Citi Field singalong: Temptations perform Lindor's classic walk-up tune

NEW YORK -- I've got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May.

After two cold nights that put the Mets on the brink of elimination, they welcomed not only warmer weather but also special guests on Friday afternoon at Citi Field. The Mets’ faithful could only hope these were signs their club’s run had some magic left.

Motown legends The Temptations performed their first No. 1 single, "My Girl" -- which Mets superstar Francisco Lindor uses as his walk-up song -- immediately after they sang the national anthem ahead of Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Mets and Dodgers. The good vibes worked, as New York beat Los Angeles, 12-6, to send the NLCS back to California for Game 6.

“A few days ago we were told while we were out on the road, and I thought it was a heck of a compliment for whenever he starts to come out to the plate and the whole stadium starts singing, ‘My Girl,’” said Dr. Otis Clayborn Williams, the group’s founding and last original member. “That's something that's pretty cool. So here we are.”

Lindor has been using "My Girl" as his walk-up music since mid-May, around the time manager Carlos Mendoza moved him to the leadoff spot and altered the trajectory of the floundering club's season.

With the nickname "Mr. Smile," Lindor talked about wanting to make it into a singalong for the crowd, which gained traction over the past few weeks with a packed ballpark in Queens. In the first inning, in particular, Lindor likes to take his time getting into the box so that fans have a chance to not only sing along to the first verse, but also the chorus -- even after the music fades out.

I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl, my girl

The recording group's longtime publicist had recently seen a social media post of the fans’ enthusiastic rendition and reached out to the Mets about a possible collaboration. The stars aligned, as Friday marked a scheduled off-day on The Temptations’ tour. They flew in on Friday morning ahead of sound check and will leave on Saturday for their next show in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“That's the enjoyment of what we do, and they enjoy what we do,” Williams said of fans singing along. “But at the same time, they can become inclusive. We love it when they join in. They just add more things to what we're doing, and we find that they really enjoy what we're doing. Our legacy and the hits that we have had, I'm awestruck because, like I said, you could have tipped me with a feather when we started in ‘64, and I have gold and platinum hanging all through my home. So God has been great to The Temptations.”

According to Williams, this iteration of The Temptations -- he, Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks, Jawan M. Jackson and Anthony Grant -- had never performed the national anthem together until now. The group also had not sung “My Girl,” which is celebrating its 60th anniversary and one billion Spotify streams, at a sporting event since the Liberty Bowl halftime show years ago.

Last year, Billboard Magazine named The Temptations -- a multi-Grammy Award-winning recording group -- as No. 1 on its list of the Top 100 Greatest R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of All Time.

Despite this legacy, opportunities like the one on Friday never tire for the 82-year-old Williams, who grew up a Tigers fan in Detroit. Lindor sang along during pregame warmups as The Temptations, wearing Mets jerseys over chic blue and white suits, performed “My Girl” behind home plate.

“I would love to meet him,” Williams said hours earlier in their dressing room. “He's part and parcel the reason why we're here. We'd love to meet him and tell him, 'Keep kicking you know what.'”

Lindor’s postseason routine didn’t allow for both parties to meet, but he appreciated the group’s appearance nonetheless.

“It was really cool,” Lindor said. “It was an amazing moment. To be quite honest, I think most players, they pick a walk-up song just because that's how they feel in the moment. But they also want the fans to vibe to the song. And whenever you see the whole crowd getting into it, I think it's pretty cool, and having The Temptations here and singing the national anthem, and then singing the song, one of the biggest hits, and seeing the crowd how they got behind, it was pretty cool.”