New York Mets fan Tom McDonald is honoring his friend Roy Riegel by flushing his remains down the toilet at ballparks across the country.
One New York Mets fan is paying tribute to his friend one flush at a time. Queens native Tom McDonald is flushing the remains of his friend Roy Reigel down the toilet at Major League ballparks across the country.
Yes, you read that correctly. Roy Reigel, who passed away nine years ago, has gone down the toilet, literally.
McDonald and Reigel grew up close to Flushing Meadows, which is where the Mets play. McDonald has flushed the remains at 16 stadiums so far, according to Zachary Ripple of the New York Daily News. One of the stadiums that he has done it is Citi Field, where the Mets play. In Cleveland, the remains were flushed at Progressive Field and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since Reigel was a fan of rock music.
“I know people might think it’s weird, and if it were anyone else’s ashes, I’d agree,” McDonald told the Associated Press. “But for Roy, this is the perfect tribute to a plumber and a baseball fan and just a brilliant, wild guy.”
While it may be weird it is also fitting since Reigel was a plumber. McDonald even has rules for flushing Reigel’s remains, such as the game must be in progress when he does it, according to Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times. “I always flush in between, though,” he said. “That’s another rule of mine.”
McDonald has enough ashes for just one more tribute. He plans on doing it at Durham Athletic Park in North Carolina where the 1988 movie Bull Durham was filmed.
