The Phillies are featuring a famous Mets slogan on their clubhouse wall

In 1973, the Mets won the N.L. pennant. Their slogan that year was ‘Ya Gotta Believe.” As Tyler Kepner of the New York Times points out, the Phillies have put that slogan on the wall of their clubhouse of their spring training facility down in Clearwater.

This year, on the wall of a hallway at their spring complex in Clearwater, Fla., the Phillies have honored their best teams with large photos of McGraw and Ryan Howard, a slugger for the 2008 World Series champions. Between the photos are the words “Ya Gotta Believe,” attributed to McGraw.

To be fair, as Kepner notes, that phrase was coined by Tug McGraw, then of the Mets but later, and for a longer period of time, a member of the Phillies. McGraw continued to use the phrase as something of a personal mantra and even titled his memoir with it, so I think it’s fair to say that he took ownership of it when he and the Mets divorced at the end of the 1974 season. In short: we’ll allow it.

Now, if the Braves unfurl a banner that says “Amazin’!” in Sun Trust Park on Opening Day there is a more substantive beef.

Here’s hoping they do it.

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