Mr. Met

Mr. Met
New York Mets – No. 00
Mascot
Bats: sleep upside down(from mets.com) Throws: T-shirts,cracker jacks,great parties(from mets.com)

File:Mr Metciti.jpg

Mr. Met at the Mets workout at Citi Field April 5, 2009

Mr. Met is the official mascot of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. He is a baseball-headed humanoid being who wears a Mets cap and uniform. He can be seen at Citi Field during Mets home games, has appeared in several commercials as part of ESPN's This is SportsCenter campaign, and has been elected into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

History

Mr. Met was first introduced on the cover of game programs in 1963, when the Mets were still playing at the Polo Grounds in northern Manhattan. When the Mets moved to Shea Stadium in 1964, fans were introduced to a live costumed version. Mr. Met is believed to have been the first mascot in Major League Baseball to exist in human (as opposed to artistically rendered) form. He was also the first person on the Mets to be represented by a bobblehead doll.

In the 1960s, he occasionally appeared in print with a female companion, Lady Met (sometimes known as "Mrs. Met"), and less frequently with a group of 3 "little Mets" children; the smallest was a baby in Lady Met's arms. The entire family was featured in a This is SportsCenter commercial, driving home from the ESPN Broadcast Center in Bristol, Connecticut, long before the traffic jam after the last show, bobbing their large heads in time with "Meet the Mets" on the car's radio.

He has been portrayed by many people over the years. Dan Reilly was the first person to wear the Mr. Met costume, starting in 1964. The team brought Mr. Met back in 1994, as part of a promotion with Nickelodeon. From 1994-1997, Mr. Met was portrayed by AJ Mass, currently a fantasy sports writer for ESPN.

Mr. Met was also heavily used in Shea Stadium signage

On April 14, 2002, the Mets held a birthday party for Mr. Met at Shea Stadium. It was attended by costumed mascots from all around Major League Baseball and by Sandy the Seagull, mascot of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Mets farm team. Lady Met was conspicuously absent.

First baseman Tony Clark was the first Met ever to don 00, Mr. Met's number, doing so in the 2003 season. He switched to #52 that June when Queens schoolchildren asked him what had happened to Mr. Met. Mr. Met can be seen at Shea Stadium during and after games. He can be also rented for special events and private parties.

According to March 20, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, Reilly is currently working on a book of his experiences with the team, to be called The Original Mr. Met Remembers.

Mets Money, $1, $5 and $10 denomination gift certificates accepted at concession stands and souvenir shops at Shea Stadium feature the image of Mr. Met. The design is somewhat reminiscent of standard U.S. currency, but instead features images of Mr. Met attired and posed similarly to the historical official (Washington, Lincoln or Hamilton) featured on the respective bill.

Outside baseball

Mr. Met in front of Fenway Park's Green Monster.

In 2007, Mr. Met became a spokesman for MTA New York City Transit, appearing on several advertisements and safety messages within the New York City Subways and buses.

He was also featured in commercials for MLB 06: The Show, a video game for Sony's PlayStation 2, where a camera crew followed him around as he performed his daily duties, such as buying coffee and picking up his laundry.

He's also appeared numerous times during sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On one particular appearance in October 2007 he was beat up on stage by the Phillie Phanatic to symbolize the Mets' historic late season collapse and the Phillies winning the division. Mr. Met also appeared on the September 17, 2007 episode of Deal or No Deal on NBC. He also made a cameo on the February 13, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report as one of Stephen Colbert's returning "writers" from the WGA strike.

He has his own Build-A-Bear Workshop store, but instead of CitiField, it's at their flagship store on Manhattan's Fifth Avunue.

From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Met appeared on The Radio Chick, starting as a response to a New York Post article that claimed to be an interview with Mr. Met. The show claimed that the article was a "puff piece" and decided to get Mr. Met on the air to answer. In a dramatic deviation from how he is perceived in the baseball world, Mr. Met was portrayed on the show as an aristocratic blowhard who was quick to temper, insulted everyone he came in contact with, and had a fondness for sherry. Mr. Met still retained his giant baseball head - which was the butt of several jokes from both the show cast and Mr. Met himself - along with a deep-seated resentment for Mets fans. Mr. Met had an antagonistic relationship with show comedian Chuck Nice, who was always curiously silent during the Mr. Met segments. Nice once stated that his hierarchy of evil went "Hitler, Gibson, Mr. Met".

See also

• List of Major League Baseball mascots
• Mascot Hall of Fame

External links

• Mr. Met (NY Mets official site)
• Queens Tribune article on the history of Mr. Met
• Photo gallery of Mr. Met's 40th birthday party, attended by other baseball mascots, on the New York Mets' official site
• Tony Clark switches numbers
• Why Tony Clark took #52
• Popular YouTube clip of Mr. Met dancing Bhangra at an Indian wedding
• Artist rendition of Mr. Met choking the Philly Phanatic