Veteran NYCHA Employee Throws Ceremonial First Pitch at Mets Game

When she stepped in front of the mound at the Mets’ Citi Field for her spotlight moment, NYCHA’s Edith Irizarry-Oviedo wanted to pay tribute to her father and longtime employer.  

The Brooklyn resident made sure to wear a Mets jersey, but it was her father’s NYCHA cap that had special significance as she threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game against the Atlanta Braves on July 27.  

Taking the field, Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo said it was important to represent not only the organization she works for and loves but also the longtime employer of her father, a retiree who served for 27 years as a supervisor of grounds at NYCHA’s Boulevard Houses in Brooklyn. 

“It was a magical moment that I’ll never forget,” said Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo, an administrative staff analyst in the Human Resources Department who has worked at NYCHA since 1989. 

Having won complimentary game tickets in a NYCHA lottery giveaway for employees, she was randomly selected to throw out the first pitch, a unique opportunity typically reserved for celebrities and political leaders. The lifelong baseball fan noted that both her son and late mother were loyal to the Mets, so the chance to walk onto the major league team’s home field in front of thousands of spectators was “surreal.”  

“It’s our pastime; no matter what language you speak or ethnicity you are, it brings people together,” she said of baseball’s enduring impact. 

Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo called upon her colleague, NYCHA Painter Eddy Munoz Jr., to play catcher for her once-in-a-lifetime pitch. Standing five feet tall, Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo stepped in front of the elevated pitcher’s mound to toss the baseball, which she said thankfully made it to Mr. Munoz at home plate without any mishaps.  

While the moment “lasted all but a few seconds,” its significance was not lost on Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo as she noticed her name appearing on the jumbotron screen and gazed upon the crowd of thousands of witnesses, including fellow NYCHA workers.  

“It looks so much bigger than you think, and when you’re on the field, everything stops. It’s a different kind of aura, and even the air down there is different,” she described, adding that she thought of the movie “Field of Dreams” at the time.   

The ceremonial pitcher may not have had the chance to meet any of the Mets players due to COVID restrictions, but she did get to keep the baseball as a memento of “one of the top five things that I have done.”  

The game’s end result, a 12-5 loss for the hometown Mets, did not detract from Ms. Irizarry-Oviedo’s enjoyment of an experience that has created a lasting memory.  

“I’ll never see baseball the same way again; now every time I watch a game and see that mound, I can say, ‘I was there,’” she concluded.