It appears at least some New York Mets players are rejecting the idea that McDonald’s mascot Grimace may somehow be linked with the club turning its season around.
As Jimmy Hascup of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com pointed out, former player and current analyst Doug Glanville joked during a recent edition of the “Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney” podcast about knowing that “Grimace is important.” The Mets have gone 11-2 since the purple figure tossed a ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field on June 12.
“By the way, I had a veteran player come up to me in the Mets clubhouse and say, ‘Please don’t talk about that. It’s such BS,'” Olney said, referring to what Mets fans are affectionately calling the “Grimace effect.
“Like, yeah, it’s not real for sure.”
Mets fans and others within New York have happily accepted Grimace as a good-luck charm for a team that was floundering as recently as late May. Charles Curtis of USA Today’s For The Win noted on Thursday how people are now rocking Grimace costumes at Mets home and road games during the club’s current run of form. On Wednesday, the Empire State Building shined purple lights for Grimace’s birthday and then tagged the Mets on X (formerly known as Twitter) following the Amazins’ 12-2 win over the New York Yankees.
However, Mets players have repeatedly credited the return of catcher Francisco Alvarez to the lineup on June 11 for the club’s hot streak. Alvarez suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb on April 19 that cost him nearly two full months of action.