The Queens boro prez’s first pitch was awful. Did it inspire the Miracle Mets?
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Queens Borough PresiDent Donovan Richards prepares to throw the first pitch at the new York Mets’ Aug. 14, 2024 game. Screenshot via Chris Barca/X
By Jacob Kaye
The New York Mets – who enter the weekend only four wins away from their first World Series appearance in nearly a decade – have had no shortage of good luck charms to rally behind this season.
First came the baseball journeyman, Jose Iglesias, who brought with him 11 years of pro-ball experience and an anthem that would soon jump start both the New York Mets’ offense and his second act as a Latin pop star. Then came Grimace, the McDonald’s mascot whose June 12 ceremonial first pitch inspired the Mets to go on a seven-game win streak – or so the legend goes. Along the way, there was also Seymour Weiner, the 97-year-old World War II veteran honored by the team on Opening Day who’s heard all of your jokes before; the Rally Pimp, a comedian whose distasteful name was borne from the giant faux fur coats, sunglasses and Mets chain he wore to games; and Glizzy Iggy, an Italian greyhound caught on the Mets’ TV broadcast dressed in team apparel, going to town on a hot dog.
But according to data, there may have been another good luck charm that has, until now, been missing from the storybook narrative of 2024 Miracle Mets.
On Aug. 14, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards threw out the first pitch at a game the Mets would go on to win by eight runs. Both first baseman Pete Alonso and team MVP Francisco Lindor homered in that game, and National League Division Series break-out star Mark Vientos hit an RBI double.
But it wasn’t just one game – the Mets would go on to win a little more than 65 percent of all their regular season games following the Richards pitch.
Their winning percentage following the Grimace game? Just 62 percent.
While the Richards game may have very well lent the team some luck as they made their late run for the postseason, it’s easy to understand why it may have come and gone without much recognition – and it’s not just because Richards’ taxpayer-funded spokesperson, the very person tasked with spreading such good news, is a Yankees fan.
It was a truly atrocious toss.
Richards, who decided to throw the ball out of the stretch despite the fact that no one was on base, began the pitch with both his glove hand and throwing hand behind his back. The positioning was not only unusual, but likely detrimental to this mildly athletic pursuit. The BP, who has seen the Mets go 342-306 since he first took office at the end of 2020, then lifted his leg to ready the throw. Though the leg lift is used by pitchers to generate power from the lower half of their body, the move appeared to have no effect on Richards’ pitch. The ball, once released from his hand, floated toward Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor lifelessly. It bounced once and found Taylor’s glove well inside the batter’s box to the right of home plate.
The team photographer tasked with documenting the occasion snapped a photo of the throw and quickly looked down to the dirt, perhaps in an effort to trick Richards into believing that she had missed the shot and that the errant throw would only live on in the faulty memories of those who made the trip out to the Queens ballpark that day.
But despite the unsightly lob, Richards walked off the mound beaming. It’s possible he already knew what the rest of us would come to know over the course of the next several weeks – this Mets team was headed for greatness.
Perhaps the Mets looked out onto the field that day, saw Richards’ hurl and were reminded of their play in April and May. Disgusted, they may have then renewed their vow to never to play like that ever again.
Who is to say? The Mets have been cagey when asked about the characters that have entered into the story of their season. The closest they’ve come to recognizing the power of a good bit is acknowledging that it’s nice to have something for the fans to get behind.
But we at the Eagle have looked at the numbers.
Luck, magic, mojo, momentum – it all played a role in crafting what has easily been the most enjoyable baseball season in Queens in decades.
Let’s Go Mets.
