Meet the Mets — and their brazen legion of digital fans, whose dedication to the team is downright amazin’, if not occasionally certifiable.
Devotees of the “Loveable Losers” are well-acquainted with the roller coaster of emotions that come with every baseball season, and they slide headfirst into social media in unique — and sometimes bold — ways.
“Mets Twitter is like being in a dive bar,” Mark C. Healey, editor of Gotham Baseball and a longtime dean of Mets Twitter (now X), told The Post. “When the Mets are winning, it’s a lot of fun; when they are losing, it’s Rock’Em, Sock’Em Robots.”
Some fans have elevated their passion to such furor that they’ve managed to get themselves blocked on X by Mets owner Steve Cohen, a testament to the influence of social media in the world of sports fandom.
“Steve Cohen blocks me on [X] because he says I’m too negative,” said “Frank The Tank” Fleming, 48, of Bellville, New Jersey, an outspoken Barstool Sports blogger and one of the most polarizing Mets fans on social media. “He wouldn’t take a picture with me, he said, because I needed to be nicer to his players.”
![“Steve Cohen blocks me on [X] because he says I’m too negative,” said Fleming. “He wouldn’t take a picture with me, he said, because I needed to be nicer to his players.”](https://cdn.statically.io/img/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/frank-fleming-aka-frank-tank-84435618.jpg?w=1024)
Amid his ongoing feud with the Mets boss, Fleming posted a video last week asking for Francisco Lindor’s autograph — despite ripping the Mets shortstop as the “most (overpaid) and (overrated) bum in baseball” a month before.
After getting it he wrote: “Cohen punching the air right now.”
Fans around the league consider the Mets to have one of the most intense social media fanbases, and the fervor will come to a fever pitch Tuesday when the Subway Series kicks off against the Yankees at Citi Field.
“The Mets and their fans are star-crossed. There’s always something to scream about even if it’s made-up or fabricated,” said John Coppinger, 53, of Rego Park, the author of the widely respected “Metstradamus” blog since 2005.
“There’s also a higher volume of fans commenting on things like rats or raccoons in the clubhouse, Jorge Lopez throwing his glove into the stands and getting released, Grimace, Bernie Madoff, Tony Bernazard ripping off his shirt and challenging his minor leaguers to a fight.”
When the ceremonial pitch before a June 12 game against the Marlins was thrown by Grimace — the portly, purple McDonald’s character — and spawned an impressive seven-game win streak, fan reaction became online fodder.
@MetsGal, an X user from Long Island, declined to provide her real name but wasn’t shy about telling all of Mets Twitter where she’d like to get a tattoo of the team’s latest good luck charm in a viral tweet.
“I thought it would be funny to say I was going to get Grimace tattooed on my butt,” MetsGal said. “The team was doing good, and part of Mets Twitter is reacting when they’re doing well and feeling really crappy when they’re doing bad.”
She may or may not follow through, but Brett Engleman, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, already has.
The 26-year-old got the Mets’ new idol from the land of the Golden Arches tattooed on his shin, in part to mark the birth of his first son, Benjamin.
Shortly after he shared a pic of his new ink to his Instagram story, Engleman’s Grimace was posted on the main feed of The 7 Line, the Mets-centric clothing and support group with 118,000 followers.
“I’ll forever remember the Grimace run because of my son’s birth, so I gave the artist my idea, and he drew it,” Engleman told The Post. “There aren’t many Mets fans where I’m from, so I wanted something different.”
In recent years, some Mets fans have outgrown taking witty digs at each other or dishing props inside X’s 280-character box, like some who have expressed their views through song with musical jingles, both elaborate and impromptu.
“I’m a goofball and Mets fan,” said Greg “The Jingle Man” Princivil, 41, of Middle Island, NY. “Mets social media is such an eclectic place where anyone can find their avenue.”
Princivil, who works in digital advertising, mostly posts jingles “in-game during RBI situations.” In one clip, he remixes the chorus of the Night Ranger song “Sister Christian” from “You’re motoring, what’s your price for flight” to “Al-va-rez, watch the ball take flight” in response to Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez’s two-home run game May 9 against the Cincinnati Reds.
Fellow Long Islander Jordan Simpson, a drummer who studied jazz at the New School, sometimes collaborates with Princivil. In one video, the duo jams to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” Princivil sings the lyrics, “I’m asking for the man J-D Marti-nez, Power hitter with a great BA (batting average).”
Simpson said it can take up to six hours to make custom jingle videos that recap each Mets series. When the Grimace-charged winning streak ended against the Texas Rangers June 19, Simpson wore a full-body costume of the McDonald’s character to record a video of a clever series synopsis jingle over Beyonce’s “Texas Hold’em.”
“I was there when Grimace threw out the first pitch, so I wanted to make a song incorporating him, but I had zero purple in my wardrobe,” Simpson said. “I didn’t want it to be subtle, so I bought the costume for $50, and it was well worth it.”
Along with viral notoriety, many Mets fans say sounding off on social media has helped them find their own voices.
Rocco Bruzzese always talks Mets baseball with patrons visiting Café Dolce Vita, the pair of Long Island pizzerias his family owns. Since launching in 2022, Bruzesse’s account, @PizzaSportsGuy, has grown to over 7,000 followers due in no small part to his consistent posting about the Mets.
“People are always coming in the shop and talking about the Mets,” said Bruzzese, 33, of Plainview. “Those conversations led me to tweeting and podcasting about sports, and now my followers come to try our pizza.”
Between Uber fares, Hector Moquette, known as “Hector in Washington Heights,” regularly posts his cannabis-fueled #BluntThoughts on Twitter and has been phoning in his takes to WFAN since 1999.
“It does seem like the Mets fans are the loudest,” said Moquette, 48. “For the most part, the team controls how we feel.”
![“Steve Cohen blocks me on [X] because he says I’m too negative,” said Fleming. “He wouldn’t take a picture with me, he said, because I needed to be nicer to his players.”](https://cdn.statically.io/img/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/frank-fleming-aka-frank-tank-84435618.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024)
