Craig Coakley (with his cat) now uses costumes, including an Abe Lincoln-esque beard, to get into Citi Field. (J.C. Rice)
Rafael Diaz (right) celebrates with the Mets following Johan Santana’s no-hitter. (
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Michael Sergio was taken into custody after parachuting onto the field at Shea Stadium during Game Six of the 1986 World Series. (
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YER OUT! Rafael Diaz Jr. (far right) became the latest banned Mets fan after rushing the field to celebrate Johan Santana’s no-hitter. (Neil Miller)
OUTTA LEFT FIELD: Skydiver Michael Sergio dropped into Shea Stadium and crashed Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Despite weeks in jail, today Sergio (right) has no regrets. “It was meant to bring support to the team,” he says. (AP)
GAME ON: Coakley now enters in disguise, but the cat stays home. (J.C. Rice)
(Helayne Seidman)
KLEIN & SOBER? After Calvin Klein’s bizarre on-court stroll at a Knicks game in 2003, a law elevated such trespassing to a misdemeanor. (AP)
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Baseball cap: check.
Mets jersey: check.
Fake moustache: check.
That’s the pre-game ritual of Craig Coakley, 32, of Bayside, Queens — better known in Mets nation as the streaker who slid into second base at a game during Citi Field’s inaugural season.
The die-hard fan has been officially banned from games since the 2009 spectacle — but has covertly defied a stadium edict in order to root, root, root for the home team in person.
“My streaking days are over now, and I just go to enjoy the games,” he said.
The ban did little to slow down Coakley, who now attends games in sunglasses, caps and other costumes — taking a page from former Mets skipper Bobby Valentine, who momentarily sneaked back into the dugout in a sunglasses-and-moustache disguise after an umpire ejected him from a game in 1999.
“I went to games four weeks later,” Coakley boasted. “And I was just at a game on Memorial Day!”
Last week, he added a fake beard to his collection, giving him the appearance of a sporty Abe Lincoln.
Back in 2009, when Coakley, a plumber, decided to crack wise, he painted “Let’s Go Mets” on his bare back, positioned a stuffed monkey to cover his . . . er . . . “bat,” and darted onto the field during the fifth inning of a game.
A friend videotaped the stunt from the upper deck.
Coakley was arrested, fined $3,000, sentenced to 20 days of community service and, worst of all, banned for life from Citi Field.
“I wanted to become part of Mets history,” he said.
That’s a sentiment expressed by many of the banned bunch — interlopers, mostly men, who say they’re inspired by their peers and rarely concerned that stadium security will catch them.
But most do care about getting back into the ballpark.
While fines can be paid and jail time served, losing the team they love is often the real punishment — and many of the banned risk further punishment by returning.
Coakley’s “where there’s a will, there’s a way” disguise may offer some small comfort to Rafael Diaz Jr., the latest Mets fan to be banned for life from Citi Field, for running onto the diamond to celebrate with the team after Johan Santana’s no-hitter on June 1.
Diaz’s father, Rafael Sr., told The Post that his son, a fan practically since he could walk, is taking the ban like a fastball to the ribs.
“He’s upset because he made a big mistake,” his father said. “His emotion came through, and now he’s not allowed in.”
A citywide crackdown on fan interference came in 2003 after fashion designer Calvin Klein stepped onto the court at Madison Square Garden in mid-game and strolled over to schmooze with the Knicks’ Latrell Sprewell — who was about to inbound the ball.
A few months later, the NYC Interference with a Professional Sporting Event Law was passed, making disrupting a sporting event a misdemeanor. Breaking the law means up to a year in jail and civil penalties up to $5,000.
Before the law, disruptive fans could have been charged with criminal trespass in the third degree, punishable by up to 90 days, according to Helen Peterson, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
The Mets refused to comment on the number of fans it has banned, but Peterson said that since 2004, there have been an average of about five arrests each season for interference, either by pulling a Coakley or throwing objects on the field.
The Yankees, who also refused to comment, have averaged less than one arrest a season for running on the field over the past three years, according to Bronx DA assistant Anthony Schepis.
Bronx resident Grim LeRouge, 35, is one of the infamous. The aspiring screenwriter was busted in 2010 for running onto the field at Yankee Stadium in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
At the time, he gave a rambling explanation for his actions, saying he fancied Cameron Diaz and wanted to confess his crush to third-baseman Alex Rodriguez, her boyfriend at the time.
LeRouge said he’s been to the stadium since his bizarre dash — which he now says was a “stupid” publicity stunt to promote a self-published book called “The Illuminati Code Cracked.”
“But if they caught me and kicked me out, I deserve that,” he said. “I’m not going to complain. If anyone would have to swallow that, it would be me.”
LeRouge’s inspiration was Bronx-native Paul O’Grady, banned for running onto the field during Game 6 of the 1996 World Series with a pointed message to Mayor Rudy Giuliani scribbled on his bare back: “Mayor Giuliani, kiss my . . .”, with an arrow pointing down.
He went back to the Stadium a few years later, no fake moustache required. “The risk was nil, and the reward was to catch a game with my nieces and nephews,” he said. “I’m a Yankees fan and I’ll always be a Yankees fan. I didn’t stop just because I was 86’ed.”
Fans such as Frank Martinez use loopholes to get around their ban.
Martinez, 45, was slapped with a three-year ban for distracting Atlanta Braves players Tim Hudson and Edgar Renteria with a high-powered flashlight in 2007.
“The ban was for Shea Stadium — not Citi Field,” noted Martinez, who went to games in the last year of his ban, which was lifted in 2011. “I’ve been a die-hard Mets fan all my life.”
But not all blacklisted fans continue to cheer the home team.
Ryan Leli’s three-year ban from Mets games — and those of their minor-league affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones — seems to have taken the luster off his lifelong love for the Amazin’s.
“I’m not a fan,” he growled to The Post. “You’re talking about something six years ago,” he said before slamming down the phone.
Leli, 24, was arrested and banned from Shea Stadium in 2007 after he scammed his way into the locker room to meet his boyhood idols, including Mike Piazza, who was a Padre in 2006 when Leli brandished a fake press pass authentic enough to fool security.
John McCarthy took his three-year Mets ban to heart, too.
“I went to Yankees games — out of spite,” he said.
McCarthy, 46, a professional comedian, served eight weekends in prison — part of it in protective custody because some inmates recognized him — after jumping onto the Shea turf in 2004 and waving a sign that read, “Howard Stern Here’s Johnny.”
McCarthy’s timing couldn’t have been worse. The Calvin Klein law had just gone into effect, and he was the first to be prosecuted under it.
The Mets and Yankees would not discuss how they enforce fan bans. Madison Square Garden would said only that anything putting the safety and security of their employees and customers at risk is a potentially bannable offense. The NBA Nets — who struggled to attract fans to their New Jersey arena and will begin playing in Brooklyn next season — said they’ve not had to ban any fans.
MetLife Stadium security chief Daniel DeLorenzi said only a handful of fans, “maybe five or six,” have been banned from the home of the Giants and Jets, either for running onto the field or “any other criminal offense.”
He said his security team maintains a list of offenders, complete with seat numbers and photos.
The old Giants Stadium was home to one of the biggest fan bans after 75 fans had their season tickets revoked for throwing snowballs and iceballs during a Giants-Chargers game in 1995. One of the iceballs injured the Chargers’ equipment manager on the sidelines.
Jeffrey Lange was caught on film that day hurling a snowball and banned. “Thirty six years of cold-weather games at the stadium, and this happened once,” said John Samerjan, spokesman for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operated the stadium at the time.
“We had security cameras, and we took pictures of them. You knew who was doing what.”
One of those banned was a school administrator who, when asked what he was thinking when he joined the dangerous snowball spree, said, “Well, everyone around me was doing it,” Samerjan recalled.
Perhaps New York’s most famous stadium crasher is Michael Sergio, now 62, who parachuted into Shea Stadium during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
He told The Post he sympathizes with Diaz — the latest inductee into the weird fraternity.
“Sometimes jumping on the field can be blown out of proportion. A lot of people get caught up in the enthusiasm. There’s a very fine line — they want you to enjoy the experience of a game but they’ll tell you how to enjoy it.”
Still, he continued, “We live in a different world nowadays.”
Sergio, a professional jumper and actor who appeared on the TV series “Loving,” never disclosed who helped him orchestrate his flight over the stadium.
He was jailed for 21 days but, oddly, “the Mets as an organization were kind and receptive to the whole thing. The team introduced me to an attorney.”
Sergio drifted down to the infield in the first inning of the game, attached to a “Let’s Go Mets” sign. “It was meant to bring support to the team.” he said.
Sergio has no regrets: “How many people go through a lifetime and never have a memory like that? I’m so grateful for it.”
Additional reporting by Candice M. Giove