At Mets home opener, change is just around the corner
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The New York Mets opened their season at home on Friday, April 7, with a 9-3 victory over the Miami Marlins. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
After a decent showing in Miami and a dismal one in Milwaukee, the New York Mets returned home on Friday for their first game of their season in Queens.
But before the Amazins handedly beat the Marlins 9-3, there was a strong sense among the legion of Mets fans making the annual pilgrimage to Citi Field that change is just around the corner.
There were, of course, those fans who believed that Mets owner Steve Cohen’s record-breaking spending spree over the off-season would start to pay off at the plate and on the mound in the coming weeks and months. There were those tailgating in Citi Field’s parking lot, knowing that their longtime gathering spot may be a casino in a decade. And then there were those fans protesting a different type of change, one that has largely already arrived – environmental advocates on Friday protested the team’s partnership with Citibank, which has more investments in fossil fuels than all but one major bank.
Originally scheduled to make their home debut on Thursday, the threat of rain – and perhaps a needed day off – pushed the game to Friday, which itself was marked by gray clouds, strong winds and chilly temperatures.
But the weather wasn’t much of a deterrent for Mets fans, who have, for the past six months, been deprived of baseball in Queens.
“It's just a lot of excitement,” said Mark Spychalski, who grew up in Queens Village but now lives on Long Island.
Spychalski and his wife, Lisa, showed up to the ballpark several hours before the start of Friday’s game. Lisa, who grew up in Sunnyside, painted her nails for the occasion – her pinkies and thumbs were blue, her ring fingers displayed a baseball, her middle fingers read “Mets” and her index fingers were painted with the Mets’ interwoven NY logo. To keep from getting cold, she wore a hooded sweatshirt that read, “They call me a crazy Mets lady like it’s a bad thing.”
Before meeting nearly two decades ago, Lisa and Mark were both divorcés and both miserable Mets fans. But misery loves company and the pair fell in love. The Spychalskis had plans to go to all three games against the Marlins over the weekend and Mark had already decided on his outfit for Saturday’s game.
“It's a shirt with, ‘True love is rooting for the same team,’ and it’s a little man and woman with Mets shirts on,” he said.
Changes at Citi Field
Like thousands of other fans, the Spychalskis were enjoying the home opener festivities from the Citi Field parking lot, where Cohen has plans to build a casino in the coming decade, should he be granted one of the state’s three gaming licenses.
Even though they’ve been coming to the same spot to celebrate the start of a new season for the past 59 years each, the Spychalskis said they welcome the plans to develop the lot.
“I think it would do a lot for the area,” Mark said.
On the other side of the stadium, Kim and Doug Conner and their family said they felt differently. They’ve been traveling from their Connecticut home to the ballpark for opening day nearly every year for the past 35 years.
Their tailgate, like most others, is informal, communal and relaxed. They said a casino and whatever other developments may come to the area may make the experience feel a little too corporate.
“It’s definitely going to change the whole feeling,” Kim Conner said. “This is tradition, they’re messing with tradition.”
The Conners’ daughter, Caxton Conner, recently graduated from Drexel University. Whenever the Mets came to Philadelphia during Caxton’s college years, the family would head into enemy territory to take in a game. But they said the experience changed when a casino opened near the Phillies’ stadium in 2021.
“Now it's outrageously expensive and it's just changed the whole feeling,” Kim Conner said.
Elsewhere around the ballpark, a group of climate advocates gathered to protest the Mets’ partnership with Citibank. The team whose stadium is located on a floodplain shouldn’t be doing business with the bank with the second-most fossil fuel investments, the activists said.
To make their point, one of their members, Eric Arnum, dressed in a makeshift Mr. Met outfit, baseball head and all. Fans frequently walked up to him, asking for a selfie. After the photos were snapped, a member of the group would let the fans know why they were out protesting. Though a number of fans nodded in support, others just made their way toward the stadium’s entrance.
Eric Arnum dressed in a Mr. Met outfit to protest the Mets’ partnership with Citibank during the team’s home opener on Friday, April 7, 2023. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
But climate change is bad for baseball, Arnum said.
“Three things are going to happen – one is stronger storms with more rain, the other one is sea level rise and the third one is more unbearably hot days,” Arnum said. “All three of those effects are going to impact this baseball team.”
Citi’s naming deal won’t expire until 2028, and if a casino is coming to Citi Field, fans won’t know until at least the end of the year. And if Cohen successfully secures the license, a casino likely won’t be completed until at least a decade from now. In the meantime, there’s the 2023 baseball season to worry about.
Hope for an early season turnaround
Chris Ahern and his family, including his 9-month-old grandson William Bergeron, traveled from Putnam County, New York to Queens. Friday’s game marked Ahern’s 61st Mets home opener. It was William’s first.
William, who wore a miniature Mets jersey with his last name written on the back, was born last summer, shortly before the Mets lost their footing, fell out of first place and crumbled in the first round of the playoffs.
Now for William’s first full season, the Mets were showing early signs of cracking. Entering into Friday’s game, the Mets were 3-4 and had just completed a three game set against the Milwaukee Brewers where they were clobbered in games one and two and lost a heartbreaker in the third.
“It’s not his fault,” Ahern said.
Chris Ahern with his grandson William Bergeron and daughter Anne Marie Bergeron at the Mets home opener on Friday, April 7, 2023. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
A lifelong Mets fan, Ahern knows defeat. Despite what could be described as a troubling start for the Queens team, Ahern said that it’s not yet time to panic. In fact, he remained hopeful that the team would soon turn things around.
“It's a little bit of a rocky start to begin with and they have to get over the hump,” Ahern said. “If they can straighten this out, we'll be okay.”
“And I think they will,” he added.
A similar sense of hope could be found all around Citi Field on Friday. “Let’s go, Mets” chants could be heard throughout the afternoon and fans entering into the ballpark didn’t appear to be anticipating disappointment anytime soon.
“We're faithful and we've been through a lot worse,” Doug Conner said. “Ya gotta believe. There’s only 150 more games.”
Over the years, Mark Spychalski said he’s learned to temper his emotions about the team.
“You got to take the bad along with the good,” he said, as his wife nodded in agreement.
Spychalski said he was particularly encouraged by Cohen’s willingness to spend money on players. Over the off season, the Mets picked up reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and re-signed a number of their homegrown players to big, long-term contracts.
But the injury bug has struck early. Verlander, who is 40 years old, suffered a muscle strain toward the end of Spring Training and isn’t expected to pitch until at least the end of the month. The Mets’ star closer, Edwin Diaz, who signed the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher over the winter, went down with a horrific injury during the World Baseball Classic last month. He’s likely out for the season.
Injuries be damned, Spychalski still has hope.
“You're going to have your injuries, and everyone is going to say, ‘Oh my god,’ and this and that,” he said. “But look at what we did last season without [Jacob] deGrom. They already showed proof that they don’t need him.”
DeGrom, who signed with the Texas Rangers over the off season, may have been the biggest absence on Friday. Over the course of nine seasons in Queens, deGrom won two Cy Young awards, set several team records and became the pride of baseball fans throughout the World’s Borough. Fans on Friday weren’t ready to forget him just yet. Jersey’s adorned with his name could be seen throughout the ballpark.
But Quinn Rodriguez and Antonio Rasmus had one thing to say about that – who?
Rasmus and Rodriguez claim that the former was the first person to add the word “who” to the end of the Mets’ “Let’s go, Mets” chant in the 1980s. Now, with the pair nearing retirement, they, alongside their business partner Heidy Z., have launched “Da Who Crew,” selling t-shirts, hats and horns with the phrase written on them.
Quinn Rodriguez and Heidy Z. hawk their new “Da Who Crew” products during the Mets’ home opener on Friday, April 7, 2023. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
“I'm retiring and now we can get back into it, get back to rooting for our team,” said Rodriguez, who is from Jamaica.
“We love to root for the Mets,” he added.
Some things never change.
