FSL1 St. Lucie Mets

Mets to Celebrate Middle Child Appreciation Night

August 10, 2015 - Florida State League (FSL1)
St. Lucie Mets News Release


PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - National Middle Child Day is Wednesday, a day that always seems to get ignored or forgotten, but the St. Lucie Mets actually remembered!

The Mets are throwing some love to the self-proclaimed "forgotten child" on their namesake holiday, and the International Middle Child Union couldn't be happier.

"This kind of recognition is a giant leap forward for Middle Child-kind," said I.M.C.U founder and Florida resident Bruce Hopman.

Hopman pitched the idea of a "Middle Child Appreciation Night" last fall and the Mets were clearly eager to play ball. When they face the Fort Myers Miracle at Tradition Field on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. they'll join almost 50 other teams in 26 states this season who are acknowledging and celebrating a holiday no one seems to know even exists.

"Typical Middle Child treatment," Hopman bemoaned.

Ironically, the idea for the night started out as a joke. Hopman was heading to a Miami Marlins game last year with a friend and quipped, "I wonder if tonight is Middle Child Night at the stadium. You know, when you bring your middle child to the game and they don't pay any attention to them!"

But what started in jest turned into a crusade. Building on the success of his 2013 Global virtual Middle Child Strike (#MidKidStrike), Hopman was looking for a new way to spread the word about Middle Child's Day and America's Favorite Pastime seemed like the way to go.

"I came across an article listing all the crazy promotions teams run, and the more I read, the less of a crazy idea Middle Child Night seemed," Hopman said.

The St. Lucie Mets agreed, along with more than twice as many teams as last year.

"If you're not a middle child yourself, you're related to one or probably know one," St. Lucie Mets general manager Traer Van Allen said. "This is a great opportunity for middle children in Port St. Lucie to receive the attention they claim to never get enough of."

The Mets have a fun-filled evening planned that even the most attention deprived middle child won't soon forget. The evening is also scheduled to include middle child themed songs throughout the game, in-between innings games featuring middle children and more surprises are sure to be added.

"It's only fitting this is happening on a Wednesday," added director of community relations & special events Kasey Blair. "It's like the forgotten middle child of the week."

Hopman is quick to point out that Middle Child Appreciation Night isn't meant to exclude other members of the family.

"After complaining about being the odd man out, this is a chance for us to share our night with the entire family, but the middle child gets to be the hero for a change, instead of getting blamed. Who knows, maybe this will change the whole birth order dynamic!"

His optimism is short lived, however. "The next day we can go back to being cast aside and ignored."

Check out the St. Lucie Mets Statistics



Florida State League Stories from August 10, 2015


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