Eddie Kraus, SNY Kidcaster from North Bellmore, meets Mark Canha, his favorite Mets player
Eddie Kraus of North Bellmore and Mark Canha. Credit: Anthony Rieber
Imagine getting to live out two of your dreams in a nine-day span at the age of 12? That’s what has happened for North Bellmore’s Eddie Kraus.
Kraus, who earned rave reviews for his broadcasting when he called a half-inning in the SNY booth with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling on Aug. 25, mentioned during his TV appearance that his favorite Met is leftfielder Mark Canha.
Word got back to Canha, who arranged to meet Kraus and his family during batting practice before Friday night’s game at Citi Field against the Washington Nationals.
Kraus was wearing a Canha No. 19 Mets jersey. Canha signed right on the “1” in “19” on the back of the jersey and also signed a lot of other items for Eddie and his brothers Joseph, 10, and Jack, 7.
“It’s so crazy,” said Eddie, the winner of SNY’s 2022 Kidcaster Contest. “I’m so happy right now. I’m not sure if I was more excited to become the Kidcaster or if I was more excited to meet Mark Canha.”
Kraus said Canha is his favorite Met in part because of Canha’s Instagram page, which is dedicated to food and travel and dates to his Oakland Athletics days.
“I said, ‘If this guy comes to the Mets, I’m going to get his jersey and he’s going to become my new favorite Met,’ ” Kraus said.
Said Canha: “He’s a cool kid. You can tell just by talking to him.”
And by listening to him. Canha watched the video of Kraus’ SNY stint with his wife and said they were blown away — and that his phone blew up after Kraus named his fellow foodie as his favorite Met.
“This kid definitely has a knack for it at such a young age,” Canha said. “He’s very charismatic. He just has it. He has that something.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
