Mrs. Reyes

On Friday, July 25th, the Met’s speedy shortstop married his longtime girlfriend Katharine, in a ceremony at City Hall that was witnessed by Reyes’ parents and only twelve other observers. The couple had been together for quite some time; they have two daughters and have been living, along with Reyes’ parents, in the house that Reyes built in Manhasset after he got his contract from the Mets in 2006. They are planning on having a large ceremony in the Dominican in over the winter.

The main source for the story is an understated entry on Adam Rubin’s blog at the Daily News, and while the SNY broadcasters did congratulate Reyes during one of the weekend’s games, very little else has been made of this. This is not all that surprising, because Reyes’ family life is decidedly down-played in his portrayal by the team and the media. While David Wright’s bachelorhood figures prominently in his image, the fact that Reyes has been a father for almost as long as he has been a Met is almost never mentioned. The obvious explanation is that Reyes’ family life falls into no particularly recognizable or approved of pattern (at least to American audiences) and is thus seen as a potential source of embarrassment, or at the very least confusion. Additionally, Reyes is frequently portrayed as childlike (in both good and bad ways) and this aspect of his persona makes less sense (or seems offensively patronizing), when you take into account that he is a father himself. (and perhaps the Mets fear a drastic drop off in ticket sales to female fans if it ever becomes generally known that the shortstop is spoken for.)

Beyond the oddness of the relative invisibility of the Family Reyes, the timing of the thing is strange enough to suggest some sort of dodge involving taxes or immigration law. Since their oldest child is around two years old, it seems unlikely that they were particularly bothered by the fact that they were living in sin. Since the nuptials will actually be celebrated in the winter, it is hard to tell why they felt the need to become legally married three months earlier, on a day when Reyes would have to spend the evening playing a ballgame.

Speaking of the ceremony in the Dominican, I am extremely interested in the Mets-related guest list. Is Billy Wagner invited? What about Willie Randolph? If some footage of David Wright making an ass of himself trying to do the Samba makes its way onto youtube, I will be extremely pleased. Perdiction: Pedro Martinez has to be helped off the dance floor by a trainer, and misses the first month of the ’09 season.