Diehard Mets fan from LI visiting Rome goes viral

Eddie Schantz of Commack was wearing his Mets baseball cap as he awaited the new pope in Rome. The moment went viral.

Cecilia Dowd

May 9, 2025, 9:53 PM

Updated 1 hr ago

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Eddie Schantz did a very normal thing Thursday when in Rome - he put on his Mets baseball cap.
He did this while awaiting the new pope in Saint Peter’s Square.
The moment was captured on camera and very quickly went viral.
Schantz told News 12 via FaceTime that he loves the Mets and bleeds “blue and orange.”
He said he wasn’t trying to get noticed with the hat.
“It’s just so hot and sunny here, I was like I need to bring a hat and I wear the Mets hat wherever I go," he says.
He said he was standing there, waving his hat, “never in a million years expecting it to get picked up and go viral like this.”
The Mets had some fun with the viral moment, with a post on the team’s X account: “There was a Mets hat WHERE???” Eddie replied to the post, “it was literally me!! Lol LGM!”
Schantz, a Syosset High School graduate who now lives in Commack, told News 12 he’s always hoping for a World Series, and “now I’m really believing.”