Mr. Met wears a removable Mets hat. Who knew?
Mr. Met entertains fans during the Mets' home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
Mr. Met “is a man with a large baseball for a head,” as his Wikipedia page accurately and succinctly puts it. But what do we really know about him beyond that — his hopes, his dreams, his inner thoughts and . . . what exactly is under his oversized baseball cap?
We know more now than we did until recently: He is as bald as one might expect for a baseball-headed character, other than his seams. And he also is a patriotic sort, in the traditional mold.
How do we know these things? Because more and more, the Mets’ iconic mascot has been seen around town without his cap on.
On Sunday, when Newsday’s Laura Albanese posted a picture of him standing at attention, hat in his right hand, during the singing of “God Bless America” at Citi Field, Twitter was atwitter.
Many people had never seen — or at least had never noticed — such a thing before.
Um. They're singing God Bless America and @DPLennon just pointed out that MR. MET CAN TAKE OFF HIS HAT?!?! pic.twitter.com/LHAiKZ6ESa
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) April 17, 2022
But it was not the first time. At an Opening Day event at MLB headquarters in Manhattan where Mr. Met and Mrs. Met made a joint appearance, another Newsday reporter observed Mr. Met take off his cap, playfully put it on the head of a fan, and have his picture taken with said fan (and Mrs. Met).
Asked whether he is allowed to do that sort of thing, Mr. Met declined to comment, as is his wont.
It turns out this is not an entirely new development.
Harold Kaufman, the Mets’ vice president of communications, told Newsday on Monday that Mr. Met’s hat has been removable since sometime in 2019.
It is held in place with Velcro, and he takes it off when he is within sight of people in the stadium during the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America.”
There were no fans at Citi Field in 2020 and fewer than normal last season, so naturally more eyes than ever are on the chapeau-free version Mr. Met in 2022.
But wait: What about Mrs. Met? She did not remove her cap on Sunday, prompting some Twitter replies that questioned her loyalty to the United States.
Might she be some sort of international spy, maybe sent from . . . Toronto?
Fear not, America. Mrs. Met is not currently able to remove her hat, but Kaufman said plans are in place to alter her costume to allow for that later this season.
Spoiler alert: She is not bald.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
