Lucas Visits New York City, Throws First Pitch at Citi Field
Before Bartolo Colon toed the rubber for the New York Mets in Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Marlins, the home team handed the ball to another fan favorite at Citi Field. ¶¶Òô»ÆƬapp’s own Lucas the Stag did the honors, throwing out the first pitch to a crowd of over 25,000 fans that included more than 700 Fairfield students, staff, faculty, alumni and friends.
The first pitch was the culmination of a day-long trip to the Big Apple for Lucas, who unveiled his new look to the Fairfield community at the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year. Flanked by the ¶¶Òô»ÆƬapp cheerleaders and dance team, Lucas’ day started 12 hours before the Mets’ game with a visit to NBC’s Today show. Lucas could be seen in the window behind hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie, while the Stags’ spirit squads were prominent among the crowd outside of Rockefeller Plaza.
Lucas then headed to the Financial District as a guest of Fairfield alum Ronan Ryan ’96, where he rang the bell to open trading at 4 World Trade Center for IEX. In the afternoon, Lucas made visits to Fairfield alumni throughout Manhattan, beginning with a large group at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited led by Maureen Bujno ’90. He also stopped by to see alumni at the offices of both Buzzfeed and Ceros.
As gametime approached, Lucas made his way to Citi Field to prepare for his big-league debut. In addition to throwing a fastball to Mets’ catcher Travis d’Arnaud, Lucas had another chance to show off his arm as he joined Mr. Met in tossing t-shirts into the crowd.
Lucas was not only greeted with surprise and excitement by the crowds in New York – including several Fairfield alumni and friends thrilled to see their beloved mascot – but was a presence on social media through his Snapchat story and the use of #LucasOnTheLoose on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
