My girlfriend ran in to this nice old lady in the McFadden’s bathroom at Citi Field on Monday night. I wish I could have asked her a couple questions about her fandom, but I felt it may be weird to stroll into the women’s bathroom. I love how she is cheesin’ and has her hand on her hip. I feel like that is a females go to pose no matter her age.

I love hearing stories from old fans. Their first baseball memories, where that awesome hat came from, Dodgers or Giants? They’ve seen sports and more importantly the world change drastically during their lives. People tend to have short tempers with the eldery; which is a shame because odds are they’d love to talk to you about just about anything. Keeps them young I guess. They were around before texting and e-mails and perfected the original form of communication.

So be nice to the old heads. They were your age once.. and if you’re lucky you’ll live to tell stories about your crazy days at the ball park.

One of the best parts about running every aspect of your own business is how quickly an idea can come to life.

The idea for this shirt was submitted to us on Twitter from @G_be_me and from that rough draft became the artwork you see here. I wanted the art to look like real handwriting so I whipped it up on paper and scanned it in to do the finishing touches on my computer.

The films and screens were made this morning and just before game time I fired off 15 shirts to give the players and one for Josh Lewin at WFAN. He requested one yesterday after seeing the first draft on Twitter.

So within 24 hours the idea went from Twitter, to my computer, to the t-shirt press and finally the Mets clubhouse. Now that’s some quick turnaround!

We’ll post pics of the players rocking them as they surface. For now you can pick up one of your own over on the webstore by clicking HERE.

Yesterday CBS New York ran a story on their website about the possibility of the Mets preparing a long term deal for David Wright.

What’s crazy about the story is that they actually opened it with two paragraphs about me and The 7 Line in reference to last year with the “Don’t Trade Reyes” campaign.

FROM CBS New York:

“Remember last season’s day in, day out Jose Reyes drama?

It seems The 7 Line entrepreneur Darren Meenan’s popular “Don’t Trade Reyes” sign could be seen nightly at Citi Field. After the deadline, some Mets fans wore T-shirts imploring their All-Star shortstop to “Please Stay Jose.” Of course, when it was all said and done, Reyes signed with Miami. He never even received a formal offer from New York.

The ballpark in Flushing may look and feel the same this summer with another homegrown superstar’s future in question.

Then again, maybe it won’t.”

Just goes to show the power a t-shirt and some signs can have over the local big market media. I don’t use the word “power” as an ego thing… the fans are what spread the word. They had the power to get the message out to every ball park the Mets played in last summer. I got the ball rolling and everyone ran with it. Fans showed up in Detroit, LA, Texas, Florida, Washington and a few other parks with their own shirts and signs blaring. People united over this movement and it was awesome to see so much motivation and passion from the fans.

As we all know the Mets didn’t trade Reyes. They also didn’t sign him so the point was made but the end result wasn’t what we had hoped. It was crazy to see how fast it spread and it’s even crazier that it’s still getting press almost a year later.

I truly hope the Mets sign Wright. Some people are nervous that this fast start won’t last and the second he signs a deal his numbers will plummet. Odds are this pace wont go to October without some cold streaks, which is expected, but either way Wright is a leader whether the team is winning or losing. You surely won’t see a Francisco meltdown from Wright. We need someone like him in the lineup and clubhouse day in and day out. A cool head from a man that tries to say and do the right thing. We have potential to build around Wright and let the pieces come together to get back on top.

PAY WRIGHT! LGM!

I get e-mails all the time from different fans asking if we accept artwork submissions. I say yes, and tell them that the artwork has to be “print ready” meaning the correct resolution and file format. Usually I never hear from them again and on occasion an idea is rad and we roll with it. The Bobby V. idea is not my own and ended up being one of the more popular shirt designs.

The majority of the people who hit this website or buy the clothes have no idea that we do everything ourselves. I’ve personally been printing since 1998 and nothing that says THE 7 LINE on it has been pressed by anyone besides myself or one of the workers in our print shop. I try to print every shirt by hand and do so whenever possible but we occasionally run big jobs on my landlords automatic hydraulic press. When orders fly in for a specific shirt there is just no way I can keep up with the demand while printing by hand. There are just not enough hours in the day. Also, my wrists are pretty shot from the almost 15 years of printing and my carpel tunnel kicks in every once in a while making manual printing a struggle.

Some fans are intrigued by what The 7 Line is all about and have asked if they can pop in to our warehouse to see the operation. Since 95% of our sales are through the website (we’ve been setting up in McFaddens on occasion this season) the lack of a storefront has people curious as to what goes on behind the scenes.

We can’t have a full blown open house but instead decided to let the fans decide who can come for a visit. We are looking for a new t-shirt that you’ll design! The winner will be chosen from an online voting process. The artist with the most votes will be invited to come to the shop to learn how to bring their design to life! I’ll personally show you everything I’ve learned over the years from the screen making process, registering the screens on my press and pulling the ink onto the shirt. I’ll be there at your side to walk you through the process and give you a crash course in what I do every day.

Your design will then be in our line for at least the rest of this baseball season. You’ll get to keep a batch of the shirts that you personally printed on our press and also walk away with $100 cash.

Think you have what it takes? We are looking for a talented individual with little to no screenprinting experience. We want this to be fun and also educational for you. I have close to 15 years of experience that I’d love to share with a fan willing to learn. Who knows, maybe this turns into a job for you. Treat it as a fun way to possibly get your foot in the door.

Requirements:

- Email your artwork to the7line@gmail.com with the subject “ART CONTEST”

- Include your name, age and hometown. Obviously you should live in driving distance to Jamaica, NY and be available to come during a business day in the near future.

- 300dpi resolution files

- Set your design as no larger than 14 x 14 inches.

- NO trademarked logos may be used. No use of the word METS or any other team name.

- Deadline is Friday 5/25 and the voting will start shortly after that.

- Most importantly… have fun, THINK and be creative!

The beer koozies are in stock and ready to ship! Instead of selling them individually we decided to combo it with one of our 3.5 inch embroidered patches! Keep your beer nice and cold while sewing the patch on to your favorite garment.

Don’t know how to sew? Buy one of our AMAZIN’ shirts for a special lady and ask her to hook up the needle and thread work.

At just $10 for both you can’t really beat that price. Like everything we sell these are printed / embroidered by us in Jamaica, NY.

KEEP CALM AND CHEER ON!

GO SHOP!

What a start for Wright! Leading the NL in batting at .402 (tied with Hamilton in the AL) and a .489 OBP, the dude is on freakin fire. With this being crunch time there are a few scenarios playing out in front of our eyes.

Before the season started talks were that if Wright started off hot, as he has, that would only raise his value and give the Mets the option to get top dollar for him. He could have also been stinking up the joint and in that case it might be easier for the fans to accept his departure. The other is that he is making such a case on the field and at the plate (and the team is winning) that the team is forced to pay the man. They can’t keep at this pace just a couple games out of 1st place and dump the top dog. Sandy has said he doesn’t foresee David going anywhere, but you know how that goes.

I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but I personally want Wright on this team for years to come. The “face of the franchise” is our only puzzle piece left from the team we had such high hopes for. Now these young “underdogs” are gelling and are making serious noise in the NL East.

This CAPTAIN shirt idea is my way of saying how I feel about Wright. He is the veteran on this team who has led by example since getting to the bigs. Always seems to say and do the right things and it’s become apparent more so now than ever that he is in fact the CAPTAIN with or without the C patch on his chest. His leadership is needed by both his fellow players and us fans.

We can’t get rid of the captain. PAY THE MAN!

Tees on sale NOW! Shipping at the end of the week!

Just watched this video made by Michael Horgan and knew it was an instant share. Great job Michael! LGM!

Last season we ran a very popular promotion called 8UP that damn well almost had me broke when the Mets scored something like 14 runs a game for a few days straight. Tonight, the Mets came from behind yet again to sweep the Phillies on the road with an impressive never say die attitude.

I’ve been saying it since before the season started and I’ll say it again; I see something in this group of guys. An “eye of the tiger” if you will. Positive thinking and confidence go a long way and although Utley and Howard are not in the lineup a sweep of the rival Phillies on the road is no easy task. Momentum is the key and the Mets will be headed into Miami with their heads up high. Not saying they’ll sweep again but I am feeling a very strong 2 out of 3.

Tonight’s final score of 10-6 opens the gate to our first 8UP sale of the season. Use the code 8UP and you’ll receive 20% off your order on anything in the TEES category. Make sure you enter it BEFORE checking out as we will not adjust the transaction after it has been completed. Also, please make sure to check that your shipping address is correct. The code will only be good until 9:30am tomorrow morning so ACT FAST!

Now go buy some tees at a discount! You deserve it for being such a kick ass Mets fan!

LGM! HUGE WIN! KEEP CALM AND CHEER ON!

I was in the middle of printing tees last week and this popped in my brain. I had a rough idea in the past of something close to this, but didn’t think of a way to pull it off. I didn’t just want a silhouette of baseball’s favorite mascot. Not that this is all that clever, but the head tops off the I which makes sense and looks pretty good graphically. I think most people would get a smile out of this shirt regardless if they’re baseball fans or not.

Like most ideas for the brand, I did a quick pen sketch in my book and put it on my to do list of things to work on when I get computer time. My buddy Brian whipped up the head, I tossed in the text, mocked it up on a shirt and BAM, a new idea is born.

Not every idea actually goes to print but I’ll feel this one out around the net to gauge interest. If the fans want em… it’ll come to life. That’s the beauty of printing everything yourself. Feel it out before getting stuck with batches of tees you can’t sell.

LGM!

I’m not saying this to try and convince you to buy my merch instead, if you’re into that by all means go buy them, I just see nothing appealing about a shirt that says PLAY BALL or MEET ME AT THE METS GAME. It’s really unoriginal and has no ties to being specifically geared toward the team you love. They just change the garment color/team name and sell them in every other store in the states. That same shirt you’re wearing sells in Philly and is red.

I personally like quality and originality and I feel that the growth of The 7 Line is credited to you guys knowing that you’re buying a shirt from one of your own, the fan in the stands. I’ll try my best to come out with some more creative shirts for you ladies…  just keep those photos coming so your fellow fans know where to shop! Get your AMAZIN’ shirt HERE.

FOR THE FANS, BY THE FANS.

LGM!