By Gabriel Rom
Edwin “Eddie” Boison, also known as the Cowbell Man, has no official seat at New York Mets home games. But he has been a diehard Mets fan all his life and has hardly missed a New York game in over 40 years.
Boison, a fixture at Shea Stadium and Citi Field for decades, is known to Mets fans for his uncanny ability to rile them up through thick and thin.
Now in his mid-60s, Boison wanders the stands at every Mets home game hitting his cow bell and rallying the crowd to the tune of “Let’s Go Mets!”
Longtime fans say Boison slaps them five every time they see him and that he knows many of them on a first-name basis.
“As a Met season ticket holder, I see him at every game leading the cheering for the Mets and I’m sure that other Met fans will agree,” said Alan Gimpel, a longtime Met supporter.
Boison, a cafeteria worker in the daytime, has embraced his stardom.
Boison normally wears his own personalized jerseys adorned with his nickname, CowbellMan. In 2009, he wore a batting practice jersey with the number 15, which from 2005-2011 was assigned to outfielder Carlos Beltran. Before the Mets acquired the slugger Beltran, Boison’s jersey featured the number 10, which was worn by former Mets outfielder Endy Chavez. As of September 2015, he has worn a number 21 Met jersey, a number that is also worn by Mets first baseman Lucas Duda.
Boison has been around long enough to see the Mets at both their best and their worst. And while he is almost always upbeat, he has had his faith tested by the Amazins.
In 2011, after a particularly dispiriting 9-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boison was distraught.
“They got no fire,” he told the New York Times after the game.
It was, he said, the only game he had ever left early. “Just horrible,” he added.
Yet he also witnessed the Mets’ historic 1986 playoff run and heartbreaking World Series loss, as well as the team’s wonderful but ultimately unsuccessful 2015 season.
His enthusiasm, however, has spawned a number of lookalikes, or competitors depending on who you root for, from the Brooklyn Cyclones to the New York Yankees.
In 2011 Boison was afforded some nationwide recognition when he received a nomination for ESPN’s Fan Hall of Fame.
In the future, the only thing he could ask for would be for a World Series victory.
