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Meet the Mets

45:03 recording · EN · 3 speakers

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Brief overview

A trans ballpark vendor in 1964 finds the Mets mascot is an alien who simply loves baseball.

  1. A mascot costume as a survivable disguiseBobby recognizes the alien's papier-mache head as the same mask he wears to be himself.
  2. Integration is what let the alien hopeNegro League broadcasts and Jackie Robinson in 1947 made the alien think it might belong too.
  3. Payson built room for the left outThe first woman to buy a team without inheriting it fought to put an alien on the field.
Executive Summary AI
  • Escape Pod episode 1038 presents "Meet the Mets" by Ace Tilton Ratcliffe, introduced by host and co-editor Merle Lafferty and narrated by Jordan Carella, with a content warning for brief violence and bigotry toward a transgender character.1:04
  • In 1964 Bobby, a trans man beaten by coworkers at the ballpark and long ago thrown out by his father and brother Tom, works opening day at the brand new Shea Stadium selling peanuts and Cracker Jacks.3:05
  • In the non-public bathroom he finds Mr. Met's papier-mache head off and a tentacled, single-eyed alien underneath, panics, tries to warn the press box, punches his manager Mr. Richardson and is arrested and cuffed in an unfinished office with no telephone wiring.8:00
  • Mr. Met comes to the locked door, they free each other, and the alien explains it fell in love with baseball from a KDKA Radio broadcast 43 years earlier, was taught the game by Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, and only followed the sport's integration after Jackie Robinson.28:06
  • Mets owner Mrs. Joan Whitney Payson invented Mr. Met so the alien could stand on the field in costume; she offers to meet Bobby after the inevitable loss, and Bobby proposes mascots for the other 19 teams so more aliens can watch.38:16
Key Quote
“Escape Pod, episode 1038, Meet the Mets, by Ace Tilton Ratcliffe.”
— Merle Lafferty1:04
Key Quote
“Nobody expected them to win, which is why exactly Bobby and the rest of the queens adored them.”
— Jordan Carella6:55
Key Quote
“Someone's just wants to watch baseball.”
— Mr. Mett26:08