Put It In The Books: The New York and Kansas City Public Libraries Make World Series Bet

OCTOBER 29, 2015 – Read all about it!

The heads of the New York and Kansas City public libraries have made a friendly wager on the outcome of the World Series between the Mets and Royals, launching a high-stakes game of books, baseball, bagels and barbecue.

If the Mets take the Fall Classic, New York Public Library President Tony Marx will receive an amazin’ BBQ meal courtesy of Kansas City Public Library Director Crosby Kemper III, and a series of items from Mid-Continent Public Library Director Steven Potter, including a collection of library coffees he developed, copies of two books recently published by his system’s Woodneath Press, a donation to support NYPL’s early literacy programs, the promise that he will wear a Mets hat to Library meetings and programs, and, of course, more BBQ.

If the Royals take the crown, both Kemper and Potter will receive some serious dough: a bunch of orange and blue Mets bagels from The Bagel Store in Brooklyn. Potter (whose system includes parts of Kansas City and beyond) will also get the five best books ever written about New York (as chosen by NYPL’s expert librarians), and the promise that the Library’s lion mascot will wear Royals gear in front of the midtown library for one hour.

"Channeling our iconic lions, Mets fans have waited with much ‘patience and fortitude’ for this chance, and you gotta believe that they will celebrate a victory in the Fall Classic,” said Marx, who made the bets before game one of the World Series. “Still, the Royals are undoubtedly a great team, and we wish them - and our colleagues at the Kansas City and Mid-Continent Public Libraries - good luck. In the meantime, we at NYPL will stock up on napkins . . . eager for the barbecue coming our way."

Kemper countered, “We had to think twice about making barbecue our side of the bet, because the Mets will probably feel like they have been in the smoker too long after this series.”

Potter added, “Royals fans have undoubtedly had ‘patience and fortitude’ since 1985, and when the Royals do end up ‘schmearing’ the Mets, we look forward to our delivery of some wonderful New York bagels.”  

The public libraries have not just pledged their allegiance to their teams with this bet, but on social media, as well, with a bookish word battle. Several area public libraries – including The New York Public Library (@nypl), Queens Library (@queenslibrary), Kansas City Public Library (@KCLibrary), and Mid-Continent Public Library (@mcplmo) – have taken to Twitter to throw shade straight from their shelves. For example, Kansas City Public Library Tweeted, “Look what we found on the shelf . . .”  with a photo of the book about the 1992 Mets The Worst Team Money Could Buy by Bob Klapisch and John Harper. The New York Public Library responded with a World Series game one prediction: a stack of books with the spines lined up to form the words, “Far From Home. The New Yorkers. Slaying.”

The war of words will continue until one of the teams scores a long overdue World Series trophy – and their public libraries chow down, while the others eat crow.

Media Contact:

Angela Montefinise | angelamontefinise@nypl.org

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