World Series Odds – Which NY Legend Will Get First-Pitch Honors?

The New York Mets will host their first World Series game since 2000 this weekend. However, in that last World Series appearance, they happened to be playing the cross-town rival New York Yankees, so this will be the first time since 1986 that the Mets are truly the talk of the town. With a big spotlight comes a big opportunity, and that opportunity extends to everyone, even non-baseball players.

The ceremonial first pitch is a huge part of baseball, and can garner you respect, or instantly cost you your street cred. That pressure only ramps up in the postseason. While it’s mostly retired players who get the chance to toss one out, others like Tom Watson and Magic Johnson have gotten a shot as well.

Who will get to toss the first pitches when the Mets return home for Games 3, 4, and (possibly) 5?

Odds of throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field during games 3-4-5 of the World Series:

Darryl Strawberry: 2/1
Dwight Gooden: 5/2 (Dwight Gooden & Darryl Strawberry together: 50/1)
Mike Piazza: 3/1
Tom Seaver: 4/1
Mookie Wilson: 4/1
Ray Knight: 6/1
John Franco: 6/1 (James Franco: 1,000/1)
Jerry Seinfeld: 9/1
Ben Stiller: 10/1
Chris Rock: 10/1
John Stewart: 12/1
The family of Gil Hodges: 18/1
Keith Hernandez: 25/1 (He’d be higher if he hadn’t already done so in the NLCS.)
Bill de Blasio: 30/1
Rudy Giuliani: 65/1
Lenny Dykstra: 1,000/1 (Apparent blackmailer extraordinaire.)

(Photo Credit: slgckgc (Mike Piazza) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)