What Is the Grimace Effect, and What Does It Have to Do with Baseball?
Despite their reputation as one of the biggest underdogs in Major League Baseball, the New York Mets are having a season to remember, and many fans believe one furry, purple fast-food character is the reason. The Grimace Effect has taken New York by stormand it may even take the New York Mets to the World Series.
So break out your baseball glove, and read on to find out what the Grimace Effect is and how fans feel about the McDonald’s character that’s shaped the Mets’s 2024 season.
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What is the Grimace Effect?
The Mets’s 2024 season began with five losses in a rowand things were looking dismal for the team all spring. Nonbelievers counted the Mets out of the pennant race after they won only 9 out of 19 games in the month of May. But, then, in mid-June, the team’s fortunes began to turn around, thanks to the most unexpected of characters.
On June 12, Grimace, the beloved McDonald’s character, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Mets game in New York’s Citi Field stadium in celebration of his 53rd birthday. The guest appearance by the costumed character wasn’t entirely surprising given McDonald’s more than 10-year sponsorship of the legendary New York baseball team.
While Grimace’s pitch wasn’t very impressiveit landed to the far left of home platethe Mets’s winning streak that followed was nothing short of astounding. Starting on that day in June, the Mets went on to win an impressive seven games in a row, and fans were quick to dub the surprising winning streak the “Grimace Effect.”
How has the Mets’s record been since Grimace threw out the first pitch?
After Grimace’s first pitch, the Mets couldn’t seem to stop winning. The once-underestimated team embarked on a seven-game winning streak, and the longer the streak went on, the more fans began to make the connection between Grimace’s pitch and the team’s continued victory.
Now, the New York Mets have not only made the playoffs but have also already vanquished the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Philliesand are on their way to becoming contenders for the World Series. Tonight marks the Mets’s first home game of the National League pennant race; the series with the Los Angeles Dodgers is currently tied at 11. And while earning a spot in the World Series felt like a pipe dream back in the spring, the team is now one of the most dominant in the entire league.
“Whether this season ends with the first Mets World Series in my lifetime, or if it ends with an NLCS exit or World Series loss, it truly was one of the most incredible seasons I’ve experienced as a fan,” says former Mets staffer and lifelong fan Tommy Byrne.
How are fans embracing the Grimace Effect?
Mets fans have wholeheartedly fallen in love with the iconic purple cartoon character turned mascot. And Grimace has become synonymous with the Mets: His face is on subway cars, ballpark signs and Mets merch. Some fans are even dressing up like the beloved unofficial McDonald’s mascot when they attend Mets games. “At first, it started as just one person, but now everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, and you’re seeing a few costumes in the stands,” says Byrne.
Citi Field has even gone so far as to honor Grimace with his very own seat. You’ll find a bright purple seat with Grimace’s name on it located in Row 6, Seat 12, a nod to Grimace’s birthday and the date of his now-legendary first pitch. Fans are allowed to sit in the seat for good luck and a photo op.
Fans have shown just as much love to Grimace on the internet as they have at games. Grimace-centric social media posts have racked up more than 13 million views, and there’s no sign of this purple frenzy slowing down. Some fans are already angling to bring Grimace back to throw out the first pitch of the Mets’s 2025 season.
“I think Grimace will be a fixture in Citi Field for as long as this team continues to win, and hopefully that’s for the rest of my lifetime,” says Byrne.
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Source:
- New York Times: “How the Mets and McDonalds are capitalizing on the Grimace effect”
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