PRIDE
Pride Doubleheader Draws Large Crowd at Citi Field
Mets continue annual tradition dating back to 2016
BY MATT TRACY
Rainbows were lit up
around the stadium
and white T-shirts with
rainbow-colored Mets
logos were sprinkled around Citi
Field on June 25 when the team
hosted the Philadelphia Phillies for
a Pride night doubleheader.
The Mets have had an annual
Pride night game dating back to
2016, though last year’s event was
wiped out because the coronavirus
pandemic prevented in-person attendance.
This year, the team’s
Pride doubleheader came just as
restrictions were further eased at
Citi Field — and the Mets drew one
of the largest crowds of the season
to date, with 29,012 fans.
The fi rst 12,000 fans received
a free Pride T-Shirt and plenty
of rainbows were visible across
different areas of the stadium,
though most of the rainbows
were branded with corporate logos
— such as the Coca-Cola sign
in right fi eld as well as a Dunkin’
Donuts “This park has Pride” advertisement.
The corporate infl uence in Pride
festivities has drawn signifi cant
criticism in recent years, leading
to the Reclaim Pride Coalition’s
annual Queer Liberation March —
which bans corporations entirely.
While corporations are expected
to play a role in professional sports
games, the corporate infl uence at
the park struck a nerve among
some fans between innings when a
Mets employee wore a Pride T-shirt
while facilitating a promotion led
by Chick-Fil-A — which has been
shrouded in controversy for donating
millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQ
fi gures.
During that between-inning
program, children participate in
a quick home run derby: They are
tasked with hitting balls over a
fence with the goal of clearing the
wall every time. Those who do hit
every ball over the fence trigger a
promotion in which every attendee
in the stadium gets a free Chick-
Fil-A sandwich. Sure enough,
that’s exactly what happened on
Rainbows along the stadium seats at Citi Field.
Mets outfi elder Dominic Smith gets mobbed by his teammates after driving in the game-winning run in
walk-off fashion.
Pride night, sparking anger from
fans who ripped the Mets on social
media.
The anti-LGBTQ record of Chick-
Fil-A was raised again earlier this
year when activists protested outside
a new Chick-Fil-A in Jackson
Heights. In Staten Island, the Yankees’
minor league affi liate severed
its partnership with Chick-Fil-A
after that team got ripped for doing
business with the anti-LGBTQ
MATT TRACY
USA TODAY SPORTS/WENDELL CRUZ
fast food giant. The Mets took heat
when the team added Chick-Fil-A
advertisements to the foul poles in
2019.
Nonetheless, the Mets did make
their own efforts to bring Pride to
Citi Field. The T-shirt giveaway
was a step up from previous years
when fans were required to purchase
Pride attire, and the team
was more intentional by coloring
the team logo in rainbow colors on
social media. The Mets also adjusted
their “Ya Gotta Believe” slogan
to read “Ya Gotta Have Pride”
on the scoreboard and a long rainbow
stripe stretched along the
stadium. The team also honored
Callen-Lorde Community Health
Center as the community hero
of the day and highlighted other
LGBTQ-focused organizations
between innings — including the
LGBT Network.
It was also fi tting that the Mets’
starting pitcher in game one of the
doubleheader was Taijuan Walker,
who has posted about his support
of LGBTQ community in multiple
social media posts in recent weeks.
He has described himself as a
“Pride ally” and was spotted wearing
a “Love is Love” T-Shirt during
pre-game warm-ups days before
Pride night.
Another starting pitcher, Marcus
Stroman, has also voiced
support for queer folks and wore
the same T-shirt as Walker during
warm-ups. There was a time
earlier this season when Stroman
publicly chastised a fan for using a
homophobic slur.
“I can’t show appreciate for
greatness but you can use a derogatory
term that demeans the
LGBTQ community? Be better and
don’t delete this tweet once Twitter
drags you,” Stroman told the fan
via Twitter.
LOVE is LOVE! #Pride2021 @
Mets pic.twitter.com/RW9nj4hCjv
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0)
June 23, 2021
In game one of the doubleheader,
Walker helped save the Mets’
struggling offense by limiting the
Phillies to just one run in fi ve innings.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor’s
two-out RBI double tied the
game in the seventh and then outfi
elder Dominic Smith followed up
with a walk-off RBI single in extra
innings to win it for the Mets in
game one, 2-1.
In game two of the doubleheader,
the Mets and Phillies went into extra
innings yet again after getting
entangled in a 1-1 tie. The Phillies
went on to win the nightcap, 2-1, to
split the doubleheader.
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