NYPD and FDNY face off in Battle of the Badges baseball game

NEW YORK - On Thursday, New York's Bravest and Finest had their own Subway Series with the FDNY vs. the NYPD in the Battle of the Badges charity baseball game, which was held under the bright lights at Citi Field for the first time.

"The first thing I told a lot of those guys had a not been a baseball player I wanted to be a firefighter," said Mets catcher James McCann, who was on hand for the event. "The police officers were telling me that they play a few times a week — that's so neat to me. A lot of them played in high school and college — and they still get to play. I think that's so, so special."

Police Officer Anthony Carnacchio has been suiting up for the NYPD's squad for 10 years. He said he always looks forward to the annual showdown.

"This is awesome—coming out here and playing in front of all these people for a good cause," Carnacchio said. "Playing against great guys the fire department — we work with them, we play against them. It's always a great night and we raise a lot of money for charity and that's all that matters."

And regardless of who you were rooting for the atmosphere was amazin'.

"This is a fantastic experience," FDNY rookie EMT Robert Schmuck said. "They should do this every single year because it's the first one [at Citi Field] so it's exciting, I'm just taking it all in it."

In front of almost 3,500 fans, New York's Finest won bragging rights, for now. The NYPD topped the FDNY with a final score of 9-6.

General admission was $20 with all proceeds benefiting FDNY and NYPD charities. Sales of tickets raised more than $83,000, the Mets said. Ford also donated $20,000 to the FDNY and NYPD's charities.