Earlier this season, the Mets got into some trouble after they inadvertently encouraged kids to "play hooky" to come see a game at Citifield. It seems they're having an opposite effect on kids now: this Sunday, before their game against the Atlanta Braves, is their annual Youth Baseball Parade, an opportunity for city little leaguers to march on the field. But because the start time of the game was switched, many of those kids won't be able to stay up and participate, and parents are pissed. And you can blame ESPN and MLB for that.
Little league mother Carolyn Pravda told us she was annoyed about the whole situation—ESPN has the option to pick a game of the week for national broadcast, and they chose the Mets/Braves matchup. So MLB moved the start from the original time of 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., "far past bedtime on a school night for most Little Leaguers," as she put it. The parents in the two participating little leagues, Prospect Park and Bayside, bought around 1500 tickets, at $25 each for Upper Deck seats, for the event.
"A portion of the tickets price goes toward supporting Little Leagues across the city," she told us. The issue parents are having now is that the Mets have been unwilling to exchange the tickets for a different game:
We understand how it would be hard to reschedule the parade since nearly every game has an activity, but it seems heartless to tell parents they have to take their young kids out to late game on a Sunday night or forgo the baseball experience entirely and forfeit the ticket price. I have tried contacting the Mets but to no avail. I can only speak for our family, but my son has literally been counting the days to this weekend.
The Youth Parade is still scheduled to happen at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. We've contacted the Mets for comment, but it's been suggested that at least part of the blame for the current situation should fall on a few of the little league managers—the league was aware of the possible game change well in advance, but many of the managers didn't inform the parents about it until recently. On a positive note, rumor has it that the team is still trying to work out another event for the little leaguers to participate in later this summer.
