New York Met ‘Sign Man’, Karl Ehrhardt, dead at 83
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Bill Jempty | Sunday, February 10, 2008 |
Any knowledgeable NY Met fan from the 60’s and 70’s who who Karl was. I was to 10-12 Met games with my father between 1967-1975 before moving to Florida and Karl was a fixture at Shea then. Thanks Karl for cheering along with me and all the others who attended games at Shea. RIP.
The Queens man who became famous for holding up signs in the stands at Shea Stadium – praising or tweaking the Mets and their opponents – died last week.
Karl Ehrhardt, 83, who was better known as “the Sign Man,” was found in his Queens home on Monday, said his daughter, Bonnie Troester. He had recently undergone surgery. 
Ehrhardt, a former commercial artist, was a fixture at games between 1964 and 1981. After notable plays, he would hold up one of 60 signs he carted with him.
“Jose, Can You See?” was a favorite, held up from Ehrhardt’s seat behind the third-base dugout whenever Jose Cardenal struck out.
Another regular was “It’s Alive,” announcing a breakthrough for a player who was in a slump.
His sign spoke volumes after the Mets’ 1969 World Series victory: “There Are No Words.”
“I just called them the way I saw them,” he said in one interview.
Ehrhardt tossed out his cue cards and turned his back on the Mets in the early 1980s after a blowup with management, suddenly touchy in the midst of a prolonged spree of losing seasons.
However, he returned to the stadium in 2002 to help the Mets mark their 40th anniversary.
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