FOLEY’S FINAL OUT
Virus kills revered Midtown sports hangout
It’s last call at the preeminent Midtown sports bar Foley’s, a gathering spot for fans of all sports in New York and beyond for nearly two decades.
Owner Shaun Clancy, in an emotional Friday announcement via Twitter, said the beloved W. 33rd St. tavern would not reopen once the COVID-19 crisis was done. The doors were closed in March as the pandemic began to spread through the New York region.
“There’s just no way that I can see that we can do it and I don’t really know what to say except thank you all,” said Clancy in a video shot inside the bar situated in the shadow of the Empire State Building. “Foley’s was always about the people. Even now, as I look around, so many memories.”
Condolences came from around the city and across the country from the bar’s legion of fans, including many sportswriters who found their way inside over the 17 years since its opening day. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman once took a turn as a guest bartender in the spot just a short stroll from Madison Square Garden.
“Huge loss for NYC sports fans,” tweeted Daily News baseball writer Bill Madden, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Jayson Stark, senior baseball writer for The Athletic, spoke for many about the loss of a bar that was far more than its 40 stools and top-tobottom memorabilia, everything from team jerseys to bobble heads to baseballs and bats. Foley’s was also home to the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Foley’s will leave a void that’s impossible to fill,” Stark tweeted. “All the best!”
The bar was named for venerable Daily News sportswriter Red Foley before its 2003 debut, and quickly became one of the city’s go-to havens for sports fans. On opening day of the 2019 baseball season, supporters of 13 different teams turned out to watch the games in Clancy’s bar.
The bar’s hall of fame included a number of wellknown inductees of Irish ancestry, including Nolan Ryan, Steve Garvey, Paul O’Neill and Tug McGraw.
Clancy told the Daily News last month that he was worried about the future, with the timing of the pandemic striking a devastating financial blow to his business.
The March closing of the city’s bars cost him a small fortune, with Foley’s losing out on money-making events like the Big East Tournament, the NCAA basketball championships and opening days at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.
“It is impossible to quantify the memories I have from Foley’s,” tweeted MLB columnist Will Leitch to Clancy. “And you are a prince of a person. A sad, sad day.”
The owner did sound one optimistic note at the end of his sad two-minute announcement.
“This is the end of the inning,” Clancy declared, “but not the end of the game.”