MLBWeird But True

The Journey Of The New York Mets’ Chicken, Little Jerry Seinfeld

What began as tabloid fodder turned into a funny prank, and then turned back into tabloid fodder. It all began last Friday when Mets closer Frank Francisco told reporters he was excited for the upcoming Subway Series against the Yankees.

“I can’t wait to strike out those chickens,” he said. “I want to strike out the side against them. I’ve done it before.”

But the fun didn’t stop there. The Yankees brushed away Francisco’s comments. But the closer’s teammate and bullpen man, Tim Byrdak, did not. Byrdak sent a clubhouse attendant with eight dollars to Chinatown to buy a chicken to give to Francisco.

“Frank thought it was funny,” Byrdak said. “At first, I told him the Yankees sent it over for him. He had a look of concern on his face. And then he said, ‘You bought it.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I bought it.’ Everyone got a good chuckle out of it. He ran around here for a little bit. And we played the game.”

The chicken was named “Little Jerry,” after Kramer’s cockfighting chicken on Seinfeld.

Then the team had a new problem; what would it do with a live chicken? The animal was kept in a cage Friday night at Citi Field, where it was fed a meal of oatmeal, berries and bread from the Mets’ team chef.

In the meantime, the chicken began to serve as a mascot for the club. When the Mets rallied from a 5-1 deficit last night, Jerry Senfield had this to say about his real-life, imaginary likeness on Twitter:

Come on! @littlejerryseinfeld #rallychicken

— Jerry Seinfeld (@JerrySeinfeld) June 25, 2012

Then came the final decision: Where would the chicken end up? Byrdak and the Mets didn’t want the chicken to suffer the warm delicious fate of many of its fellow cluckers. So the team found a farm to house the chicken, and the story has a happy ending.

This tweet came from Team Chef Theresa Corderi, who had been taking care of Little Jerry.

Little Jerry going from the fryer to the farm, a reverse trip for most. Thanks to @FarmSanctuary. You guys are awesome twitter.com/bumblelina1/st…

— theresa corderi (@bumblelina1) June 24, 2012

And for those who are worried the Mets just lost their mascot, Byrdak said a replacement is already in the works.

“We have another chicken that will fill in for Jerry Seinfeld as he goes off to the Farm Sanctuary. We have a replacement that doesn’t need to be fed and watered and poop cleaned up afterward.”

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