The heads of the New York and Kansas City public libraries announced Thursday that they have made a friendly bet on the World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals, as the two library systems continue to take to Twitter to trade barbs in the form of stacked hardcovers and historical photos.
The wager is simple: if the Mets win, NYPL President Tony Marx will receive "an amazin' BBQ meal" from KCPL Director Crosby Kemper III, as well as some other gifts from Mid-Continent Public Library Director Steven Potter, including a donation to NYPL's early literacy programs… and more barbecue.
If the Royals win — they're currently up 2-0 in the series after Wednesday night's 7-1 thrashing — NYPL will hand over a bundle of orange and blue "Mets" bagels from The Bagel Store in Williamsburg. The NYPL will also send over the five best books about New York, as selected by their librarians, and will dress up the library's iconic lion mascot in Royals regalia for an hour in midtown.
While the heads of the libraries traded pleasantries and well-wishes about the outcome, there was also some good-natured smack talk involved.
"In the meantime, we at NYPL will stock up on napkins… eager for the barbecue coming our way," said Marx in a statement.
To which Kemper replied, "We had to think twice about making barbecue our side of the bet, because the Mets will probably feel like they have been in the smoker too long after this series."
Burn.
Since Tuesday, the libraries' associated Twitter accounts have been spine-shaming each other.