The more Seymour Weiner sees the Mets making his name famous, the more he eats it up.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Weiner said in a telephone interview. “I really can’t believe it’s happening. It’s probably one of the highlights of my life.”
Weiner is 97 years old. He has listened to a lifetime supply of wiener jokes. But he said he never heard any wisecracks combining his first name and last name — until the Mets made him something of an internet celebrity on Opening Day.
“The Weiner part of it,” Weiner said, “was something that in my childhood I was teased about. But there was never the thing of ‘see more wiener.’”
Now, no one can get enough Weiner.
Seymour Weiner wants YOU to come to Dollar Dog Night 💵🌭
🎟️👉 https://t.co/jqCDgZM4UI pic.twitter.com/cAU0itvBul
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 24, 2024
He enjoys reliving how the sausage was made: On Opening Day, the Mets named Weiner, who served in World War II, their veteran of the game. When he appeared on the club’s supersized scoreboard with his name spelled out, Weiner received a loud ovation. The Mets lost, but he was a clear, ahem, winner.
Quickly, Weiner (pronounced “weener”) received attention on social media. He read all the posts. He laughed at all the memes. Weiner, who remains sharp and engaging, exclaimed during a recent conversation, “Did you see they even picked this thing up in Australia?”
“To me, it’s been so enjoyable,” Weiner said. “In no way does it annoy me. Just look at all the notoriety I got out of it!”
After Opening Day, Weiner’s daughter, Beth, wrote to the Mets thanking the club for honoring and hosting her father. Beth, who works as a psychologist and professor, expressed how much Weiner enjoyed the day. Within the note, Beth added, “And he has become a meme! Don’t worry. We’ve heard every joke you can imagine.” A pleasant back and forth followed. Eventually, Beth also said, “If you’d ever want to use us in any ad campaign, we’d love it.”
Say no more.
The Mets recently ensured everyone will be seeing more of Weiner.
On Tuesday, the Mets team will hold a $1 hot dog night promotion. The club posted on X a photo of Weiner as part of an image advertising the game. Within a day, nearly 5,000 accounts had liked the post.
“We had this idea of Dollar Dog Night,” Mets chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg said, “and we were, like, well, what would be better than Seymour Weiner?”
Weiner was up for it.
Weiner said he won’t be able to go to the game because chilly nights just don’t cut the mustard for him these days. But his daughter and other family members plan to attend. Also, Weiner wants to see more of Citi Field. He said he’d love to attend future games and meet more Mets.
For Weiner, the moment has punctuated a lifetime connection to baseball.
When he was 12 years old, Weiner, a lifelong Brooklyn resident, became a Dodgers fan. Weiner, who got out of the U.S. Army in 1947, attended the game in which Jackie Robinson recorded his first hit. “Only 12,000 people were at that game in Ebbets Field,” Weiner said, “so I may be the only person who was there and saw it and who is still alive.”
“He wasn’t the greatest ballplayer I ever saw,” Weiner said, “but he was certainly the most exciting.”
So who was the best? That’d be Willie Mays, whose number is retired by the San Francisco Giants and Mets.
Mays, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges …. Weiner saw a bunch of the greats latch on with the Mets late in their careers, so the transition from Dodgers fan to Mets fan became an easy one.
Weiner called the experience on Opening Day “unbelievable.” He said the Mets treated him “like royalty.” Former Mets Mookie Wilson — Weiner’s favorite Mets player from the 1980s — and John Franco accompanied Weiner to the field. He was glad he got to show off his Dwight Eisenhower jacket — Weiner was stationed in Italy during the war — and he thanked his granddaughter, another huge Mets fan, for that. Weiner was wrapped in blankets until his granddaughter told him with a smile, “Grandpa, suck it up.”
Seymour Weiner with Mookie Wilson, left, and John Franco, who presented the veteran with a signed case. (The New York Mets)
He cherishes the wooden case gifted from the Mets that Wilson and Franco autographed for him. He appreciates the many people, including Keith Hernandez, he said, who have thanked him for his service. He relishes the attention he has received and gets a kick out of people from his daughter’s past calling her about his newfound fame.
The way he sees it, Weiner can’t ask for much more.
(Top photo of Seymour Weiner: Courtesy of the New York Mets)
