AKA, the original Mr. Met.
Reilly passed away last Dec. 30 at the age of 83.
According to the obituary in Jan. 7 issue of The New York Times by Richard Sandomir
Mr. Reilly was working in the Mets’ ticket office when two team executives asked him to breathe corporeal life into Mr. Met, who had existed until then only as a cartoonish image used on promotional material.
On May 31, 1964, Mr. Reilly officially slipped on his Mets uniform and baseball-shaped head for the first time during a doubleheader at Shea Stadium against the San Francisco Giants.
Here’s another obit from Newsday.
I can’t think of too many other mascots who would receive such treatment. Maybe the San Diego Chicken or the Philly Phanatic.
While Reilly never wrote a book as far as I know, AJ Mass cover the topic of mascots in Yes, It’s Hot in Here: Adventures in the Weird, Woolly World of Sports Mascots.
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