Karl Ehrhardt
Encyclopedia
Karl Ehrhardt was one of the New York Mets
' most visible fans
and an icon at Shea Stadium
from its opening in 1964 through 1981. Known as the "Sign Man," Ehrhardt held up 20-by-26-inch black
cardboard
signs with sayings in big white
(sometimes orange
) upper-cased paper characters that reflected the Mets' performance on the field, and echoed the fans' sentiments off of it. He usually brought a portfolio
holding about sixty of his 1,200 signs to the stadium, each of them with color-coded
file tabs for different situations. He was always positioned in the field-level box seats on the third base
side, wearing a black derby
with a royal-blue
-and-orange band around the bottom of the crown and the primary Mets logo
on the front. Ehrhardt wasn't afraid to criticize the team's front office, once holding up a sign labelling Shea Stadium as "GRANT'S TOMB
", referring to the team's miserable play and M. Donald Grant
, the team's chairman of the board
.
Karl Kurt Ehrhardt was born in Unterweissbach, Germany
. He emigrated with his family to the United States
at the age of six, settling in Brooklyn, New York
where he grew up rooting for the hometown Dodgers
. During World War II
he served in the U.S. Army
as a translator
in a prisoner-of-war
camp holding captured German soldier
s. Following the war, he graduated from Pratt Institute
with a degree in design art. He would later work as a commercial artist
designing advertisements
for American Home Foods. He was a resident of the Glen Oaks
section of Queens
in New York City
.
Ehrhardt was once the subject of a feature by Heywood Hale Broun
for a Saturday installment of the CBS Evening News
in April 1969. This would be reshown on ESPN Classic
in 2003 as part of an episode
of Woodie's World about Broun's coverage of the Miracle Mets.
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
' most visible fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
and an icon at Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
from its opening in 1964 through 1981. Known as the "Sign Man," Ehrhardt held up 20-by-26-inch black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
cardboard
Paperboard
Paperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...
signs with sayings in big white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
(sometimes orange
Orange (colour)
The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
) upper-cased paper characters that reflected the Mets' performance on the field, and echoed the fans' sentiments off of it. He usually brought a portfolio
Briefcase
A briefcase is a narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name...
holding about sixty of his 1,200 signs to the stadium, each of them with color-coded
Color code
A color code is a system for displaying information by using different colors. Color codes are often difficult for color blind and blind people to interpret....
file tabs for different situations. He was always positioned in the field-level box seats on the third base
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
side, wearing a black derby
Bowler hat
The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...
with a royal-blue
Royal blue
Royal blue describes both a bright shade and a dark shade of azure blue. It is said to have been invented by millers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of which won a competition to make a dress for the British queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz....
-and-orange band around the bottom of the crown and the primary Mets logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
on the front. Ehrhardt wasn't afraid to criticize the team's front office, once holding up a sign labelling Shea Stadium as "GRANT'S TOMB
Grant's Tomb
General Grant National Memorial , better known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant , American Civil War General and 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant...
", referring to the team's miserable play and M. Donald Grant
M. Donald Grant
Michael Donald Grant was the chairman and a minority owner of the New York Mets baseball club from its beginnings in 1962 to 1978.Grant was born in Montreal in 1904, the son of Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Mike Grant...
, the team's chairman of the board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
Karl Kurt Ehrhardt was born in Unterweissbach, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He emigrated with his family to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the age of six, settling in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
where he grew up rooting for the hometown Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
as a translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
in a prisoner-of-war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp holding captured German soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s. Following the war, he graduated from Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
with a degree in design art. He would later work as a commercial artist
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
designing advertisements
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for American Home Foods. He was a resident of the Glen Oaks
Glen Oaks, Queens
Glen Oaks is a neighborhood in the easternmost portion of the New York City Borough of Queens. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13.-Location:...
section of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Ehrhardt was once the subject of a feature by Heywood Hale Broun
Heywood Hale Broun
Heywood Hale Broun was an American an author, sportswriter, commentator and actor. He was born and raised in New York City, the son of writer and activist Ruth Hale and columnist Heywood Broun. He was educated at private schools and Swarthmore College....
for a Saturday installment of the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
in April 1969. This would be reshown on ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
in 2003 as part of an episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
of Woodie's World about Broun's coverage of the Miracle Mets.
A sampling of his messages
- "AMAZIN'!" - Based on the team's nickname which was first coined by Casey StengelCasey StengelCharles Dillon "Casey" Stengel , nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ....
, the franchise's original manager. - "MET POWER!" - Which he proudly displayed after Tommie AgeeTommie AgeeTommie Lee Agee was a Major League Baseball center fielder most noted for making two of the greatest catches in World Series history, both of which occurred in game three of the 1969 World Series.-Cleveland Indians:...
hit his leadoff home run in Game 3 of the 1969 World Series1969 World SeriesThe 1969 World Series was played between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, with the Mets prevailing in five games to accomplish one of the greatest upsets in Series history, as that particular Orioles squad was considered to be one of the finest ever... - "JUST GREAT!"
- "BACK TO YOUR NEST, BIRD!" - Which appeared during the 1969 World Series1969 World SeriesThe 1969 World Series was played between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, with the Mets prevailing in five games to accomplish one of the greatest upsets in Series history, as that particular Orioles squad was considered to be one of the finest ever...
against the Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
. This sign is seen in the highlight film during Game 5. - "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?"
- "CURSES! FOILED AGAIN"
- "AAUGHH" - Inspired by the PeanutsPeanutsPeanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
cartoon strip; it was used for whenever the Mets lost a game. - "TOOTHLESS CUBS JUST A LOTTA LIP" - Which he displayed during Mets games against the fading Cubs in 1969, referring to Leo "The Lip" Durocher.
- "STIFFS"
- "LOOK MA, NO HANDS" - Was shown when a slow grounder defied the grip of Mets' shortstopShortstopShortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
Frank TaverasFrank TaverasFranklin Crisostomo Taveras Fabian , is a former Major League shortstop from - for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets and Montreal Expos.-Pittsburgh Pirates:...
at a summer Mets game in 1979. - "JOSE, CAN YOU SEE?" - Presented when Cleveland IndiansCleveland IndiansThe Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
' outfielderOutfielderOutfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
José CardenalJosé CardenalJosé Rosario Domec Cardenal is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the San Francisco Giants , California Angels , Cleveland Indians , St...
struck out at a 1968-1969 Mets game. - "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!" - For weak hitters who rarely reached base. A head shotHead shotA head shot is a photographic technique where the focus of the photograph is a person's face. Headshot is essentially the same as portrait. However, headshot is an image that portrays people as they are and is more of a "mug shot", however simple or stylized it might be. Whereas, a portrait will...
of Frankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
was to the left of the letters on the sign. - "SIT DOWN, YA BUM!" - For whenever a Dodgers fan was caught poking fun at the Mets at a Mets' game; back then, the Los Angeles Dodgers were referred to the "Los Angeles Bums".
- "LEAVE IT TO SEAVER" - Inspired by famous 1950s-1960s sitcom show, Leave It to BeaverLeave It to BeaverLeave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
; the sign was used for whenever Mets' pitcherPitcherIn baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
Tom SeaverTom SeaverGeorge Thomas "Tom" Seaver , nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1967-1986 for four different teams in his career, but is noted primarily for his time with the New York Mets...
was called up to pitch. - "A" and "G" - Which he held in each hand, raising and lowering each, to punctuate the crowd's chanting of center fielder Tommie Agee's name, after his second game-saving catch in Game 3 of the 1969 World Series.
- "DO YOUR THING HEYWOOD" - Flashed at Heywood Hale BrounHeywood Hale BrounHeywood Hale Broun was an American an author, sportswriter, commentator and actor. He was born and raised in New York City, the son of writer and activist Ruth Hale and columnist Heywood Broun. He was educated at private schools and Swarthmore College....
at the end of his 1969 feature about Ehrhardt on the CBS Evening News. - "BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?" - Flashed during the decisive Game 5 of the 1969 World Series1969 World SeriesThe 1969 World Series was played between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, with the Mets prevailing in five games to accomplish one of the greatest upsets in Series history, as that particular Orioles squad was considered to be one of the finest ever...
. - "BYE, BYE, BIRDIES" - Flashed during the same game.
- "THERE ARE NO WORDS" - The sign that Ehrhardt held up when the Mets' left fielderLeft fielderIn baseball, a left fielder is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
Cleon JonesCleon JonesCleon Joseph Jones is a former Major League Baseball left fielder who is best remembered as the man who caught the final out of the "Miracle Mets" improbable World Series Championship over the Baltimore Orioles....
caught the final out to clinch the team's first World Series Championship. This was his most famous creation, seen in the Series highlight film. - "THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE" - Held high from a convertible, as Ehrhardt rode with the Mets' victory parade in the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan.
- "NAILED BY THE (picture of a hammer)" - Held up after a home run was hit by slugging first baseman John MilnerJohn MilnerJohn David Milner was an American first baseman and left fielder in Major League Baseball. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he grew up a huge Hank Aaron fan, even appropriating his idol's nickname, "The Hammer." He was a member of the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates team that won the World Series...
, whose nickname was "The Hammer". - "YOU'RE FIRED!" - Held up during Game Three of the 1973 World Series when the Oakland Athletics committed an error. The sign referred to A's owner Charlie Finley's attempt to have infielder Mike AndrewsMike AndrewsMichael Jay Andrews is a retired American Major League Baseball infielder who played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. He is currently the chairman of The Jimmy Fund, an event fundraising organization affiliated with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston,...
removed from the team after a pair of difficult Game Two errors in the twelfth inning helped the Mets win the game. - "KONG!" - For Dave KingmanDave KingmanDavid Arthur Kingman , nicknamed "Kong" and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder, first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter. The towering 6' 6" Kingman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s...
's first regular season home run at home as a Met, helping to tag Kingman with the nickname King Kong. - "THE KING OF SWING" - Another tribute to Kingman, drawing on the nickname given jazz legend Benny GoodmanBenny GoodmanBenjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
. - "THE SIGNMAN LIVES!" - Used on his return to Shea Stadium at a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in August, 2002 to help celebrate the Mets' 40th anniversary.
External links
- Mallozzi, Vincent M. "Recalling the Time of the Signs at Shea," The New York Times, Sunday, June 18, 2006.
- Hevesi, Dennis. "Karl Ehrhardt, 83, Sign Man and Shea Stadium Fixture," The New York Times, Saturday, February 9, 2008.
- Nichols, Adam. "Famed Mets 'Sign Man,' 83, signs off," New York Daily News, Sunday, February 10, 2008.