There are all kinds of ways to have fun at the ballpark. I like to watch the game but I don’t look down at those who want to drink beer, yell at the umpire and look at the pretty girls. And there are those who go to see the mascot. I don’t know what it is about kids and furry mascots but they’re drawn to them like a moth to a flame. One of my favorite pictures of my son is from a game we saw in Durham, where he’s standing next to the bull mascot with a giant grin on his face.
All that being said, my unpopular take is that Mr. Met never did anything for me. Sure, sure – it was a whole lot better than the tone-deaf Mettle the Mule, Bebe DeRoulet’s – and you know M. Donald Grant signed off on it, too – response to the San Diego Chicken. Yet, Mr. Met never made me want to run up to him and have my picture taken.
One of the best heckles I ever heard at a ballpark came at a Spring Training game, where some drunks in the stands were giving the business to Mr. Met. One of them said, “No one likes a big-headed mascot!” Poor Mr. Met was not prepared to be made fun of by adults that day. It worked out fine for me, as Mr. Met did not spend much time in our section that day.
The featured image in today’s COTW piece is a portrait on canvas that my daughter made for me for Christmas. Fortunately, my reaction to Mr. Met is no longer one of horror, like the kids with some of the early versions of the Easter Bunny. Now, I just look at it and smile, imagining that it’s really Jose Reyes inside the costume and he’s legging out a triple.
Let’s Go Mets.
Mettle the Mule – no matter how bad things get, it will never be that bad again. Tone deaf at its finest.