I’m sorry to have witnessed the decline of the New York Daily News, which has taken an economic beating, was sold on the cheap to even cheaper owners, who subsequently gutted the rest of the staff who hadn’t already been whacked, and now intends to exist as a virtual brand. Yeah, that’ll work.

July 23, 1964: The NL pennant race

A million years ago, I used to deliver the Daily News on my bicycle, and a million years before that, my dad contributed political and sports cartoons they published. Back then, the Snooze was considered a conservative counterbalance to the liberal New York Post, if you can believe that, but I don’t know if the News can even retain the gravitas to go toe-to-toe with a rival anymore, which is especially saddening because one of the things that made both papers great was the energy inherent in the battle, especially when it came to the back covers.

Before smart phone game apps ruined my life and I needed something to do on the subway, the Snooze was my go-to. I liked Jim Farber’s music columns, the fact that they had two columns every day on what was on local radio (another basically dead medium) and the grossly exaggerated but true-rung strain of New York populism that carried through its coverage, especially on stories like the Willie Randolph firing which generated a week of fabulously overblown “COWARDS IN THE NIGHT” headlines. The Post generally had the better sports columnists — I always preferred the smart and hustling Joel Sherman to the News’ Bill Madden — but News had the city’s best beat reporters until Adam Rubin gave it up.

And now, it’s nothing. The News’ recent whacking seems to have resulted in Mets’ beater Kristie Ackert moving over to cover the Yankees.

Anyway, RIP News. But leave it to MBTN readers to find a silver lining. I heard recently from Jason E. who noted that while the future is bleak, those who wish to sign in can now find a treasure trove of archived copy online (that’s how I discoverd my Dad’s cartoon above). He sent along the following clip, which might be the first article ever written about Mets uni numbers: January 14, 1962. Too bad Billy Loes never made the club, huh? Was a conflict between Cookie Lavagetto and Hobie Landrith the origin of Met coaches wearing numbers in the 50s? Check it out!