The New York Mets headed to the ballpark on Sunday for a game against the Atlanta Braves. However, one player was not present. The team announced that Yoenis Cespedes was missing and that they could not contact him.
“As of game time, Yoenis Céspedes has not reported to the ballpark today. He did not reach out to management with any explanation for his absence. Our attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful. The team continues to make attempts to contact him through every channel available,” said general manager Brodie Van Wagenen in a statement. Cespedes was present in Atlanta for Saturday’s game against the Mets, a 7-1 victory by the Georgia-based team.
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“I mean…is there like….a sense of urgency to finding Yoenis Cespedes? Has a police report been filed? If he went missing last night then we aren’t far from 24 hours now… Am I missing something here?! This is crazy,” one baseball fan commented on Sunday afternoon. Several others weighed in and expressed major concern for Cespedes’ health and safety. They would understand if he opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns, but there was no indication that this was the reason for his absence.
While there were several fans expressing concern about Cespedes, others had very different reactions. Several people on Twitter spent time making jokes about the baseball player and his disappearance. They created memes with Leonardo DiCaprio’s character from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and said that Cespedes was sitting in his hotel watching the Mets game “because he forgot to show up.”
Cespedes, 34, is one of the most important members of the Mets. He is a two-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger Awar winner and a Gold Glove Award winner. He is currently in his fifth season with the team after previous stints with the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics.
Born in Cuba, Cespedes spent eight seasons with Alazanes de Granma in the Cuban National Series. He was also a member of the Cuban national team, winning three consecutive gold medals in tournaments. The team also lost to the United States in the Baseball World Cup, settling for a silver medal.
He later defected from Cuba in the summer of 2011 and headed to the United States. He established residency in January 2012 and bypassed the MLB Draft. He remained an unrestricted free agent and ultimately signed with the Oakland Athletics.
