Mets' Sign Man Dies
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- February
- 9
From 1964 through 1981, Karl Ehrhardt was a Shea fixture and held a running commentary during games with his tailored signs.
He died Thursday at 83 in his Queens home. His daughter Bonnie Troester said he was recovering from vascular surgery.
“I just called them the way I saw them,” Ehrhardt said in a New York Times article in 2006. “Before I went to the ballpark, I would try to crystal-ball what might happen that particular day. I would read all the newspapers to learn who was hot and who was in a slump, stuff like that, and create my signs accordingly.”
At one point he had 1,200 signs
Among them were, “Jose, Can You See?” when Jose Cardenal struck out; “Just Great!” for spectacular moments; and “There Are No Words,” after the last out of the 1969 World Series.
Who remembers the Sign Man and what was your favorite?
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm by John Delcos.
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I was sad to hear of Karl Ehrhardt's passing. He provided much entertainment over the years and was well known by many. I grew up in Indiana and was a Met's fan. Even growing up so far away—we'd heard of the Met's "Sign Man."
My favorite was in the 1973 World Series after the Dick Green fiasco (made two errors in one game and owner Charles Finley tried to get him off the roster, reporting that Green was allegedly "injured"). Good ol' Karl knew what to do. A game or so later, inevitably, a member of the A's made an error and Karl held up a sign "You're Fired!"
I'd encourage other Met fans to share their favorites as well—perhaps members of Karl's family will view these postings and see that he was really appreciated and special.
anybody know why he stopped doing the signs in 81?
Ehrhardt stopped coming to games because the new ownership (Doubleday and Wilpon) didn't invite him to team functions. They saw him as part of the "last place Mets" they were trying to fix. I wasn't aware the sign man was responsible for trading away Otis, Singleton, Seaver, Ryan,etc..
For some reason the signs that I remember most are the ones when Joe Torre got a hit "The Godfather has spoken" and
"Torre, Torre, Hallejuah".
Ehrhardt added something real..the voice and witof a fan..that gimmicks like bugle calls, "make some noise" signs on scoreboards, etc just pale in comparison.
Well, not to speak ill of the departed but to be fair to all concerned, if he stopped going to games because he stopped getting special priviledges above and beyond other fans…
Isn't that as "not-real" as generic signs or bugle calls or whatever?
If you want to argue the amazing sincerity of him starting doing that kind of thing because he was a genuine fan… that's fine… but if he stopped doing it because he was no longer treated like an adjunct part of the organization, that does sort of deflate the whole thing, doesn't it?
Maybe he thought he was Mr. Met.
Sad that Wilpon and Doubleday saw things that way.
He is as much a part of Mets history and lore as Cowbell guy, those two guys who make up songs about Endy Chavez and Johan Santana, Pearl Bailey, and all the other notables that have ever graced the creaky red/green/blue/orange seats.
I loved the sign man growing up going to Shea since I was a wee tike back in 1970. But I do remember there was a fall out because I believe he wanted the Mets to pay for his season tickets and they refused to do so. I don't think it had anything to do with getting away from a "losing culture."
JB: When I think of the Mets and their lore, the one thing/person who will never come to mind (mine at least,) is Cow Bell Man. I'd prefer it if he just went away quite honestly.
You know I miss the days when you could go to Shea for a Met game and rely on the fans to start a "Let's Go Mets" chant. As opposed to now when people only seem to do it when the scoreboard tells them to. Any old timers out there miss that as well?
Cow Bell Man, I know, pays his own way to the games. On the flip side, the Wilpons and Shea security basically let him have free reign over the stadium. I do know, at one point in 2005 after the really dog years, we almost lost Cow-Bell Man because of some a-hole frat boys who wanted to cause trouble. Head of security (or one of the lead guys) told Eddie (CBM's real name) to lay low for a few days. Then Jeff Wilpon invited him into the Diamond Club or the exec office or something and basically reprimanded him for causing trouble—and you know, he's harmless, he wouldn't touch a fly. And CBM was basically like, I am here in the good and bad years, you call me out for something SOMEONE ELSE did, and never tell me about the good things I've done. Get lost. But of course we all know he's managed to stay on.
I am not old enough to remember Sign Guy but he was the one who did the A! G! sign for Tommie Agee. I liked that one! Or Mike Pre-Vails!
Steve, while I am from a younger generation, I think you're being somewhat harsh.
I'm sure back in the day fans would start up their own chants more frequently, but let's be fair. The scoreboard is starting a Let's Go Mets chant every 5 seconds.
I've been to plenty of games where either myself or someone else in my section started up a chant on our own. There are plenty of die hards these days.
No one does lets go mets anymore. now its ole' something or other… I think we need to have people from the stands get on the big screen to teach the mets how to speak english. Lets Go Mets!
:-)
yeah i am starting to get riled again ;-]
Well, for some bizarre reason people insist on the "LET'S GO METS… WHOOOO!" That will never cease to drive me bonkers…. and I'm 24.
I have to admit, I do like the cheers tailored for certain players. Like the Jose chant and LoDuca's chant.
STeve C. you're despicable, why don't we just ban all immigrants into this country? oh wait…latin players are taking over the entire game, not just the Mets, enough with these horse shit ethnocentric views. Language an ethnicity should have nothing to do with who's on the field, its about baseball, and if they can play, they'll be out on that field.
Mike C: I was trying hard to forget the bigoted remarks you made last season, but alas you and just can't help yourselves. I'm sure your bittenrness stems from your pure native American heritage and are bitter at all White people for taking your land. Read about Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and come back and tell us how wonderful it is to be pure. Frauds like you and Mitt Romney, inciting hatred while the rich Romney hires illegals to clean his house, because they are cheaper than legals. disgusting disgusting disgusting.
Sorry to all the decent people out there but hatred needs to be called out even on a sports site. As for the inablility for Mets fans to chant on their own that is hogwash. Go to a Mets game on the road, anywhere and listen to all the Lets Go Mets cheers, none of them from the scoreboard!
Last night I was watching SNY and Dan Duquette was on there talking about Duaner sanchez. He mentioned that sanchez has been throwing and looking good. Than he went on saying that sanchez was throwing 89-90 miles and hour, Dan, are you kidding me, looking good, the dude used to throw 96 miles an hour. When that accident happened and I read the injury to his arm, the fist thing that came to my mind was this guy is now damaged goods. I wouldn't depend on this guy ever being what he was in 2006, that's a shame because that was a great steal and trade by Omar..
sorry, I meant Jim Duquette , you remember, the idiot who traded Kazmir for Zambrano. I never forget that day. I was driving and listening to the fan when the 20 minute update came on and said that the Mets traded Kazmir for Zambrano. I'm not kiiding when I say that I almost drove off the road. I'm not a baseball expert by no means but even I knew at that time that Zambrano was an average pitcher with the devil rays with a history of elbow problems. I can't believe this cue ball now is on sny talking about the mets.
I haven't made a bigoted remark, basically in my entire life.
What an odd way to troll on a message board, to just flat out make up things that didn't happen, simply because you know no one would remember either way.
Strange. Hope you get something out of it because… no one else does.
Mike C: Let me recite to you your very own bigoted statement. This is from your post. "No one does lets go mets anymore. now its ole’ something or other… I think we need to have people from the stands get on the big screen to teach the mets how to speak english." Now you know your bigoted remark.
Sloppy: I think you owe Mike C an apology. It was Steve C that said it.
Mike C: I do indeed apologize sincerely. sloppy
Oh, it was a mistaken identity thing? No problem, apology accepted. That was definitely a racist statement… and should be chided, it just wasn't me who said it.