QUEENS — Late night comedian Bill Maher has become a minority owner of the New York Mets, the TV personality announced to reporters before a home game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field Sunday.
Maher, 56, the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," declared the purchase a "great investment," the Daily News, New York Post and CBS New York reported. "I had my money in Lehman Brothers in 2008, so this looked pretty good."
His presence in New York City, he joked, helped lead to pitcher Johan Santana's historic no-hitter on Friday night. "My role is to bring luck to the team like I did this weekend," he said, according to the Daily News. "Let's be honest, they did not have a no-hitter for 50 years, I buy in and come to town and there's a no-hitter. Draw your own conclusions."
Maher, who was born in New York, raised in New Jersey and lives in Los Angeles, declined to state how much of the team he owns or how much he paid, according to the Daily News and Post.
In March, Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz announced that they had raised more than $240 million by selling a dozen $20 million shares of the team. It was unclear whether Maher bought an entire share himself, or purchased it as part of a group.
“My earliest memory is my father sitting at the kitchen table . . . reading the newspaper and telling my mother that New York was getting a National League team again,” Maher told the Post. “I must have been 5, and I remember that distinctly.”
