So turns out I’m a celebrity Met fan. Well, kind of. Ok, Ok,
not really. But I come close. I digress.
The Mets actually do have their fair share of celebrity fans. I mean, why not?
They are the only National League team in the biggest city in the world. What classifies as a celebrity? Well, that’s
easy enough. Actually the Mets have always had their share of attention in all
sorts of Media too. Take the movie “Fear
Strikes Out” for example. While not about the Mets per se, it does focus on
Jimmy Piersall. Who, when as a Met on June 23rd, 1963, celebrated
hitting his 100th career homer off the Phillies Dallas Green at The
Polo Grounds took his trip around the bases backwards. Actually that was his
only homer as a Met.
Take the movie “Rookie of the Year”, tune into that and you
can see a 11 year old kid with a 120 mph fastball strike out Bobby Bonilla in a
Met uniform. (I love that so much, I watch it over and over again, check out my
“Bobby Bo and the Blue Moon” article from January for that back story.)
In the 1968 Movie, “The Odd Couple”, while Oscar Madison is
arguing on the phone in the Mets press box with Felix about dinner, he misses the Mets complete a
triple play.
Perhaps the most famous Mets moments in the movies came in
the 1996 film “Men in Black”. I believe it's towards the end of the film when one of the
flying saucers takes off from Flushing Meadow Park fair grounds, a wide eyed and
distracted Bernard Gilkey (shown on the right) watching the event, gets conked on the forehead by a
fly ball to left. Then in 2012’s “Men in
Black III” Griffin, a time tripping
Alien, takes agents J and K back (or in this case forward) to the moment Cleon Jones caught Davey Johnson’s
fly ball to clinch the 69 World Series.
Perhaps the most biting example of all is from “Family Guy”,
showing Stewie in a Mets cap at the Mets first game of the season and the
announcer goes “And here’s the season’s first pitch” There’s a crack of the bat
and then he follows “….and the season’s over” Stewie then takes his Met hat and
slams it to the ground.
So the Mets are ever present in the Media themselves. Both
for good and bad. But over the years the
Mets have quite an impressive array of celebrity fans that live and die by the
Orange and Blue.
The most notable Mets celeb fans include: Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin James, Robert
Klein, Billy Joel, Jon Stewart (The TV host, not The Green Lantern), Alyissa
Milano, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Bill Smitrovich, Nas, Mike “The Situation”
Sorrentino, Jimmy Kimmel, David Brenner, Tom Brokaw, Ron Artest, Zoe Saldona,
Michael Vartan, The Jerky Boys, Ben Stiller, Hillary Duff, Robin Quivers, Glenn
Close, Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, Will Arnett, Kelly Ripa, Matt Dillon,
John McEnroe, Bill O’Reilly, Opie and Anthony and Craig Mitchell
(Record scratch……wait a minute) Craig Mitchell? Me? Well…like I said…Kind of. I've teased enough. I’ll explain.
(Record scratch……wait a minute) Craig Mitchell? Me? Well…like I said…Kind of. I've teased enough. I’ll explain.
Now, certainly, I’m no celebrity. While I have
worked with some of the celebs I mentioned above, I am NOT in their league.
That’s all just play. But, I kind of got a taste of what it’s like to be a
highly recognizable Met fan in 1994.
On Saturday, June 11th I was covering the 1:40pm
game at Shea between the Expos and the Mets. The game was nothing special. The
Mets wound up losing 7-4. Marquis Grissom had a field day going 4 for 4 with a
homer, double 3 run scored and 2 RBI. Bonilla homered for the Mets. But the reason
this game sticks out in my mind is because this is the very first game I had
field and dugout passes to a Met game.
Now, I was working for Sports phone and they always got those passes,
but I didn’t. This was my first time. I was cool, calm, collected and PSYCHED OUT OF MY SKULL!! <deep breath> But there was no way I was going to act as if it was any big
deal. I walked around and got the feel for being on the field. I wandered into
both dugouts and got sound from some interviews in progress. I walked behind
the batting cage and watched the swings and hits exploding out of the cage. I’m
sorry, it wasn’t professional then, possibly not now either, but this was the COOLEST
THING EVER! I was on the field at Shea! If this was the era of selfies I would
have like 400 to show you, but it wasn’t and I have no visual proof.
Now, that night, I was booked to do a comedy show in
Hartford, CT in a great comedy club that is still there. At the time it was
called Brown/Thompson. Today it’s called City Steam and the Brew Ha Ha! Comedy
club. Seeing that depending on the time of the game, I might not have time to
go home and change, I went to the game in my “Stand Up” attire. Black pants, black
sneakers, white shirt and a black vest. I probably looked like a bartender on the
field. I probably did stand out from the other reporters. Most of them were
business casual or even less. Some were just
shirts and jeans. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care. I was on cloud nine.
This was a dream come true, and I wasn’t sure if it would ever come again (and
it didn’t), so I soaked in every moment.
The game was most typical. It was 2 hours and 46 minutes
long. Plenty of time to get sound out of the lock rooms, file my report and get
on the road to Hartford for an 8pm first show. I bolted out of Shea and onto
the Cross Island, over the bridge and on to Hartford. I arrived at Brown Thompson about 7pm, plenty
of time before the show started. I never ate before a show, so I just milled
around the bar, played some video games and drank a coke or something. The other comics were eating in the back
room, so I decided to go hang with them.
This is a very unique restaurant. It’s a converted
department store, so people eat on different lofts and levels. Honestly, if you
are in Hartford check it out. So, I’m
walking down a hallway towards the back room and from a table a level above me
a guy goes…”Excuse me?” I didn’t stop. I
figured he thought I was a waiter from the way I was dressed. Then, louder “EXCUSE
ME?” I stopped, looked at him and pointed at my chest. “Yes you! Hey, weren’t
you on the field at Shea today?” MIND
BLOWN! Holy Crap!! I just got recognized for being on the field at Shea. I was
really stunned and to this day it still blows my mind. I offered “Yes, yes I
was. I’m also a sportscaster.” He went “Cool!
Why don’t you do that full time instead of being a waiter?” I explained I was a Stand Up Comedian.
Looking back on it he didn’t seem convinced. But my decade was made!
When I got to the back room and met the other comics, I don’t
remember if I relayed that story or not. But I must have, right? How could I
not? The headliner I was working with? Kevin James. Fellow Met fan. Now, he gets the coolest gig.
They play a video of him going “Let’s Go Mets” during rallies at Citi Field…or
at least I think they still do. So, OK, like I said, I’m not a celebrity Met fan. But thanks
to the Prime Rib on table 12 on the 2nd level I got a feeling for
how it would feel. Oh, how did I know it was a Prime Rib? I’m not saying. Let’s
just say he was a great tipper!
3 comments:
Very cool story, Craig. It's on my bucket list to get onto the field someday and you beat me to it. I was on the Hall of Fame field at Cooperstown (sneaking on there on a slow day) but it's not quite the same.
Mets on mr ed 1962
Ed-u and carol have another fight?
Wilbur-yes
Ed-Wilbur you lose more than the mets
Mets on mr ed 1962
Ed-u and carol have another fight?
Wilbur-yes
Ed-Wilbur you lose more than the mets
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