The Knicks' long-awaited NBA championship has galvanized New York sports like few events in recent memory, and that energy will be all over Citi Field this week as a trio of key figures from the team's title run will throw out first pitches.
Longtime Knicks broadcaster Mike Breen, who called the NBA Finals for ABC, will throw out a ceremonial first pitch on Monday, followed by sparkplug guard Jose Alvarado on Thursday and NBA Finals Game 4 hero OG Anunoby, who will throw one to his good buddy José Reyes, on Sunday.
Breen, a native of Yonkers, N.Y., a Fordham University graduate and a long-time Mets fan, has been calling Knicks games for more than two decades. Famous for his “Bang!” calls after big plays, Breen recently told Sports Illustrated podcaster Jimmy Traina that if Jalen Brunson’s late three-point attempt in NBA Finals Game 4 had gone in, he would have reacted with the first triple “Bang!” of his career. Instead, Anunoby converted the tip-in heard 'round the world to complete the Knicks' historic comeback.
Like Breen, Anunoby and Alvarado are also Mets fans. Though Anunoby grew up a Cardinals fan in Missouri after moving from London as a 4-year-old, he later adopted the Mets, citing Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Pedro Martinez among his favorite players in an interview with the Athletic, and he said he watches baseball "all the time."
Alvarado is a Brooklyn native who grew up a Mets fan, even taking in a game at Citi Field on May 27 on an off-day after the Knicks swept their way through the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Knicks have been the toast of the city, transcending even the Mets-Yankees divide: Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart threw out first pitches at Yankee Stadium last Wednesday, the day before their ticker-tape parade.