Infield pie rule: Mets slugger dishes on his fav Queens slice

SLICe LIC, a pizzeria in Long Island City, has a fan in Jeff McNeil, the New York Mets’ second baseman. Photos via sLICe/Instagram/Alex Brandon/AP

By Jacob Kaye

Lets go mozz!

New York Mets second baseman Jeff “The Flying Squirrel” McNeil, a proven master of judging round things, gave Queens-based pizzeria sLICe LIC a ringing endorsement this week during an interview with MLB Network.

When asked about his taste in the New York staple, McNeil said he doesn’t need to travel far to get what he believes to be the best slice of pizza in the five boroughs.

“I got to go with my local, Long Island City – it’s called sLICe, it’s my local pizza joint there,” the second baseman said.

SLICe was founded in 2015, around three years before McNeil first got called up to the big leagues and presumably made the move to Queens.

The ‘za chain’s original location, the one McNeil most likely frequents, is located on Vernon Boulevard between 49th and 48th Avenues. In recent years, sLICe has expanded to include two outposts in Astoria – one on Broadway between 39th Street and Steinway and one on 30th Avenue that recently closed.

The pizza shop offers up traditional New York slices and pasta dishes – a regular pie goes for $19.

If sLICe’s fare has served as any sort of inspiration for McNeil’s play, it’s working.

The second baseman, whose profanity-laced outbursts have endeared him to Mets fans, stormed into the league in 2018, hitting .329 in 63 games with the Flushing club.

He hit over .300 in each of the following two seasons before slumping in 2021. However, McNeil has turned things around in a major way this season. Through the Mets’ first 19 games, McNeil has hit for a .328 average, leading the team that finds itself in first place heading into the second month of the play.