The King of Queens is back on his throne.
Kevin James, a longtime New York Mets fan and star of the sitcom “King of Queens,” was in the stands at Citi Field on Tuesday to watch his favorite Flushing team take on the Baltimore Orioles.
But before taking his seat, the Long Island native threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Wearing a Mets cap and a personalized James jersey with the No. 7 on it, he used a slow-motion wind-up to bring a one-hopper to the plate.
James then took the microphone to fire up the crowd, repeating his epic and high-energy 2007 Daytona 500 intro, “Start your engines!”
“God bless America! God bless our troops! God bless the New York Mets!” he shouted. “And gentlemen, let’s play ball!”
During the game, James talked about “The King of Queens,” which originally aired on CBS from 1998 to 2007 and will be available on Cozi TV starting September 9.
“I think it’s been 25, 26 years since it started, so it blows my mind that it’s still going on,” James said in an interview with SNY’s Steve Gelbs. “It really is. It’s mind-blowing to me.”
James’ character, Doug Heffernan, was a delivery driver who lived in Queens with his wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and father-in-law Arthur (Jerry Stiller). Heffernan was also a Mets fan on the show, regularly wearing team gear and watching games.
“I just think funny, talented people pick a team that needs help but can do it for you,” James said when asked why so many comedians like himself, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and others are Mets fans. “You want to cheer them on. They’re the little train that made it, the little engine that made it. Is that it?”
The Mets, of course, haven’t won a World Series since 1986, when James was 21 years old.
“It’s painful, but it’s like comedians are used to pain, they like being around it,” James said. “It’s that conflict and challenge that draws them. The Mets have certainly provided that for me over the years.”
Like on Tuesday, when they lost 9-5 to the Orioles. But James keeps coming back, just like his character. In one episode, Heffernan goes to a Mets game and gets revenge on a kid in the stands who throws carrots at him for stealing his foul ball.
James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006. The sitcom was back in the spotlight last year when a photo of James from the show became the “king of memes.” The image of James grinning with his hands in his pockets quickly went viral, and James even used it in a social media post at the time to promote his stand-up tour.
Even the Mets’ same-city rivals posted it.
Although James’s allegiance to the Mets is undeniable – he named his second daughter Shea Stadium in honor of the Mets’ former stadium – he attended a New York Yankees game earlier this year and had high praise for the stadium’s Grub Tub – which combines chicken fingers, fries and soda in one convenient, all-encompassing cup.
“I don’t know if the Mets do this… but congrats to the Yankees… you won today,” James posted on social media with a photo of the Grub Tub.
The Yankees responded by posting a photoshopped version of the James meme, adding a Yankee cap and a grub tub.
The meme, along with syndication and streaming, helped bring the 207-episode sitcom to a new generation of viewers.
That will continue, as The King of Queens will join the Cozi TV schedule. The show will air Monday through Friday and Sunday with four episodes from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET.
Fans could soon see James back in Queens, this time with a baseball bat in hand at Citi Field. He said he hopes to take batting practice with the team like he did at Shea Stadium, hitting a few balls over the fence.
“I’ve hit a few,” he said. “I want to see it. I want to try it. It’s starting to get out of my head. As you get older, I tore my bicep here, it’s crazy. The shoulder is bad. All the injuries come, but I still want to do it. It’s something I want to come back and do. You can’t take batting practice with them when they’re hunting.”
