Man flushes his friend’s ashes down ballpark toilets across the land

What? Don’t look at me like that. You read the headline. You knew exactly what you were getting into here. This comes from the New York Times, though, so it’s classy and stuff.

But yes, the story is pretty straightforward. A Mets fan named Tom McDonald was best friends with fellow Mets fan Roy Riegel. Riegel died nine years ago and McDonald was charged by Riegel’s family with disposing of his ashes in an appropriate manner. At first McDonald scattered some at ballparks and notable places, but then he realized it’d just be easier to flush him down the toilet at ballparks around the country:

“The game has to be in progress — that’s a rule of mine,” Mr. McDonald said one recent weeknight before entering a Citi Field bathroom, holding a little plastic bottle containing a scoopful of Mr. Riegel’s cremains . . . “I took care of Roy, and I had to use the facilities myself,” Mr. McDonald said, emerging from the stall with the empty container. “So I figure, you know, kill two birds . . I always flush in between, though,” he added. “That’s another rule of mine.”

It’s appropriate because Riegel was a plumber. And because, according to his friend, he was “a major partier” who “walked that tightrope between genius and insanity.” His cause of death was not specified, but the article says “The fast life caught up with him.” Whatever the case, McDonald thinks his friend would’ve wanted it this way. And who are we to question that?

So far, his ashes have been deposited at least nine stadiums. But not just stadiums:

In Cleveland, Mr. Riegel’s ashes were flushed at both Progressive Field and at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, because Mr. Riegel was a devout rocker.

I bet he was.

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