Mets media guru Jay Horwitz will be honored with his own Mini Me bobblehead at Social Media Night benefit for Shannon Forde
NEW YORK METS vs. DETROIT TIGERS
Citi Field
123-01 Roosevelt Ave. at 126th St.
Friday, August 23, $35, 7:10
www.newyorkmetscom
When we were at a Mets spring training game in Port St. Lucie back in March, we saw a surprising sight. A large group of autograph seekers were gathered around a schlubby older man, thrusting baseballs, photos, shirts, hats, and other items at him for his John Hancock. Two men approached us and asked who the guy was. We told them that it was Jay Horwitz, the team’s longtime PR guru, and they got all excited and immediately sped over to join the crowd like they were Mookie Wilson dashing for home. Horwitz, the Mets’ vice president of media relations, has been the team’s mouthpiece since April 1980, and he is now a Twitter sensation, with more than twenty-five thousand followers. He posts numerous times a day, writing about how the team is doing (“Gonzalez Germen impressive on and off mound. First save and did great job in doing his post game interview in English.”), pointing out odd stories (“Meet the only elephant who is a Mets fan at the San Diego Zoo. His name is Horace. Big fan since 1978. pic.twitter.com/0TeUYyF3d1”), answering questions directly, and joining the debate about recently being caught on camera with his finger in his nose (“Plan to appeal my nose case to Supreme Court. Judge Roberts saw game and said it was a scratch not a pick. Says I have the votes.”) On August 23, the Mets will honor Horwitz, who just turned sixty-eight, with his own bobblehead as part of Social Media Night, which is also a benefit for Shannon Forde, the team’s forty-one-year-old senior director of media relations and married mother of two who has been battling Stage 4 breast cancer since last August. Fans who buy $35 tickets through this link will receive the bobblehead, which Horwitz has dubbed Mini Me (“After an extra inning game and a two hour bus trip to SD, Mini Me sleeps in today. Have to get up soon. pic.twitter.com/fLcuyjNfBU”), with a portion of the proceeds going to Hope Shines for Shannon. In addition, the interleague game against the first-place Detroit Tigers will be followed by a concert by Third Eye Blind (“Semi-Charmed Life,” “Graduate”). When asked by NY Sports Dog back in 2008 what his secret was, Horwitz said, “Never lie. You can’t lie in New York with all the exposure here. Be up front with people even in the worst of times.” Clearly, it also helps to have a wacky sense of humor, especially as a member of the Mets franchise.