NEW YORK (AP) Step aside, Baha Men, and step aside, Timmy Trumpet. Meet Candelita, aka New York Mets infielder Jose Iglesias.
The tradition of musicians appearing at Mets games and performing songs associated with the team took a unique turn Friday night when Iglesias sang his song OMG following a 7-2 victory against the Houston Astros in front of 32,465 fans at Citi Field.
New York City! Iglesias shouted as he headed to shortstop, a position he played 1,016 times in his 12-year major league career. Let's keep the party going!
Iglesias was accompanied by dancers for over a minute before numerous teammates sporting OMG jerseys spilled onto the infield and surrounded him, raising their arms to the Oh My God! Chorus. Sean Manaea held up an OMG sign while Harrison Bader, Starling Marte and Mark Vientos captured the performance on their cell phones.
“It’s hard to say what I feel,” Iglesias said afterward in the locker room, where Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor were still singing the song. “It was a big deal. To sing in front of big fans and see my teammates running up there, it’s a dream come true.”
Iglesias is a longtime music fan who wrote “OMG,” which he described to SNY earlier this week as an attempt to maximize the possibility of enjoyment, and used it as his introductory song after being called up from Triple-A Syracuse on May 31.
His new teammates immediately took to Iglesias, 34, and his song, which is played after every Mets home run at Citi Field and after every win. New York is 17-6 since he joined the team and broke .500 on Friday for the first time since May 2.
“It’s amazing, I think it’s going to be huge for him,” Mets starting pitcher José Quintana said. “It’s pretty cool to be a part of this.”
And the way we continue to play, I expect to hear this song at least once or twice every game.
The song was released on all streaming platforms on Friday, a week ahead of schedule.
I think it's a special occasion, said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who wore an OMG jersey during his pregame press conference. You have an active player who also releases a song that becomes very popular.
Now, the Mets are hoping for better luck after the show for Iglesias and the rest of his teammates.
The Baha Men performed Who Let The Dogs Out?, the anthem of the National League champion Mets, before Game 4 of the 2000 World Series, but Derek Jeter hit a home run on Bobby Jones' first pitch a few minutes later and the Yankees won the next two games to clinch their third straight title.
On August 31, 2022, saxophonist Timmy Trumpet played Narco, the entrance song of closer Edwin Daz, as Daz was running for a save opportunity against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Daz pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out a 2–1 victory, but the Mets squandered a three-game lead in the NL East in September, lost the division title to the Atlanta Braves, and were eliminated in a Wild Card Series.
Iglesias, who is hitting .389 in 36 at-bats, said he would not have performed the song Friday if the Mets had lost.
How many emotions were there? A lot, Iglesias said. The way my teammates reacted, the fans and everything that's going on, it's just a perfect storm and I'm just happy to be there.