A Little "Extra" Research

There's a whole lot of nothin' goin' on.

If you're as big a Mets fan as I am, then there's no doubt you've been getting very little sleep lately.  It's not because the Mets are playing so badly, they're making it hard to sleep.  On the contrary, the Mets have played very well over the past month, going 16-11 over their last 27 games (16-9 before losing their first two games in Pittsburgh).

No, my friends.  The reason why you've been losing a few Zs at night is because you're still up watching the Mets hoping for a few late-night Ws.  And with so many extra-inning games recently, you're probably looking forward to the All-Star Break for more than just the game.  You need it to reset your sleep patterns.

The Mets have played a dozen extra-inning games so far this season after playing just ten extra-inning affairs during the entire 2012 campaign.  The team is on pace to play 21 extra-inning games in 2013, which would be their highest total since they played 23 in 1986.  (The Mets went 13-10 in those 23 extra-inning contests.  The 13 extra-inning wins in 1986 are tied for the most in franchise history.  It was first accomplished by the 1971 squad, who went 13-9 when they needed overtime.)

The most games the Mets played in a single season that were tied after nine innings was 25, which they accomplished in 1978, going 8-17 in those extended games.  The 17 losses represent the highest total of defeats suffered by the Mets in extra innings in any one season.  In fact, the Mets have only played as many as 17 extra-inning games in 18 of their first 51 seasons.  Overall, the Mets have played 803 extra-inning affairs since their inaugural season, winning 380, losing 422 and tying one (a scoreless affair against the Phillies in 1965 that was called after 18 innings).  Their .474 winning percentage in games that go past nine innings is just slightly lower than their .478 winning percentage in all games, regardless of length.

So which teams do the Mets fare well against in extra-innings?  And which teams have the Mets' number once the game continues past the ninth inning?  The charts below list the five teams against whom the Mets have had the greatest extra inning success and the five teams against whom the Mets wished the game ended in nine innings (minimum 20 games vs. opponent).

Team	Mets’ Extra-Inning W-L Record vs. Team	Mets’ Extra-Inning Win Pct. vs. Team
Chicago Cubs	37-26	.587
Pittsburgh Pirates	46-33	.582
San Francisco Giants	35-31	.530
Miami Marlins	15-14	.517
Cincinnati Reds	23-23	.500

Note:  The Mets are undefeated in extra innings against the Los Angeles Angels (2-0), Toronto Blue Jays (2-0), Chicago White Sox (1-0), Detroit Tigers (1-0) and Oakland Athletics (1-0).  They also have a .714 winning percentage in extra innings against the Milwaukee Brewers (5-2).

Team	Mets’ Extra-Inning W-L Record vs. Team	Mets’ Extra-Inning Win Pct. vs. Team
Houston Astros	25-40	.384
Los Angeles Dodgers	20-31	.392
Philadelphia Phillies	33-51-1	.394
Mil./Atl. Braves	23-35	.397
St. Louis Cardinals	37-46	.446

Note:  The Mets are winless in extra innings against the Boston Red Sox (0-1) and Minnesota Twins (0-1).  They also have a .333 winning percentage in extra innings against the Colorado Rockies (4-8), Arizona Diamondbacks (3-6) and New York Yankees (2-4).


The Mets have already played four games that lasted a minimum of 15 innings this year, matching the team record originally set in 1968.  The team is 2-2 in those games, defeating the Diamondbacks in 13 innings and the Giants in 16, while losing to the Marlins in 20 and the D-Backs in 15.

Prior to this season, the Mets had only played in 46 games that went past the 14th inning in team history, with 34 of those games occurring prior to 1988.  Since the start of the 1998 season, games of extreme length have become as rare as a Shaun Marcum victory.  From 1998 to 2012, the Mets played four games that reached the 15th inning, the same number of 15+ inning games the Mets have played in 2013 so far.

How many more of these long extra-inning games can we expect?  How many total extra-inning games will the Mets play this season, period?  And how may more times will we go to bed wishing we hadn't stayed up to watch extra inning after extra inning?  It's just an "extra" concern fans of the 2013 Mets have to deal with.

The Reasons For Jeremy Hefner's Marked Improvement

Jeremy Hefner was drafted by the Mets out of high school in the 46th round of the 2004 June amateur draft.  He chose not to sign.  One year later, the Mets selected Hefner in the 48th round of the June amateur draft.  Once again, Hefner did not sign.  Instead, he transferred from small Seminole State College in Oklahoma to the much-larger and more scoutable Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, where he hoped to improve his draft status.  Two years later, the San Diego Padres beat the Mets to the punch by drafting Hefner in the 5th round of the 2007 June amateur draft.

After five years of toiling in the Padres' minor league system, the last three of which were spent at the Triple-A level, San Diego gave up on Hefner, placing him on waivers, where he was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Less than four weeks later, the Pirates also waived Hefner.  Six and a half years after the Mets were rejected by Hefner a second time, the third time was the charm, as the Mets finally got their man.

Hefner spent the first few months of 2012 at AAA-Buffalo, where he excelled, going 5-2 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 10 appearances (9 starts).  Hefner finally got his first call-up to the major leagues last spring, but was nothing more than a spot starter and long man out of the bullpen.  When the book finally closed on the 2012 season, Hefner had made 13 starts and 13 relief appearances for the Mets.  His numbers at the major league level were not very lucky, or very good, for that matter (4-7, 5.09 ERA, 1.37 WHIP).

Because of Johan Santana's second season-ending surgery in three years, Hefner was given another shot to join the Mets' starting rotation.  But with Zack Wheeler lurking on the blue-and-orange horizon, Hefner's spot as a starter was very much in jeopardy.  Through late May, his numbers were very Hefnerian, for lack of a better term, as the 27-year-old was 1-5 with a 4.74 ERA and 1.30 WHIP when May morphed into June.  But the months weren't the only things that morphed on June 1.  Jeremy Hefner underwent a metamorphosis of his own in June.  And not even Zack Wheeler's presence on the major league roster is going to stop Hefner now.

The Pirates could have traded their bats for planks and still would have had difficulty hitting Jeremy Hefner.

Beginning with his start on June 4, Hefner has gone 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in eight starts.  No pitcher in baseball - not even Clayton Kershaw or Matt Harvey - has a lower ERA since the beginning of June.  Hefner has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of those eight starts and has exhibited outstanding control, as evidenced by his 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (40 K, 8 BB) over the six-week stretch.

What has Jeremy Hefner been doing this year that he wasn't doing last year?  And how has he been able to become such a dominant pitcher after an average (at best) start to the 2013 campaign?

Let's look at Hefner's BABIP (batting average on balls in play).  In 2012, his BABIP was an unusually high .323.  That means opposing hitters were getting "lucky" more often than not, finding holes in the infield, flaring balls into the outfield, etc.  Since an average BABIP is around .300, it was reasonable to think that Hefner was just unlucky in 2012.

But looking at his first two months in 2013, Hefner's BABIP had gone down to .272, but he still had an ERA approaching 5.00 and a WHIP of 1.30.  Why would a lower BABIP not produce better results?  The reason is simple.  Home runs are not considered when calculating BABIP, as home runs are balls that go out of play, sometimes very far out of play, and Hefner gave up quite a few in April and May.

Hefner allowed ten home runs in his first 57 innings of 2013, which included a three-start stretch in April in which he allowed multiple home runs in each game (naturally, the Mets lost all three games).  Jeremy Hefner allowed 30 runs in April and May.  Fifteen of those 30 runs came via the long ball.  When half of a pitcher's runs allowed don't figure into the BABIP calculation, that's how that pitcher can have such a high ERA with a low BABIP.

So as long as Hefner could maintain his lower-than-average BABIP, all he had to do was keep the ball in the park and he would surely succeed, right?  All you need to do is look at his home run figures since June 1 to realize that that's exactly the case.

After allowing ten home runs over his first 57 innings this year, Hefner has only allowed five homers in his last 51 innings.  Since his mediocre start, Hefner has actually decreased his BABIP to .247.  Keeping the ball in the park and having hitters hit the ball in the vicinity of a fielder has allowed Hefner to post his league-leading ERA since the beginning of June.  The laws of sabermetrics say that Hefner's BABIP will eventually go back up to around .300.  However, as long as Hefner continues to keep the ball in the park, the damage will be limited once batted balls begin to find holes again.

BABIP isn't the only stat to consider when trying to determine how Jeremy Hefner has shown such improvement.  Hefner has also learned how to pitch better with runners in scoring position, has made great strides in getting the all-important first out of an inning, and is practically unhittable when he needs one out to complete a frame.

This is the face that defeated the dreaded BABIP monster.

In 2012, Hefner allowed opposing batters to hit a whopping .330 (31-for-94) against him with runners in scoring position.  But this year, he has learned how to make better pitches when a runner is within 180 feet of home plate.  In this year's RISP situations, the opposition is hitting a more reasonable .263 (20-for-76) against Hefner.

An old baseball adage says that the most important out for any pitcher is the first out.  In 2012, Jeremy Hefner did not subscribe to that adage, allowing a .321 batting average to hitters with no outs.  Those hitters also had a gaudy .496 slugging percentage against Hefner before the first out was recorded.  It was as if Hefner was facing Albert Pujols (.321 career batting average) or Carlos Beltran (.496 career slugging percentage through 2012) in every no-out situation last year.  Hefner is writing a much different story in no-out situations this year, allowing a .246 batting average and .399 slugging percentage, or numbers that most resemble those posted by Russell Martin in his career (.258 batting average, .398 slugging percentage).

Finally, Jeremy Hefner was just average in 2012 when he needed one out to complete an inning. Opposing batters hit .252 against Hefner in those situations.  This year, Hefner is nearly unhittable in two-out situations, allowing a barely there .145 batting average (18-for-124) when only one more out is needed.  In fact, the slugging percentage against Hefner this season in two-out situations (.250) is lower than the batting average against him in those spots last year.  Talk about being able to finish what he started.

Jeremy Hefner is not the dynamic pitcher Matt Harvey is.  Heck, his name is Hefner and he wasn't even the one who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine.  (Yup, Harvey was the playboy selected for that honor.)  But like Harvey, Hefner has been getting outs recently.  Lots and lots of outs.

On a team that is focusing on its young phenoms (Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler) and looking forward to the arrival of two others in the coming years (Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard), it's easy for Jeremy Hefner to get lost in the shuffle.  But over the last month and a half, opposing hitters have been the ones who have looked lost at the plate, just before shuffling their way back to the dugout after making another out.

It doesn't matter how a pitcher gets an out.  They just have to get outs.  And Jeremy Hefner has finally learned how to get them with regularity.  In his third chance with the Mets, the kid from Oklahoma is finally showing that he belongs in the major leagues.


For more on this topic, please read Jeremy Hefner: The Impossible Dream, a post written by Joe D on Mets Merized Online.  And if you haven't done so already, you can follow Mets pitcher Jeremy Hefner (@jeremy_hefner53) on Twitter.
 

Marlon Byrd: The Almost All-Star

Photo by Eric Risberg/AP

To say Marlon Byrd has resuscitated his career in New York would be a gross understatement.  Byrd was supposed to be a small piece in a puzzling outfield situation.  But instead, he has become one of the top run-producing outfielders in the National League.

After a grand slam on Tuesday and a two-run homer in yesterday's sweep-completing victory over the Giants, Byrd now has 15 home runs and 49 RBI, making him the team leader in both categories.  In addition, Byrd's 15 homers are tied for sixth-most in the N.L. and his 49 RBI are also the sixth-highest total in the Senior Circuit.

The only National League hitters with more home runs and runs batted in than Byrd are Carlos Gonzalez (24 HR, 63 RBI), Domonic Brown (23 HR, 64 RBI), Carlos Beltran (19 HR, 52 RBI) and Jay Bruce (18 HR, 62 RBI).  Justin Upton's 16 homers are one more than Byrd's total, but Upton only has 44 RBI - five less than Byrd.  Similarly, Michael Cuddyer's 52 RBI are three more than Byrd's output, but Cuddyer is tied with Byrd with his 15 homers.

In case you didn't know, Gonzalez, Brown, Beltran and Cuddyer are all going to be at Citi Field on Tuesday as members of the National League All-Star team.  Byrd, who plays half his games at Citi Field, will not be joining them.  But it's not as if he hasn't earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as those fine players.

Marlon Byrd's most productive season in the majors occurred in 2009, when he swatted 20 homers and drove in 89 runs for the Texas Rangers.  Naturally, it was in that campaign that Byrd achieved a career high in RBI before the All-Star Break, with 44.  The following year, as a member of the Chicago Cubs, Byrd was selected to his only All-Star team.  At the break, he was hitting .317 with 27 doubles, nine homers and 40 RBI.  The nine homers were a career-best for Byrd at the midsummer hiatus.

Those career highs in homers (9) and RBI (44) by the break have been wiped out, courtesy of Byrd's unexpected first-half performance for the Mets in 2013.  And Byrd reached his new highs in homers (15) and RBI (49) in fewer at-bats (265) than he needed to achieve his previous career highs in those marks (287 AB in 2009, 331 AB in 2010).

As seen in the chart below, which details Marlon Byrd's first-half performances since his first full season in the majors in 2003, Byrd had never been much of a run producer in the season's first half.  His 2009 and 2010 campaigns were the only ones in which he hit more than five homers and drove in more than 25 runs.  You can now add the 2013 season to the short list of All-Star caliber first halves for Marlon Byrd.

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	65	198	31	57	14	0	2	18	3	.288	.362	.389	.750
2004	58	214	25	48	7	2	2	18	2	.224	.297	.304	.600
2005	48	144	5	37	6	1	0	16	1	.257	.311	.313	.623
2006	78	197	28	44	8	1	5	18	3	.223	.317	.350	.667
2007	40	143	23	54	8	3	3	25	0	.378	.438	.538	.976
2008	59	175	28	43	9	2	4	15	2	.246	.328	.389	.717
2009	77	287	36	82	28	1	8	44	3	.286	.327	.474	.801
2010	87	331	47	105	27	0	9	40	4	.317	.365	.480	.845
2011	53	205	27	62	9	1	3	13	2	.302	.347	.400	.747
2012	47	143	10	30	2	0	1	9	0	.210	.243	.245	.488
2013	76	265	37	71	14	2	15	49	1	.268	.313	.506	.818
Career Total	688	2302	297	633	132	13	52	265	21	.275	.333	.412	.745

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2013.

Marlon Byrd is not going to the All-Star game this season.  In fact, Byrd wasn't even one of the top 24 vote-getters among National League outfielders.  Players such as Jason Heyward (.221, 7 HR, 21 RBI in 249 AB) and Gregor Blanco (.274, 1 HR, 27 RBI in 263 AB) received more support from the fans than Byrd did.  Even B.J. Upton, who had an Ike Davis-like first half (.179, 8 HR, 20 RBI in 273 AB) got more votes than Byrd.

Byrd might not have the name recognition or track record that Heyward and Upton have in Atlanta.  He also doesn't play for a team that has won two of the last three World Series, a la Gregor Blanco.  But there's no denying that he has put up the best run-producing first-half numbers in his career.  And there's also no denying that he has quietly become one of the best run-producing outfielders in the National League.  But he's also performed well in clutch and late-inning situations.

Going into the ninth inning of their game on June 16, the Mets were down 3-0 to the Cubs and were three outs away from having a 24-40 record.  As many Mets fans know, Kirk Nieuwenhuis' three-run walk-off homer gave the Mets an unlikely victory at Citi Field, but it was Marlon Byrd's homer to start the inning that set the stage for Nieuwenhuis' game-ending heroics.  Byrd's blast was the catalyst for the Mets' resurgence over the last month, as the team has gone 16-9 since the morning of June 16.

Byrd's ninth-inning shot on June 16 should come as no surprise to fans who have been Byrd-watching all season.  Of the 29 extra-base hits (14 doubles, 15 homers) collected by Byrd in 2013, more than half of them (eight doubles, seven homers) have taken place in the seventh inning or later.

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

The Mets are 10-4 when Byrd hits a home run and they are 18-12 when he drives in a run (10-4 when he drives in more than one run).  That means the Mets are 14 games under .500 when Byrd doesn't produce a homer or RBI.

Marlon Byrd may have been overlooked as an All-Star, but he has certainly not been overlooked by his teammates, his manager and by those who have a vested rooting interest in the team.  His teammates know how instrumental he has been to their recent success.  His manager can't take him out of the lineup (Byrd has played in each of the last 40 games).  And his fans go crazy on Twitter after every big hit or RBI ("Byrd is the word", "There goes another Byrd dropping in the outfield seats", etcetera).

Byrd is most definitely the word.  And those words are part of wonderful narrative for a career that looked dead after the 2012 season.  Byrd may not be an All-Star this year, but he's certainly been one of the most productive outfielders in the league in 2013.  Word.

Shaun Marcum's Season Is Done, Which Puts Him In An Exclusive Club

According to various sources, including Ed Coleman and Adam Rubin, Shaun Marcum's season is over.  Marcum has been diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which occurs when blood vessels or nerves between the collarbone and ribs become compressed.  This, in turn, can cause shoulder pain and a numbing of the fingers.

Marcum's final numbers were not exactly what the Mets hoped for when they took a chance on him this past offseason.  After combining to go 54-32 with a 3.67 ERA over his last five seasons, including a 7-4 mark and 3.70 ERA last year when he was a member of the Brewers, Marcum was 1-10 with a 5.29 ERA for the Mets.

That 1-10 mark puts Marcum in a rare club, one that he never expected to join.  Marcum is just the fourth pitcher in Mets history to finish a season with 10 or more losses while winning exactly once.

In 1962, Bob L. Miller lost his first 12 decisions before winning his final start.  His 1-12 record was almost duplicated three years later by Tom Parsons, who went 1-10 for the Mets in 1965.  Nearly three decades passed before the Mets had another pitcher with double-digit losses and a single win.  In 1993, Anthony Young lost his first 13 decisions of the season, just one year after losing his final 14 decisions.  Young finally earned a win on July 28, 1993, when a walk-off victory saved him from what would have become his 28th consecutive loss.  Young's sole victory was followed by three more defeats, giving him the worst one-win season in Mets history, at 1-16.

Bob L. Miller (1962):  1-12
Tom Parsons (1965):  1-10
Anthony Young (1993):  1-16
Shaun Marcum (2013):  1-10



By suffering a season-ending injury, Shaun Marcum's 1-10 record in 2013 is now etched in stone.  He has joined Miller, Parsons and Young to become one-win wonders.  The quartet have the only one-win, double-digit loss seasons in franchise history, with Marcum becoming only the second pitcher in nearly half a century to accomplish the feat.

Losing and the Mets have gone hand-in-hand for most of the franchise's existence.  Even pitchers who won with great frequency before coming to New York aren't immune to the losing bug.  Just ask Shaun Marcum.

Bobbing For Apples - The All-Star Game Edition

Have you been searching in vain for all 35 All-Star Game apples?  Did you even know there were 35 of them?  Would you like some directions on how to get to all of them?  The Studious Metsimus cast and crew is here to help you!

With Ed Leyro behind the camera and Joey Beartran posing for photos with each apple, here is every one, listed in alphabetical order.  There is also commentary on where each apple is located, whether it's indoors, outdoors, locked away from the public or in someone's basement.  (And yes, there is one apple that you can't get to and two that are in a basement.)

Thanks for reading and good luck with your search, which is hopefully made easier by these photos and directions.  For a better look of each apple (and Joey Beartran), please feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Location:  Modell's - 1293 Broadway (between 33rd and 34th Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Inside the store, down the escalator, and slightly to the left once you reach the basement level.

Atlanta Braves

Location:  Time Warner Center (southwest "corner" of Columbus Circle)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, near the main entrance, but it can easily be seen from outside.

Baltimore Orioles

Location:  Chelsea Market - 75 9th Avenue (between 15th and 16th Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, but you'll have to go to the end of the hallway, before it turns to the left.  It's located just outside the Chelsea Wine Vault, a store inside the Market.

Boston Red Sox

Location:  Party City - 223 West 34th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, to the left of the main entrance and easily seen from outside the store.

Chicago Cubs

Location:  Staybridge Suites - 340 West 40th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, but not on the sidewalk.  It's on hotel property, to the left of the main entrance before you enter the hotel.

Chicago White Sox

Location:  Toys "R" Us - 1514 Broadway (northeast corner of 44th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, directly ahead once you enter, but it's not lit very well and there are so many tourists jockeying to take photos of anything and everything with no regard for people who are just there to take photos of the apple.

Cincinnati Reds 

Location:  Modell's - 607 6th Ave (near the southwest corner of 18th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, near the escalator and easily visible from the street.

Cleveland Indians

Location:  Topps - 1 Whitehall Street (between Stone and Bridge Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, but it can easily be missed.  It's between a Duane Reade and a post office, but closer to the Duane Reade.

Colorado Rockies

Location:  World Financial Center - 225 Vesey Street (between North End Avenue and West Street)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk outside the World Financial Center.  (Please note that you will need to cross a pedestrian bridge to get to the western side of Vesey Street, where the apple is located.)

Detroit Tigers

Location:  Duane Reade - 1657 Broadway (near the southwest corner of 52nd Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, through the main entrance and to the left.  It's easily visible from the street.

Houston Astros

Location:  Westin - 212 East 42nd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, but not on the sidewalk.  It's to the right of the main entrance before you enter the hotel.

Kansas City Royals

Location:  FOX News Building - 1211 Avenue of the Americas (a.k.a. 6th Avenue, between 47th and 48th Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, on a raised platform above the sidewalk, but is cordoned off from the public.  You will need your zoom lens to get a close-up shot of the apple, as it's about 15-20 feet away from the blocked entrances.

Los Angeles Angels

Location:  Bed Bath and Beyond - 410 East 61st Street (on the southeast corner of 1st Avenue)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, through the main entrance and to the left.  The apple is clearly visible from the street.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Location:  T-Mobile - 322 West 125th Street (between 8th and St. Nicholas Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, through the main entrance and to the left.  Just watch out for the floor, which is undergoing some kind of repair.

Miami Marlins

Location:  Grace Building - 1114 6th Avenue (southeast corner of 43rd Street)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, but not on the sidewalk.  It's at the back end of the plaza outside the building.

Milwaukee Brewers

Location:  Office of the Commissioner - 245 Park Avenue (northeast corner of 46th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, up a short flight of stairs above the sidewalk, where Bud Selig can look down on you taking a photo of his favorite team's apple.

Minnesota Twins

Location:  Best Buy - 1 Union Square South (southwest corner of 14th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, up the escalator to the second floor.  The apple is directly at the top of the escalator.

New York Mets

Location:  SNY Studios - 75 Rockefeller Center (a.k.a. 6th Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, on the sidewalk.  Even Stevie Wonder couldn't miss it.

New York Yankees

Location:  Modell's - 234 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, slightly to the left after going through the main entrance.  I'm not saying anything else about it, as it pains me to even think about this apple.

Oakland Athletics

Location:  Modell's - 795 Columbus Avenue (near 98th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, to the right of the main entrance at the top of the escalator.  Quite visible from the street.

Philadelphia Phillies

Location:  Party City - 38 West 14th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, to the left of the main entrance.  It's too hideous to miss.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Location:  Niketown - 6 East 57th Street (between Madison and 5th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, on the sidewalk to the left of the main entrance.

San Diego Padres

Location:  Sony - 550 Madison Avenue (between 55th and 56th Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Inside.  WAY inside.  The store is split into two halves.  Go into the half that's closest to 56th Street.  Once you go through the doors, find the escalator going down and get on it.  You'll see the apple at the bottom of the stairs, although the lighting could be better where the apple is.

San Francisco Giants

Location:  Tommy Bahama - 551 5th Avenue (northeast corner of 45th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, but you'll have to go through a maze of Hawaiian shirts to get to the apple.  Once you enter the store, stay to your right.  Walk to the back of the store and after the first divider, you'll see the apple to the left, behind the divider.

Seattle Mariners

Location:  Nintendo - 10 Rockefeller Plaza (off 48th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside.  Once you find the store, which is the first one in the plaza after you turn off 48th Street, the apple is easily visible on the other side of the store entrance.

St. Louis Cardinals

Location:  Buy Buy Baby - 270 7th Avenue (between 25th and 26th Streets)

Inside or Outside:  Inside, through the main entrance and to the left.  Very visible from the street.

Tampa Bay Rays

Location:  41 Madison Avenue - building name and address are the same (southeast corner of 26th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, in the plaza above the sidewalk.  The apple is so obvious, it can probably be seen from Tampa.

Texas Rangers

Location:  Zuccotti Park - 1 Liberty Plaza (corner of Liberty Street and Trinity Place)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, in the northwest corner of the park.  Just don't tell anyone you're part of the 1% and you'll be fine.

Toronto Blue Jays

Location:  Intercontinental - 111 East 48th Street (between Lexington and Park Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, but not on the sidewalk.  It's up a few steps to the right of the main entrance and behind a column.  It's not very visible from the street even though it's technically outside.

Washington Nationals

Location:  Intrepid Museum - 1 Intrepid Square (12th Avenue @ West 46th Street)

Inside or Outside:  Outside.  You don't even have to get on the ship.  It's extremely visible.






Besides the apples for each of the 30 current major league teams, there are also five other special apples scattered throughout the city.  These apples represent the two former teams that played in New York before they moved out west, plus the American League apple, the National League apple and the special All-Star Game apple.

Below are photographs and the locations for each of the five additional apples.  Once again, you can click on each photo to see an enlarged version of Joey and the apples.

Brooklyn Dodgers

Location:  Grand Central Terminal @ 42nd Street (between Lexington and Vanderbilt Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside.  Go west through the Main Concourse toward the Vanderbilt Avenue side of the terminal.  Stay on the right side of the concourse and go through a narrow hallway.  The apple will be at the end of the hallway, near the Transit Museum annex.

New York Giants

Location:  Grand Central Terminal @ 42nd Street (between Lexington and Vanderbilt Avenues)

Inside or Outside:  Inside.  Go east through the Main Concourse toward the Lexington Avenue side of the terminal.  Look for the escalator that takes you down to the Dining Concourse.  The apple will be between the up and down escalators.

American League

Location:  New York Public Library - 11 West 40th Street (@ 5th Avenue)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, near the lion sculpture on the left side of the main entrance of the library.  The apple is on 5th Avenue.

National League

Location:  New York Public Library - 11 West 40th Street (@ 5th Avenue)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, near the lion sculpture on the right side of the main entrance of the library.  The apple is on 5th Avenue.

All-Star Game Apple

Location:  Citi Field - 123-01 Roosevelt Avenue (@ 126th Street, Flushing)

Inside or Outside:  Outside, near the Mets Team Store before the Hodges entrance.