So the way to make this cool is to make it permanent.  Then it becomes a quirky part of Mets history like the mule and the apple.

If this is a one week thing it’s kinda lame.   So keep it.

Of note, note it’s the “SVP of Partnerships” commenting – so this is appears to be some sort of deal with McDonalds and not just an organic thing.   We’ll see how else this manifests itself.

Any idea how burger chain Shake Shack feels about this?

Also much thanks to the Mets media team for sending images.  Makes a difference.

 

NEW YORK METS CELEBRATE FAN APPRECIATION WEEKEND BY REVEALING COMMEMORATIVE PURPLE GRIMACE SEAT AT CITI FIELD

FLUSHING, N.Y., September 16, 2024 – As the New York Mets enter their final homestand of the 2024 regular season, punctuated with fan appreciation weekend from Sept. 20-22, the team today announced the installation of a commemorative purple seat to honor the beloved McDonald’s character Grimace and his special connection to Mets fans at Citi Field. Following Grimace’s iconic first pitch on June 12, the Mets went on a seven-game win streak and fans embraced Grimace from then on as a special symbol for this exciting season.

“It’s been great to see how our fanbase created the Grimace phenomenon following his first pitch in June and in the months since,” said Mets SVP of Partnerships Brenden Mallette. “As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way. This enables our fans to be a part of the Grimace fun, while enjoying a game at Citi Field.”

The one-of-a-kind commemorative purple seat will be located in section 302, row 6, seat 12, and will be available for purchase for all remaining home games this season. Individual tickets for all home games at Citi Field are currently on sale and can be purchased online at Mets.com/Tickets or by calling 718-507-TIXX.

The Mets who are darned quick to send me a press release about a new ticket offering didn’t send me anything about Kranepool.   There appear to be two mailing lists, despite how many times Mets Insiders tell us there aren’t (I have discussed this with other bloggers) and it appears they used List A.

Anyway…I first became fascinated by Ed Kranepool when at some point in the late 70s the TV announcers told me he was an original Met.  WHOA that seemed insane – especially because I was younger than the Mets.  This guy must be GREAT!

Well, Ed was good but he wasn’t great.  He did however have a Mets World Series ring which not too many people can say.

I met Ed at least once, I think twice, at various Queens Baseball Conventions.

Ed. like all of the 69 Mets that I met, came across as a regular guy.  Those old school neighborhood guys that happened to play baseball, as opposed to the new-fangled player making millions and millions and has nothing in common with you.

It seems everyone somehow met Ed.  I’ve seen tons of tweets and articles about people sharing their anecdotes.  In my case, I asked him about a house.

Way back when. a realtor showed me a house with an indoor pool.  The house was straight out of the 70s with wood paneling and a San Diego Padres color scheme.  And did I mention an indoor pool.  Not just an indoor pool, a ig giant indoor pool in the middle of the house.  Where the living room should be.  If you walked from the bedroom to the bathroom or over to the kitchen, you’d walk past the pool.  Not a place to raise children.

The realtor told me it had been Ed Kranepool’s house.  I asked Ed about it.  He said no.  I imagine he would have remembered owning such a place.

So, we’ve lost another one of “my” Mets as this franchise increasingly becomes someone else’s Mets.

Can you imagine Ed, or Buddy, or Ed Charles, or Shamsky, or Grove  or Seaver (all Mets I met) going out of their way to give the Mets fans a thumbs down.  I sure can’t.

 

You may recall that Steve Cohen once said, ““We have learned through three years of conversations with the people who live and work in Queens that serving the interests of the communities surrounding Citi Field must be at the center of this project,”

Well Steve, the cats need you.

The New York Post reports

Living in the dust of the Iron Triangle just steps from Citi Field, a colony of grimy and malnourished cats have called the neighborhood home for nearly a century.

As many as 100 felines have already been pushed out of the fields and into the shrinking auto body sector, which is expected to be the next chunk of land leveled to make room for the incoming soccer stadium, retail haven and residential space.

Further displacement would mean marching them to certain doom, animal activists warn. 

“They have nowhere to go but to their death. Nowhere to go,” Regina Massaro, the founder of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP) NYC. (via NY Post)

Steve Cohen, not just the owner, but also a fan of Mets history must remember that in 1969 a cat helped jinx the Cubs.  The Mets and cats go back 5 decades!

Surely Steve will not leave the cats to fend for themselves when a nice healthy check (“lunch money” for the sort of fellow who has been known to wrote large checks) could help these cats.

Nice job by the Post bringing this issue to light, and hopefully this makes Mr. Cohen’s radar.  After all..

, Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats emphasized that hope is not yet lost — but said someone needs to take action before the cats leave on their own and spread the problem elsewhere.

“When you have that type of displacement, and there’s no strategy, there’s no management, it’s just whatever happens that happens to them. They don’t stick around and wait for the bulldozers to kill them; they’re gonna disperse. And they’re gonna disperse to wherever the closest food source and shelter that they can find,” (Bryan) Kortis told The Post.

 

Let’s see…

Winning Streak, check!

Cool Black Uniforms, check!

Everyone loves Lindor and he loves us!

LGM with some extra letters.  Extend Pete.  10 more years.

Fun viral OMG thing

The Grimace.

And yet…. 25,000 on a nice Friday night.

Steve – you broke the place.  I have been telling you this for a year now.  Keep ignoring me.  You had 25,000.

But don’t worry Steve, the NY Post carried the Mets’ water:

They are expecting the crowd’s roar — and its crooning — to grow louder.

“We expect to approach the high [30,000s], potential sellouts, especially those last two games against the Phillies [two weekends from now],” Jake Bye, the Mets’ senior VP of ticketing, said over the phone Thursday. “… We have some pretty sophisticated predictive models, and all signs point to having larger crowds than we’ve had in probably decades for these September series, which is really exciting.” (via NY Post)

Jake, Jake, Jake – listen to yourself.  You’re in a playoff race, even if it is expanded playoffs, and you’re talking about having the building with 7000-8000 empty seats.  You sound like a crazy person.

The Pos,t continuing to make excuses, pointed out that “Citi Field was far emptier earlier this year, bringing in an average of 24,071 through the first 24 games of the season. Maybe it was the colder-than-usual April weather.”

Yeah wow I can’t believe they were only average 24 with all that cold weather. Now it’s up to……checks attendance…… 25!  Wow.

Mr. Bye, continuing to sound like a crazy person told the Post,  “…fortunately, the viral stuff happened organically, we jumped on that. And we have an owner that lets us be creative and … make sure people have a world-class time and experience when they’re here.”

Which is a great story except….checks attendance… 25,000.

“We want to make the experience not reliant upon good baseball,” Bye said.

Well that’s good.

Look guys, there’s 15 years of blog posts you guys can read.  If you think OMG, black jerseys,  Grimace and a guy that told the fans to buzz off is the way to go, enjoy your 25,000.  You don;’t understand Mets fans.  You understand the CASUALS, but the casuals don’t stick around.  They never do.  What you’re finding out now is the people who were with you all along can’t even be bothered to come see an 8 game win streak.

Me?  Haven’t watched a single game all year.   Let me know when Lindor is gone.