A Mets game wouldn’t be complete without Mr. Met, cheers being played over the loudspeakers and music as each player steps up to the plate. Overseeing those things are just a few of the responsibilities of Vito Vitiello, the Producer of Video & Entertainment Services for the New York Mets.
This year marks Vitiello’s 18th season with the Mets, having begun as an intern working in the communications department. After completing his degree from St. John’s University, the producer of the Mets Diamond Vision show at Shea Stadium asked Vitiello if he would like to work for the department.
“I was destined to work for the Mets,” Vitiello said. “In my household, my dad was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and my mom was a Yankee fan. I wasn’t even allowed to watch the Mets as a kid.”
As a senior in high school, he and a friend bought a Saturday ticket package to the Mets, and Vitiello said that he started to love going to Shea Stadium more than Yankee Stadium.
In his current role, Vitiello said that every day is different, which is what he loves about the job. His duties include directing the live in-park show during games, producing the Mets television commercials, producing and editing Mets video news releases and assisting players with selecting their at-bat music, among other aspects.
“The best part of the job is you wake up every day, and you come in and you’re putting out a show for the fans,” Vitiello said. “That’s the most important part.”
During the games, it’s those fans that Vitiello feeds off when making decisions about what do for the in-park show. Since the control room in the new ballpark has big windows, he said it feels as though it is an extra row in the stadium.
“We consider ourselves to be the 10th man up here,” he said.
One of the aspects of the job that Vitiello loves the most is when he is able to cue the homerun apple.
“There’s nothing better than when we can raise the home run apple here at Citi Field,” Vitiello said. “There’s nothing like that moment and you feel like you really are a part of the game at that point.”
However, one of Vitiello’s most memorable moments while working for the Mets involved making the decision to not do anything during a game. He described the September 21, 2001 game as being very emotional, and said that it was tough to keep things together and call the show.
“When Mike Piazza hit that ball over the wall, I just dropped the headset on the table and said ‘just let the place react. They don’t need me tonight; I don’t need to enhance anything,’” Vitiello said. “That was a healing moment for New York and for the entire country. We just let it happen.”
