If only Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi stopped by!
A New Jersey legend — and one in the making — met when “Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito crossed paths at the Hobby Hive in East Hanover on Wednesday.
DeVito, 25, greeted streams of young fans at the event on the same day he also made good with a local pizzeria — Coniglio’s Old Fashioned in Morristown — after an alleged beef blew up between the pizza spot’s owner and DeVito’s colorful agent, Sean Stellato.
Hobby Hive owner Joe Gossweiler told us of DeVito’s appearance at his shop: “Tommy was awesome, taking his time taking pictures, giving autographs. There were a lot of kids.”
“An honorary meatball,” local resident Polizzi captioned an Instagram shot of the unlikely pair.
Spies said that about 300 fans came to the event, and one told us, “most of them were 7- to 15-years old. They were in awe” of the Giants star.
Among local VIPs at the shop was local resident Snooki and “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Danielle Cabral, who showed up in a Giants jersey.
We hear that the night before, DeVito had been in Manhattan dining at Carbone.
Top PR pro and Jersey native Ron Berkowitz said of the scene, “Win or lose the next few weeks for Tommy DeVito, he has given every single little kid who plays football in the state of New Jersey the belief that they can be the next hometown guy to play for the Giants. That’s the beauty of this story.”
Snooki currently stars in “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,” and was seen posing for pics at the shop with DeVito, who towered over the 4-foot-8 reality star.
DeVito’s agent, Sean Stellato, was spotted at the collectibles store, but was noticeably absent from Coniglio’s pizza spot, and The Post’s Paul Schwartz reported that DeVito has a new marketing rep in Maxx Lepselter.
DeVito will also return to Coniglio’s early in the new year for a charity appearance, according to Lepselter.
The local controversy became big news after Coniglio originally promoted a DeVito appearance for Tuesday, but then canceled the event, and alleged that the quarterback’s fee increased following his “Monday Night Football” heroics against the Packers in a Giants’ 24-22 win on Dec. 11.
But DeVito made amends with the red sauce joint, and told The Post of the miscommunication: “There was a lot going [on] at that time — and a lot of people doing different things as part of my team. Some things slipped through the cracks and as soon as I was made aware of it — which was Monday, when it hit my phone — that’s when I was like, ‘We need to go in there, meet him face-to-face, set things right, eat the awesome pizza and have fun.”
