NEW YORK — No joke: Bill Maher has bought a minority ownership stake in the Mets.

In a surprise announcement made by the comedian and political commentator before Sunday night's game against the Cardinals, Maher said that he purchased one of the reported 12 minority stakes available to investors over the winter.

"First of all, I think it's a great investment," Maher said. "People sometimes forget that there's only one National League franchise in New York City and they're not making anymore. I'm a Met fan my whole life and I think it would be a great place."

Neither Maher nor Mets officials would comment on the percentage of his ownership piece or how much he paid for it.

The 56-year old Maher — who was raised in River Vale — said that he never intended to buy a piece of a sports franchise. That changed after seeing newspaper stories about the Wilpon family offering up minority ownership portions of the team due to the Mets debt, as a result of their associations with jailed Ponzi scheme orchestrator, Bernard Madoff. Maher, who lives in Los Angeles, began to become interested in purchasing a piece of his favorite baseball club.

"It happened months ago," Maher said of the deal. "It's the first time I've been in New York, so we didn't say anything. But I read about it in the paper in December saying the Mets were available — that you could buy these limited partnerships."

Mets Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, David Newman, said that Maher official title will be "New Partner."

"I'm just a fan," Maher insisted. "I'm not going to get involved. I think my role is going to be bringing luck to the team — they didn't have a no-hitter for 50 years, I buy in and I come to town and there's a no-hitter. Draw your own conclusions."

Brendan Prunty: bprunty@starledger.com