Yesterday, the Mets brought back an old tradition, Banner Day, where fans make the most Amazin' banners and vie for top honors. While many banners reference Mr. Met, the team's 50th anniversary, and its storied history—many props to "Fifty Shades of Shea"!— the winning banner was from cousins Olivia Nuzzo of Bay Ridge and Stephanie Giangrande of Bensonhurst, who depicted Mike Piazza's September 21, 2001 home run with a pre-9/11 skyline and the words, "The homerun that helped heal NY! God Bless America! Let's Go Mets!"
The cousins only watched the game on TV; Giangrande said the home run "gave me chills." Here's the home run:
Banner Day was a tradition at Shea between 1963 and 1996, and it was brought back this year, with a social media twist (Facebook and Twitter helped decide the winning banner). According to MetsPolice, there were about 300 banners there; the site also says, "I'd like to thank the Mets and [VP of Business Operations] Dave Howard and some other insiders who know I love them for taking a shot and bringing Banner Day back."
Here are more cute pictures and some videos—the first is from yesterday's Banner Day and the second is from a WWOR-9 broadcast of a 1984 Banner Day:
