ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand tackled the current, kinda confusing state of the 2014 Mets earlier today, taking into account (amongst other things), 2nd class status compared to the Yankees, Fred Wilpon’s financial woes, the team’s plummeting attendance and (mostly) futile history. Though the piece begins with a bag-of-shame-wearing Mets fan being ’86’d by Citi Field security, there is a happy ending courtesy of longtime PR director Jay Horowitz (above, left)…but not before Jonathan Niese puts his foot in it.
The other day at Citi Field, Jon Niese wondered where all the fans are these days.
“What do I think of Met fans?” Niese said with a laugh. “That’s a good question. I really don’t know except they want their team to win, pretty much like any other fan. That is pretty much all I know.”
When it was pointed out to him that Mets fans have stuck with their team through a lot of bad times, Niese questioned the sentiment.
“How can you say that?” Niese said. “We are not filling the stadium. Where are the Mets fans when we are down-and-out? They were here in ’06 and ’07 when we were really good, but we have struggled and they are not coming to the stadium.”
Horwitz reached out to the bag men, Sullivan and O’Donnell. He offered them front-row seats and a chance to attend batting practice for a game this season.
“To me, when the VP of media relations takes time out of his busy day to personally call me, a no-name fan, to apologize and offer me free tickets, it shows an admission of guilt on the part of the Mets but it also shows they care much more about their fans than I thought,” Sullivan said.
Jonathan Niese might not recall that in Citi Field’s inaugural season, 2009, The Mets sold nearly 3.2 million tickets to see a club that finished 70-92.