One New York Mets fan has a bit of an odd way to honor a friend he lost years ago—scattering his ashes across Major League Baseball parks through their plumbing system.
The New York Times caught up with Tom McDonald, who travels around the country with the ashes of his friend Roy Riegel to honor his friend, who died in 2007 at the age of 56.
Of course it’s fitting that a Mets fan is doing a lot of flushing, but the routine works in more ways than one: Riegel was a plumber. And though the story sounds strange, it’s actually quite a touching tale about the friendships we often form through sports and the human bonds we make through fandom.
“I know people might think it’s weird, and if it were anyone else’s ashes, I’d agree,” McDonald told the Times. “But for Roy, this is the perfect tribute to a plumber and a baseball fan and just a brilliant, wild guy.”
But there are rules to this, you know.
“The game has to be in progress — that’s a rule of mine,” Mr. McDonald said one recent weeknight before entering a Citi Field bathroom, holding a little plastic bottle containing a scoopful of Mr. Riegel’s cremains.
He stepped into a bathroom stall and sprinkled the ashes into the toilet with as much decorum as the setting allowed. A couple of flushes later and Mr. Riegel’s remains were presumably on a journey through Citi Field’s plumbing.
“I took care of Roy, and I had to use the facilities myself,” Mr. McDonald said, emerging from the stall with the empty container. “So I figure, you know, kill two birds.”
The extra flushes, of course, are so to not to do your business on top of the ashes themselves.
“I always flush in between, though,” he said. “That’s another rule of mine.”
McDonald didn’t start flushing his ashes right away. When he asked for a portion of his friend’s ashes from the Reigel family in 2008, he began by spreading them in ballparks that meant something to the two baseball fans. A schoolyard park in Astoria, Shea Stadium’s original home plate, now a parking lot for Citi Field.
Now he’s spread Reigel’s remains at 16 ballparks, including Citi Field, the Mets’ new home. He told the Times he has enough for one last flush, then his friend will be finally put to rest.
(via NBC Sports)
