Feline fans everywhere mourn the loss of Amazin’ Hadji.
Mets legend Keith Hernandez announced in a sorrowful post Wednesday that his 22-year-old cat died last week.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I had to put Hadji down last week,” Hernandez, now the Mets’ color commentator with SNY, said on X. “It was his time to go. I loved him so much and miss him dearly. He was a great companion for 22 yrs. RIP my little guy.”
“My old buddy. See you in another life. I know you’ll be waiting for me with open paws,” the five-time All Star and two-time World Series champion wrote in another X post which included the tomcat’s picture.
Hadji’s euthanasia is a second sting in the already tenuous hearts of sports personalities and their faithful followers.
Less than a week ago, Kirk Herbstreit lamented that his beloved Golden Retriever, Ben, had been put down following a battle with cancer.
Named after a character in the 1960s animated television show “Jonny Quest,” Hadji was a Bengal, “a breed that is four generations removed from the Asian Tree Leopard,” Hernandez told GQ in 2021.
The love and tender regard with which Hernandez, 71, held Hadji is well known among the Mets faithful: the cat was referenced many a time during baseball broadcasts — sometimes unintentionally.
The feline’s fame grew with Hernandez’s frequent dispatches on social media: Hadji descending a custom-built cat walk or soaking in the sun from his outdoor fort; Hadji sampling caviar and napping on the windowsill; Hadji getting the newspaper in the morning, then later taking in the sights and sounds of the Big Apple through the green mesh netting of his stroller in the afternoon.
He will remain in the hearts and minds of Hernandez and Mets fans forever.