Before Cespedes, there was another Met with amazing armbands: Tsuyoshi Shinjo
Today is Tsuyoshi Shinjo's 44th birthday. While he's probably busy hanging out with Paris Hilton or something, we figured it's a good time to remind Mets fans that before Yoenis Cespedes and his neon armband (you know the one),
Shinjo was New York's colorful armband/wristband king. While cracking dingers:
Making sliding catches (and making sure umpires knew he made sliding catches):
Or just taking his leads off of second base:
The armbands may have not called on some magical parakeet and helped him hit home runs, but they were quite cool and matched the Mets' colors. He also had orange hair. If that's not dedication to a team, I don't know what is.
Anyway, let us wish a happy birthday to Mr. Shinjo and give thanks to Mr. Cespedes for continuing the chromatic armband tradition in Queens.