a mule . ”
after that season , Mets direction dangled a cultivated carrot in front of fans : Rename Arthur for a probability to win a misstep to next year ’s bounce training . The prize went to New Jersey occupier Dolores Mapps , who proposed “ Mettle ” because itrepresented“spirit , fervour , stamen and courage , all of which the Mets have in abundance . ” ( “ Also , ” as Morristown , New Jersey’sDaily Recordpointed out , “ the name of the team is in the countersign . ” ) Some fans interpreted the moniker as an aspirational one . “ The mode they work , they need all those thing , ” one fantoldtheDaily Record . Another indicate they call Arthur “ Help ” instead .
As far as help went , the newly christened Mettle did n’t give the Mets any . Not only did the teamfinishthe season with the bad phonograph record in their division , but the average attending was the lowest in Mets story . When businessmen Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday Jr. bought the Metsthe follow class , they swiftly put the ill - fat mule out to pastureland . But they were n’t so quick to upraise Mr. Met — fans did n’t get towelcomehim back until the mid-1990s .
