Who knew wearing a Mets jersey in 2018 was the cool thing for pro athletes in other sports to do? I know I have seen countless athletes rocking Yankees hats and Yankees jerseys, but almost never Mets.
.@PatrickMahomes5 walks into Arrowhead wearing his dad's jersey!
— NFL (@NFL) October 21, 2018
📺: #CINvsKC (8:20pm ET) on NBC pic.twitter.com/gLb6yyrWzX
Twitter and all Mets fans were going crazy on Sunday night when Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Pat Mahomes entered the stadium and also did his post-game press conference in a gray Mets Mahomes #23 jersey. For those who recognize the name, the Chiefs quarterback is the son of former Mets reliever Pat Mahomes who was a reliever for the Mets in 1999 and 2000. What made it even more awesome was the fact that it was his dad’s jersey that he wore. It was really cool to see a current day athlete rocking the orange and blue like that, and I think the Chiefs quarterback now has some Mets fans quietly rooting for him on the side while they root for either the Jets or Giants.
Pregame threads @Mets 👀 pic.twitter.com/19l9DD9h6W
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 23, 2018
When you thought that was simply a one-time occurrence, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell walked into Monday night’s NBA game rocking a blue Jacob deGrom 48 jersey. For those that don’t know, Mitchell’s father is the director of player relations for the Mets. Both of these Mets jersey wearing athletes have ties to the organization through their fathers, but it’s still cool to see. However, I have a bit of an issue with Mitchell here that I want to state here. Your father works for the team and you were a 1st round NBA draft pick and you can only show up rocking the free shirt Friday jersey?? C’mon Donovan! You should be showing up in those nice authentic threads. I appreciate the sentiment, but you have to be better than that!
I know the main reason that these two athletes wore the Mets jerseys were because of their fathers, but I still loved seeing it. I am biased, but the Mets jerseys and colors are awesome in my mind. I want to see more Mets love out there, and part of that is putting together a consistent winner. The Mets are a team that is in New York and when they are winning you see Mets stuff EVERYWHERE. I really think they can be a brand that people would be proud to be rocking at all times if they could get out of their own way.
Take a look at the potential marketing boom that the Mets could get by simply being competitive consistently. Seeing Mahomes and Mitchell rock the orange and blue opened my eyes to that possibility. The Mets should be every bit as big of a deal as the Yankees, but they aren’t as of now. I can’t wait to see who the new General Manager is and hopefully they can get to the point quickly where the Mets are a big deal again. Mahomes and Mitchell started the trend, let’s make it cool to wear Mets jerseys again.
We're checking off the Southside with The 7 Line Army on Saturday August 31st at Guaranteed Rate Field. Let’s get some miles in to start our day, then sightsee or do whatever else you have planned before the Mets/T7LA pre-game party.
Joe DeMayo
Author
T7L contributing blogger - Follow Joe on Twitter