Curtis Granderson Has Been Told That 'True New Yorkers Are Mets Fans'

In his first official act as a member of the New York Mets, Curtis Granderson seemed to take a playful jab at fans of the other team in the Big Apple.

"A lot of the people I've met in New York have always said that, 'True New Yorkers are Mets fans,'" Granderson joked toward the end of the media on Tuesday while sporting his brand new No. 3 Mets jersey. "So I'm excited to get a chance to see them all out there."

A member of the New York Yankees from 2010 through the end of the 2013 season, Granderson has had ample time to meet people in New York. He's also seen enough back pages of the local tabloids to know that a quote like this one, even if made in jest, isn't going be forgotten any time soon. Perhaps it's all this New York experience that led him to borrow a trick from FOX News to give himself plausible deniability when it comes to this soundbite. He cannily deployed a city-specific version of the famed "some people say" qualifier.

The 32-year-old outfielder and the Mets agreed on a four-year free-agent contract with $60 million. When introducing him to press, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson hailed both his professionalism and his personality.

"He brings a tremendous amount of professionalism," Alderson said, via Mets.com. "He brings a personality. He brings credibility. He brings experience, and he brings talent. And I think all of those things were important. I really like the group of players we have character-wise, personality-wise, and I think he will enhance that mix. He's a gregarious, infectious personality."