Mets mania grips New York, in baseball state of mind

Renaming a Manhattan pub, inventing an ice cream flavor and inviting the team mascot to conduct the Metropolitan Opera -- New York is in a baseball state of mind.

After decades of failure and the butt of jokes, the New York Mets have achieved the unimaginable: a place in the World Series 30 years after they last clinched the title in 1986.

New York loves nothing more than a champion. And the Mets' bid for victory against the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game series, which kicked off Tuesday, is nothing if not a money-spinning opportunity.

Average ticket prices for the home games are a whopping $1,000 a head, bars will be packed and businesses from sushi restaurants to cupcake shops are doing a roaring trade for game-watching parties at home.

There are die-hard Mets fans, who have endured years of humiliation basking in sudden glory. And there are expedient businessmen who know a money-maker when they see it.

Team mascot Mr Met even made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting members of the orchestra, chorus and other staff in a rendition of "Meet the Mets", the Mets fight song, at Lincoln Center Plaza.

"It's great for business, it's great for the city," says Shaun Clancy, who owns a pub across the road from the Empire State Building.

He's taken the extraordinary step of renaming the bar after star Mets hitter, Daniel Murphy, whose spectacular feats nailed the team's spot in the Series.

"What he's done is ... the stuff dreams are made of," said Clancy.

- Blue and orange -

"What better way to honor an Irish-American than name a bar after him?"

Deweys Pub, another sports bar, expects to welcome more than double, if not four times the typical Tuesday night crowd to watch the Mets' first away game in Kansas City.

They have renamed Murphy's Stout Daniel Murphy's Stout. They are dyeing pints of Bud Light orange and blue -- the team's colors -- and offer blue and orange popcorn and hot dog specials.

Morning, noon and night New Yorkers can feast on Mets-inspired snacks and meals. There's the store in Brooklyn selling blue and orange stripey bagel with cream cheese.

A sushi restaurant in Manhattan is offering special Mets maki rolls.

GG's, a pizzeria in East Village that always has two Mets-inspired pizzas on the menu, has added a Murphy's Home Run Sundae, served in a special Mets helmet.

"Everyone kind of freaked out and it's been all over Instagram," says Emily Schumacher, general manager. "It feels like everyone is banding together, sort of like a New York moment," she added.

Magnolia Bakery, the high-end global cupcake chain, is offering "edible image" Mets cupcakes in vanilla or chocolate for $5.25 each.

Glaser's Bake Shop, a family-run business since 1902, has seen its blue and orange Mets cookies -- $2.50 each for a large one or $16 a pound -- fly off the shelves.

- New York fan -

"I'm not a big sports fan at all. But I'm a New York fan, and if a New York team is in the World Series and the playoffs, that's great," said Herb Glaser, who runs the shop with his brother.

Even the artisanal craze is on board.

Ample Hills Creamery, a Brooklyn ice cream company, has crafted what owner Brian Smith calls "an homage to a day at the ball park" -- their take on a Cracker Jack.

It's a popcorn-infused ice cream, with homemade peanut brittle and orange and blue M&Ms.

They ran a contest on social media offering a free pint of ice cream for the winning name -- "Party Like It's 1986."

But it's perhaps closest to home, that the mania is strongest.

In the Queens neighborhood of Corona, down the road from Citi Field, one deli has festooned itself in Mets flags.

They have two concession stands at the Mets home stadium, where business used to be slow. Not this year, though.

This summer, New York's other team the Yankees, who have won a record 27 World Series titles have suffered the slowdown.

"Usually, it's always Yankees, Yankees. But right now it's the Mets," says Irene DeBenidittis, co-owner of Leo's Latticini, better known as Mama's. "It's been a long time."
Source: AFP