Sports of The Times: Mets Thank Troops in a Meaningful Setting

In a tasteful gesture to American troops in the wake of the mission against Osama bin Laden on Sunday night, the Mets’ management decided Monday morning to invite military personnel to see Tuesday’s game against the Giants.

“Four thousand tickets in 36 hours,” said Castleton, who has two sons and a daughter-in-law on active duty, often in combat. He serves by donating time and considerable energy to helping military people enjoy themselves in their off-hours.

Through his efforts, there was a modest military presence in the ballpark, which was still fairly desolate, despite the ultimate announced attendance of 32,288 for a game the Mets lost, 7-6, in 10 innings. The Mets and most other teams in baseball not drawing well because of the weather, the economy and perhaps the bloated prices of the luxury-box age.

Still, the 4,000 tickets were a nice touch, and so was the fact that the Mets had no intention of alluding to the daring mission that took out the nihilist responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We just want to say thank you,” said David Howard, the Mets’ executive vice president and general counsel, referring obliquely to what he called “the events of Sunday night.”

In addition to the military presence, it was also Asian Heritage Night, with Chinese dancers performing in the outfield before the game and a few fans in Indian saris spotted in the parking lot — a perfect potpourri for the ethnic borough of Queens.

The Mets did not intend to whip anybody into a patriotic mood akin to the spontaneous rally of Sunday night after Bin Laden’s death was announced, when young people swarmed to Lafayette Park outside the White House, climbing trees, boosting friends on their shoulders, waving flags and chanting “U.S.A.!,” the ubiquitous response to gold medals at the Olympics.

In Philadelphia, in a tie game meandering past midnight, fans chanted “U.S.A.!” It mystified the players for a while, but they caught on.

The Mets have been in the middle of responses to the attacks of 9/11. In 2001, the Mets went back to work in a subdued Pittsburgh, and the first game back in New York was at funky old Shea Stadium. New Yorkers were starting to make noise again, particularly when Mike Piazza’s home run won the game.

Bravado was still needed for the first World Series game in the Bronx late that October, and President George W. Bush’s swagger to the mound and his hard strike for the ceremonial first ball was a perfect body-language moment.

Over the years, the legacy of 9/11 became a patriotic ritual before the home half of the seventh at Yankee Stadium — long enough to freeze relief pitchers who had already warmed up.

To their credit, the Mets played it low-key Tuesday, as five service members in uniform threw out the first ball. Greg and Valerie Jensen of Ridgefield, Conn., who had paid $10,000 in an auction to throw out the ball, graciously deferred to another night. And here and there, some military uniforms were seen.

Marine Sgt. Elizabeth Qui?ones sang “God Bless America” during the traditional stretch, and the fans cheered.

It is a fact that the Mets have extra tickets. Attendance is down all over the majors, and even the Giants, the World Series champions, are not a big draw on the road. The Mets have a history with the military. Fred Wilpon helped found ’Welcome Back Veterans, which provides services for returning military members and their families. The tickets were available — and the Mets put the tickets in the hand of Castleton, who runs an Internet consulting company, in West Islip on Long Island.

“This is a wonderful country,” said Castleton, who never served in the military and is proud of his three family members who do. He was raving about the mission in Pakistan. “Kudos to the Seals for having the guts to do it, and kudos to President Obama for having the guts to order it,” he said. “And I’m a Republican,” he added.

Castleton said one of his favorite sights at U.S.O. functions is Iraq veterans looking up to Vietnam veterans. “They revere them,” he said. As Johnny Cash put it in his classic song “Drive On”:

“He said I think my country got a little off track

It took ’em twenty-five years to welcome me back.”

Castleton and the U.S.O. and the Mets found one way to welcome troops back.

But tickets are not everything. Families are under terrible stress without an adequate support system, and veterans often have to virtually beg for care when they come home damaged in body and mind.

Not long after the strike against Bin Laden, an editorial in The New York Times discussed a shortages of judges, a result of political squabbling over appointments and said, “The bureaucratic logjam for veterans pursuing benefit claims has gotten so huge that judges — in Dickensian fashion — are having to work nights and weekends as they decide more than 600 cases each annually.” The first lady, Michelle Obama, has spoken up for more support for the families of veterans.

A trip to the ballpark — and Olympic-style chants over the death of a murderer — are nice, as far as they go. They are not quite the same as a grateful nation remembering how to take care of its own.