The Grimace Mets: McDonald's mascot's purple reign continues as fans flock to Citi Field
The legend began on an unremarkable Wednesday evening in what had been an unremarkable season as the Mets prepared to take on an equally unremarkable opponent.
They were a season-low 11 games under .500 and mired in misery when a purple beacon of hope emerged.
Grimace, the purple McDonald’s mascot, lumbered onto the warning track before the Mets took on the Marlins on June 12, was given Mr. Met’s glove and threw out the first pitch.
At the time, his appearance was somewhat inexplicable, though it was later revealed to be in honor of his birthday.
And then the Mets never lost again.
Well . . . at least it felt that way.
They didn’t lose for the next seven games and rode a 12-2 streak into Saturday’s 9-6 loss to the Astros.
Grimace lore has overtaken Flushing, and the Grimerati are flocking to Citi wearing Grimace shirts, hats and full-body outfits. During an 87-minute rain delay Wednesday, a person in a Grimace costume was hoisted up onto someone’s shoulders near the Shea Bridge in right-center — chugging beer as a horde of fans cheered and lightning crackled in the background.
The Mets beat the Yankees, 12-2, to complete the sweep.
“The Grimace Mets are the greatest baseball team in history,” Dave Kerpen of Port Washington said Friday as he attended their 7-2 win over the Astros wearing a T-shirt bedecked with multiple Grimaces. “Us longtime, long-suffering Mets fans are ready for a change. We didn’t know it would come in the form of a giant purple taste bud, but we’re here for it.”
(Grimace, according to the McDonald’s Wikipedia page, may or may not be a taste bud. Or possibly a milkshake. He also was originally named Evil Grimace and had four arms before amending his ways and losing two appendages.)
Kerpen’s friend, Jared Simon, also of Port Washington, went to Friday’s game bedecked in a purple cape with a photo of Grimace plastered onto the back.
“This is a homemade cape — authentic Grimace 2024,” he said. “I think it’s been a wonderful ride. It’s brought the town together, it’s brought the world together. We’re united around Grimace and the New York Mets.”
That certainly seemed to be the case for John Healy, a White Sox fan visiting from Chicago wearing a shirt adorned with Grimace’s sleepily smiling face.
“I couldn’t wait to be a part of the silliness,” he said. “My siblings have pointed out that, hey, people are shouting you out all day. ‘Hey, Grimace! . . . It’s a big deal and I say keep riding it for as long as it works.”
Neil Bisman, of Astoria, said he was motivated to buy his own Grimace shirt shortly after the Mets’ run started.
“I think when you’re a Mets fan, you look for these little stupid signs to have some fun,” he said. “They don’t always have the best luck, so when these things come along, you sort of embrace it.”
Hunter Wright, of Fresno, California, got her own shirt when she realized her friend, David Estrada of the Bronx, was planning to wear a Yankees jersey to a Mets-Astros game. It was, she said, a way to embody the spirit of Grimace.
“I wanted to upset him and I felt this would be the best way to do it,” she said. “I identify with Grimace in that way. I felt really close to him when he threw out the first pitch and saw the way people reacted. And [David] wore Wendy’s socks the other day because he was anti-Grimace. So I’m being antagonistic. That’s where my heart is today.”
Grimace’s actual motivations remain unclear, as the mascot does not speak. But one thing is clear: He may be purple on the outside but he bleeds orange and blue.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.