New York Mets fans taking the 7 train to Citi Field on Tuesday for Game 3 of the National League Division Series may bump into a beloved mascot, while riding trains covered in its image. However, the character in question will not be Big-Headed Mr. Dead, the stalwart of the baseball mascot circuit who was first drawn in 1963 — but Grimace, the lumpy purple cartoon character introduced by McDonald’s in 1971.
It’s the latest development in a surprising and largely unplanned partnership between the Mets and the world’s most ubiquitous fast-food chain, a partnership that made Grimace an icon for the Mets and now envelops New York City’s subway system. One train (all 11 cars) will feature a Grimace cover and depart Hudson Yards at 1 p.m., prior to a 5:08 p.m. game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“We saw a lot of social conversations where people were taking a photo of Grimace’s face on the purple subway line 7,” said Amanda Mulligan, McDonald’s social media manager and influencer. “So it was perfect that we could bring some Grimace flavor to the commute for all Mets fans, knowing that everyone would be riding the 7 train all the way to Citi Field. There might even be a surprise appearance from Grimace himself on the subway.”
The Mets-Grimace connection began in a ceremonial first pitch thrown by the character at Citi Field on June 12. By most standards, it wasn’t a good draw, although it was commendable for someone wearing such a bulky outfit. More importantly, it preceded — or, some say, sparked — the Mets’ winning streak.
Social media took off, and the partnership between McDonald’s and the Mets grew to the point that a purple bench was installed at Citi Field in September.
Grimace’s seat now holds a place of honor at Citi Field. (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
“From a brand standpoint, I saw it raise our overall awareness and our overall priority of not just interest, but I would say, kind of passion and love for the brand,” Mets president Andy Goldberg said. Marketing employee. “Because we combine two things that people love a lot, and also a little bit of weirdness.”
The relationship between the Mets and Mickey D’s had previously existed. McDonald’s has been a sponsor of the Mets for at least 10 years, according to Brenden Mallett, the team’s senior vice president of corporate sponsorships. Associating multiple brands is certainly popular – an abbreviation has even been developed using one company name, the letter X, and then the second company name, for example Mets X McDonald’s. But the strange and fruitful pairing that has emerged over the past four months was ultimately not something either party was able to fully engineer.
“If we could do it more frequently, I think we’d like it, but it might not be as special, right?” Mallett said.
If the Mets hadn’t started a seven-game winning streak on the day of Grimace’s first pitch, none of this likely would have happened at all. But even once it had happened, the executives involved maintained that the “scowl effect,” as it was called, was not in fact of their doing.
Grimace effect 🟣 pic.twitter.com/aRBKkMFEwZ
– S – New York Mets (@Mets) June 18, 2024
Once fans hopped onto the first pitch, the team and the restaurant chain actually chose to play slow, to see where the social media winds would blow.
“When we started to see the momentum that the fans were getting behind it, we quickly realized, ‘Let the fans take care of this,’” Goldberg said. “Let the fans do what they do.” “As one of my team members said, ‘Let the internet, the internet,’ which I thought was Great way to put it…it’s not ours. If we force it, it becomes really unreal.
Goldberg heeded this advice from Brielle Speranzini, the team’s senior director of integrated brand marketing. The team splashed in a grimace here and there. When the 2025 schedule was released, Grimace appeared in a promotional video, for example. But the Mets appear to have avoided the force feed, while the players continue to win on the field.
“What was so surprising about this was the continued positivity we saw around the conversation,” Mulligan said. “Our concern throughout and during the first winning streak was: Well, if this ends, are people going to blame Grimace?” Will they turn to grimace? We didn’t see that. We’ve been seeing a lot of positive conversations about people who want to bring the Grims back to the first pitch again, who want to reignite that winning streak.
IP address cross-promotion comes with some nuances. When Grimace visits town, McDonald’s doesn’t just ship a giant purple costume to the park. One of the regular actors playing Mr. Met is not working in his Mickey Dee costume for the day.
No, Grimace must be brought specially, and does not arrive alone.
“I met Grimace,” Goldberg said. “I haven’t met the one in Grimace. He comes as a costume, the person he’s playing, and the wizard. And from what I understand, there are only two Grimaces in the whole world. It’s very difficult to book them, but they’ve been very helpful with us.”
“But they don’t send out the costume. It’s not like, ‘Hey, do what you do.’ Grimace has his own mannerisms, his own way of working, and it’s intellectual property and property of McDonald’s, and he’s the one who travels. It’s a wonderful world, a mascot world.”
McDonald’s representatives did not respond to questions about how many cherries are actually walking the Earth, or what it takes to reserve one. But ultimately, both Mets and McDonald’s — the latter with help from public relations firm Golin and ad agency Wieden + Kennedy — say the pairing has been valuable to their brands, though neither company shared the relevant metrics or dollar figures.
“There are ways we can measure the impact of an acquired conversation,” Mulligan said. “In this case, we weren’t looking at it so much from a business standpoint, but more so, this is a completely unexpected thing that happened in the culture, and we reacted very quickly, and we just wanted to continue that sense of conversation.”
Not everything the Mets tried this year was successful. In August, the team invited Haley Welch, the Internet star who went viral for a sex joke, to come out for the first show, and was harshly criticized by some for the casting. The team had a strong marketing strategy, sometimes believing that the effort would not work, but would yield positive results in the long run.
“This is exactly what it is, and we’re moving forward,” said Goldberg, who said Welch’s decision was “just the way it is.”
Meanwhile, Grimace continues to generate positive discussion. “There’s always an element of luck and serendipity,” said Karen Tepper Leland, CEO of New York-based Sterling Marketing. And an odd association like burgers and baseball can be mutually beneficial, even if it’s strange at first glance.
“Imagine there are two rooms, and you send a representative from McDonald’s into a room of 1,000 people, and you send a representative from the Mets into a room of McDonald’s of 1,000 people,” said Leland, who does not work for either party. “Each of them will be able to speak to a new room of audience that they may not have otherwise been able to speak to, and they benefit from the credibility of the company hosting them in that room.”
What will happen to Grimace’s impact for the Mets after this season is unclear. Mallett said a McDonald’s location at Citi Field is not something that has been discussed at this point. Goldberg noted that Shake Shack already has a presence in the park. (“There’s no problem with the two of them, by the way, and they’ve been supportive of it, so that’s been great,” Goldberg said of Shake Shack.)
One way or another, Mets fans may have given both companies their money’s worth.
“One way to look at the dollar value of this partnership is to look at the media exposure that both brands get,” Leland said. “They’re getting your exposure for free, right? This article you’re going to write is their exposure. They didn’t pay for it, so it’s advertising money that no one has to pay.”
(Top illustration by Dan Goldfarb/The Athletic; Photos: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)
