I popped out of bed around 7:15 am and within 30 minutes, I was on my way to the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan with Adam G and his son Michael. Throw in the other company, and I was totally surrounded by Yankee fans in the van, not my ideal situation. I wore my blue Mets cap and blue Gary Carter t-shirt.
T-Mobile was sponsoring the MLB Fanfest and they even designated a line specifically for T-Mobile customers. So since one of the people in our party of five had a T-Mobile phone, we actually got to stand in their Jump line, allowing us to enter before the masses could.
We entered and immediately saw the World's largest baseball, which has been autographed by many legends of the game. As Saturday was Heritage Day, Mets legend Edgardo Alfonzo welcomed us to the event and used a pair of oversized pink scissors to cut the pink ribbon, signaling the start of the festival. I immediately got his autograph, which was great, it saved me from standing in line for an hour! Then, I saw several staff workers handing out mini-Mookie Wilson bobblehead dolls. There was zero organization to the process though, it was just dozens of people maneuvering around each other and fighting their way to the boxes. As I was nudging my way through the pile, I was just relieved I didn't get stepped on or trampled.
I had my photo taken with the cardboard cutouts of the 2013 Mets and then I headed over towards the WFAN radio booth, which was right next to the stage where Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson would be signing autographs. The line wound up taking almost 90 minutes to get through. During that timeframe, I snuck over to the batting cages, where the machine gave me nearly every pitch high and outside, the last spot I wanted the balls pitched. I've always been a low ball hitter and this was just ridiculous. I also went to an MLB network booth, where my photo was taken in front of a set with Citi Field as the backdrop. I put on a black sports coat and sat at the news desk. When the picture came out, it looked like I was broadcasting with Al Leiter!
Back in line, we listened to the last hour of Boomer and Carton, who led us in a chorus of "Take me out to the ball game." They also went out into the audience to meet some fans and sign autographs. After they left the air at 10 am, Mike Francesa came in to do his show. For autographs, he had two errand boys run back and forth between him and the seekers. The boys would hand him baseballs, programs, pictures, or whatever else to sign. Little bit of a different dynamic!
So I met Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson and they were both very nice guys, especially when I told them I was a Mets fan from Chicago. They both signed my Mets baseball and it was really a cool feeling.
I hadn't eaten all day, so I stopped by the cheesesteak stand parked in the middle of the concourse. The recap on this one...Dry roll, meat that had been sitting under the heating lamp, no provolone cheese, only Whiz, and onions and peppers that were barely cooked at all. Plus a large lemonade that tasted more like water with a lemon slice thrown in. $17. Total ripoff.
Anyway, we went over to the Hall of Fame exhibit, where I saw so many amazing items such as Mike Piazza's bat when he broke Carlton Fisk's record for the most homers hit by a catcher, RA Dickey's uniform from when he won his 20th game as a Met in 2012, and the glove Tommie Agee wore when he made his amazing catches in the 1969 World Series. Plus, the Hall of Fame was having a NY baseball trivia contest. We hung around for two games and I have to say, I remember the questions being pretty hard. There must have been a lot of pressure on the contestants to sit on the stage in front of over a hundred people and answer some challenging trivia.
T-Mobile was sponsoring the MLB Fanfest and they even designated a line specifically for T-Mobile customers. So since one of the people in our party of five had a T-Mobile phone, we actually got to stand in their Jump line, allowing us to enter before the masses could.
We entered and immediately saw the World's largest baseball, which has been autographed by many legends of the game. As Saturday was Heritage Day, Mets legend Edgardo Alfonzo welcomed us to the event and used a pair of oversized pink scissors to cut the pink ribbon, signaling the start of the festival. I immediately got his autograph, which was great, it saved me from standing in line for an hour! Then, I saw several staff workers handing out mini-Mookie Wilson bobblehead dolls. There was zero organization to the process though, it was just dozens of people maneuvering around each other and fighting their way to the boxes. As I was nudging my way through the pile, I was just relieved I didn't get stepped on or trampled.
I had my photo taken with the cardboard cutouts of the 2013 Mets and then I headed over towards the WFAN radio booth, which was right next to the stage where Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson would be signing autographs. The line wound up taking almost 90 minutes to get through. During that timeframe, I snuck over to the batting cages, where the machine gave me nearly every pitch high and outside, the last spot I wanted the balls pitched. I've always been a low ball hitter and this was just ridiculous. I also went to an MLB network booth, where my photo was taken in front of a set with Citi Field as the backdrop. I put on a black sports coat and sat at the news desk. When the picture came out, it looked like I was broadcasting with Al Leiter!
Back in line, we listened to the last hour of Boomer and Carton, who led us in a chorus of "Take me out to the ball game." They also went out into the audience to meet some fans and sign autographs. After they left the air at 10 am, Mike Francesa came in to do his show. For autographs, he had two errand boys run back and forth between him and the seekers. The boys would hand him baseballs, programs, pictures, or whatever else to sign. Little bit of a different dynamic!
So I met Mookie Wilson and Bud Harrelson and they were both very nice guys, especially when I told them I was a Mets fan from Chicago. They both signed my Mets baseball and it was really a cool feeling.
I hadn't eaten all day, so I stopped by the cheesesteak stand parked in the middle of the concourse. The recap on this one...Dry roll, meat that had been sitting under the heating lamp, no provolone cheese, only Whiz, and onions and peppers that were barely cooked at all. Plus a large lemonade that tasted more like water with a lemon slice thrown in. $17. Total ripoff.
Anyway, we went over to the Hall of Fame exhibit, where I saw so many amazing items such as Mike Piazza's bat when he broke Carlton Fisk's record for the most homers hit by a catcher, RA Dickey's uniform from when he won his 20th game as a Met in 2012, and the glove Tommie Agee wore when he made his amazing catches in the 1969 World Series. Plus, the Hall of Fame was having a NY baseball trivia contest. We hung around for two games and I have to say, I remember the questions being pretty hard. There must have been a lot of pressure on the contestants to sit on the stage in front of over a hundred people and answer some challenging trivia.
I headed back over towards the WFAN stage where Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts were doing their show. When we got there, they were in commercial and there was this tall blonde kid sitting next to them. I figured he was a production guy or maybe a volunteer. Much to my shock, it was Noah Syndergaard, the prized pitching prospect of the Mets! I didn't get to Noah for an autograph, he got hustled out of the building before he had a chance to sign anything. I did meet Joe for the second time and Evan for the first and they both signed my ball. I was happy Joe remembered meeting me at Wrigley Field a few years ago. All I had to do was remind him how cold it was that May evening and he knew it was me!
I shopped in the MLB Clubhouse which had so much cool merch to pick from. I think if I didn't already have my All Star game polo shirt, I would have got something. I looked over by the registers and saw Steve Garvey just signing. There wasn't much of a line, just ten or so people around. I jumped on the chance to get his autograph too.
Over at the XM radio booth, Casey Stern and Cliff Floyd hosted a show all afternoon. they interviewed Fonzie and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets outfield prospect. Unfortunately, neither Floyd or Nimmo signed. It was like Noah, the XM people just hustled Nimmo out of the room. Very disappointing.
Over at the XM radio booth, Casey Stern and Cliff Floyd hosted a show all afternoon. they interviewed Fonzie and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets outfield prospect. Unfortunately, neither Floyd or Nimmo signed. It was like Noah, the XM people just hustled Nimmo out of the room. Very disappointing.
So then, I wanted to another exhibit instead of seeking more signatures. I wasn;t exactly dying to meet Rollie Fingers or Rafael Santana, with all due respect. So I went to Steal a base, where people were racing 90 feet against either Matt Kemp, Derek Jeter, or David Wright...of course, the players were on a screen. I signed my waiver that I wouldn't sue or anything if I got hurt, emptied my pockets of my camera, wallet, phone, Chapstick, etc into my backpack, and stretched my quads, calves, and hamstrings as I prepared for my race. Now I wanted to get a really good start; I saw one or two people actually fall down halfway through and their pants wound up around their butts. So I took a short lead off the base and as soon as the pitcher on the screen began his motion, I took off right along with David. Within seconds, it was over. As I always did when I played baseball, I easily slid in headfirst into a black cushion, popped up, and coolly slapped a couple of high fives from the staff workers. That was so much fun!
Then I headed back towards the entrance area. I checked out memorabilia like old cards, gloves that were used 100 years ago (they looked more like boxing gloves), pins being sold for ten bucks each, and banners. I looked towards the entrance and saw a camera guy. This tall dude was interviewing random fans, I went over to get a closer look. My mouth dropped at what I saw. The guy conducting the interviews was stand up comic Pete Holmes, who was my floormate during my freshman year in college. I had not seen him in 13 years, so I got closer, hoping he might know me. After he was done asking a bunch of goofy questions to one of the fans, I said "Hey Pete. Gordon College, Ferrin Hall." He looked at me for maybe two seconds, then raised his eyebrows. He said "Adam, right?" I couldn't believe he still knew me! So we caught up for about three or four minutes and we gave each other a hug before we parted ways. Quite the surprise reunion!
So then, we went to the Robert Mazzino art gallery section. This guy is a world-renowned 3-D artist. He had amazing pictures of stadiums, batting helmets, posters. He even decorated two old Field level seats from Shea Stadium in festive colors. And since I have a connection with Fran who works there, they gave me a small replica 3-D pic of Citi Field to take home. It was so amazing, it must have been worth $75. I mean, it was just one amazing thing happening after another.
We also saw wall displays of every cap from MLB down to rookie ball trophies. We took photos of various baseball awards and trophies such as the WBC title, the Jackie Robinson award, the Home Run Derby trophy, and of course, the World Series trophy. It was right next to the ESPN radio booth, so I got to see Ryan Ruocco and Don LaGreca broadcasting for a few minutes.
So it was 4:30. And after standing eight of the last nine hours, I was ready to leave and sit down somewhere. So we left and walked by the Manhattan Center, right near Madison Square Garden, and took the C train from 34th St up to 103rd, St before walking to the Baconery on the Upper West side. Their special of the day was the caramel apple bacon donuts. I planned to get one and split it, but was going to have my bacon pecan pie immediately. Sadly, the pecan pies were all sold out already. So I got two donuts, one for me and one for my friend and we wolfed those down on the C train heading downtown. Little chunks of apple, the caramel sweetened the bacon, and the donut tasted so moist. Just an amazing donut. I also ordered a bacon marshmallow bar (it wasn't mini, in case a certain someone was wondering), two bacon chocolate chip cookies, a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, and a bacon blondie, which is like a brownie, only made with maple instead of chocolate. I took all of those to go and gave them to my church small group back in Streamwood the next afternoon. Suffice to say, they were very appreciative! They even mentioned me bringing the food in the group prayer! Maybe bacon does have a spiritual aspect to it, I don't know.
Anyway, back to Saturday! We planned to take the B down to the N to the J trains. Well, little did we know the B was not running at all that weekend. So feeling hot, sweaty, and exhausted, we waited 15 minutes for a train that never came. And with each of the other two trains, we got to the station just as they pulled out. Just a crazy amount of waiting.
We also saw wall displays of every cap from MLB down to rookie ball trophies. We took photos of various baseball awards and trophies such as the WBC title, the Jackie Robinson award, the Home Run Derby trophy, and of course, the World Series trophy. It was right next to the ESPN radio booth, so I got to see Ryan Ruocco and Don LaGreca broadcasting for a few minutes.
So it was 4:30. And after standing eight of the last nine hours, I was ready to leave and sit down somewhere. So we left and walked by the Manhattan Center, right near Madison Square Garden, and took the C train from 34th St up to 103rd, St before walking to the Baconery on the Upper West side. Their special of the day was the caramel apple bacon donuts. I planned to get one and split it, but was going to have my bacon pecan pie immediately. Sadly, the pecan pies were all sold out already. So I got two donuts, one for me and one for my friend and we wolfed those down on the C train heading downtown. Little chunks of apple, the caramel sweetened the bacon, and the donut tasted so moist. Just an amazing donut. I also ordered a bacon marshmallow bar (it wasn't mini, in case a certain someone was wondering), two bacon chocolate chip cookies, a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, and a bacon blondie, which is like a brownie, only made with maple instead of chocolate. I took all of those to go and gave them to my church small group back in Streamwood the next afternoon. Suffice to say, they were very appreciative! They even mentioned me bringing the food in the group prayer! Maybe bacon does have a spiritual aspect to it, I don't know.
Anyway, back to Saturday! We planned to take the B down to the N to the J trains. Well, little did we know the B was not running at all that weekend. So feeling hot, sweaty, and exhausted, we waited 15 minutes for a train that never came. And with each of the other two trains, we got to the station just as they pulled out. Just a crazy amount of waiting.
We got home to Middle Village around 8 pm and had some Rosa's Sicilian pizza and salad for dinner. I was done by 11 and woke up at 6:45 to catch an 8:50 flight back home to Chicago. Yeah, my hair gel got confiscated at security, but that's ok. I guess six ounces was just too large a size.
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