Starting Up: The Mets were started up by William Shea as a team that would play in the Continental League in 1959. The Continental League disbanded and four of its franchises were excepted into MLB (two in the American League, two in the National League). "Mets" was chosen as the team's name as a shortened version of its corporate name: New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc. Blue and orange were chosen as the team's colors in reference to the NL's two departed New York franchises the Brooklyn Dodgers (who moved to Los Angeles in 1958) and the New York Giants (who moved to San Francisco the same year). The team got off to a rough start. The roughest start, even. The team went 40-120 in their inaugural season in 1962, one of the worst records of the modern era. Eventually, the Loveable Loser Mets turned into the Amazin' Mets, and they went on to win the 1969 World Series after starting the season 18-23 while going an astounding 82-39 over the rest of the year. Pretty good for a team that was one of the worst ever seven years prior.
Greatest Runs
The Amazin' Mets (1969-1973): The aforementioned Amazin' teams. The '69 team started slowly but roared to a 100-62 record, swept the Atlanta Braves in three games in the inaugural NLCS, and beat the Baltimore Orioles in five games in one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. They had three straight 83 win seasons before winning their second NL East title and making it to the World Series for the second time in five years in 1973.
The Great Davey Johnson Teams (1984-1989): Starting in 1980, the Mets began to make a series of great moves and hires that culminated in six seasons of dominance throughout the mid to late 80s. These Mets went to two NL Championship Series in three years and won their second World Series in 1986, defeating the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. Game 6 of the '86 Series is one of the most famous games in baseball history; the Mets came back from a 3-0 deficit in an elimination game, culminating when Mookie Wilson hit a grounder that went through Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's legs, sealing the game for the Mets.
The Mike Piazza Era (1998-2001): The Mets returned to postseason glory, going to two straight NCLS and one World Series. They lost to the New York Yankees in the 2000 Series, the first World Series between New York teams since 1956. That was it for the Mets as contenders, but there was one special moment to come after that: the Mets played the Braves in Shea Stadium on September 21, 2001 - the first game played in New York City since 9/11. Mets catcher Mike Piazza hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, effectively winning the game for them, to thunderous cheers. It's cited as one of the greatest moments in baseball history.
Leanest Years
The Loveable Losers (1962-1966): As I mentioned above, the Mets were historically bad when they first started. Beyond the atrocious 40-120 inaugural season, they had four straight 100 loss seasons to start out, tying a modern era record for futility. Why were they so bad? One of the main reasons is that instead of signing promising young players to start with, the team signed veteran players who had spent significant time with the Dodgers and Giants when they were still in New York in order to play on fans' nostalgia. Of course, by this time, those same players who had been great years earlier were now closer to retirement than not, and thus weren't exactly in prime baseball condition, contributing to the Mets' woeful first few seasons.
The Midnight Massacre Era (1977-1982): So your owner has died, her family doesn't really share their late relative's "giving a damn" mentality about the team, and you are in a messy contract dispute with two star players. What could go wrong? Just about everything. The Mets traded away Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman, the aforementioned star players, and got six players in return. None of the players came close to matching either Seaver or Kingman's production, and the Mets wallowed in the mire of bad teams and poor attendance.
The Hookers and Blow Era or: The Worst Team Money Could Buy (Late 80s, 1990-1993): You'll notice that this era overlaps with the 1986 World Series win. A great number of players had severe drug and alcohol problems. Management and coaches turned a blind eye for a long time, until things went downhill fast. By the time the 90s started, the Mets were a freebased shell of their World Series selves. Poor moves, scandals and washed up former stars made up the Mets of the early 90s, the low point coming in 1993 when the lost more than 100 games for the first time since 1967. Vince Coleman personally won the douchebag in sports MVP in 1993 when in two separate incidents, he injured Dwight Gooden's shoulder when Colman was practicing his golf swing in the dugout... with a golf club in an enclosed space mind you, and threw a lit firecracker into the stands at Dodger Stadium, injuring three people. No good.
Names You Should Know
Casey Stengel: Stengel was the manager for the New York Yankees from 1949-1960 and the team won 7 World Series and went to 10 in his tenure. He retired after the 1960 season, but was coaxed out of retirement to become the first manager in New York Mets history. Stengel's Mets tenure... um... didn't go as well as his Yankees stay, to put it mildly. Stengel was approximately 1,000 years old at the time of his hiring, and as has been mentioned more than once in this article, the team sucked. However, the team was still beloved in New York thanks in no large part to Stengel's charisma and ability to utter a great quote. He had his number retired by the Mets in 1965, the first person to receive that honor for the team, and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1966.
Ed Kranepool: A solid starter for the Mets for a clean 18 years. Coming into the majors as a seventeen year old whom Casey Stengel said ran like a thirty year old, Kranepool bridged the gap between the Loveable Losers, Amazin' Mets, and the 70s. He played his entire career with the Mets, accumulating a .261 batting average while slugging over 1,400 hits and over 100 home runs.
Tom Seaver: Tom Terrific! Seaver is one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. He won the 1967 NL Rookie of the Year. He won three Cy Young awards while finishing in the top 5 in the voting an additional five times. He led the league in strikeouts five times, while leading in ERA three times and was a 12 time All-Star. He ranks sixth all time in strikeouts, pitched 61 shutouts (seventh all time), and when he made it into the hall of fame in 1992, he was on an astounding 98.8% of the ballots, the most in history. Dear God! He's also the only hall of famer who was inducted as a member of the Mets and is the only player to have his number retired by the club.
Darryl Strawberry: For a guy who never lived up to his potential, he sure had a damn great career. The number one overall pick in the 1980 and the 1983 NL Rookie of the Year, Strawberry was one of the biggest hitters of the 80s, both literally and figuratively. Strawberry hit between 26 and 39 home runs every year during his Mets tenure. Shockingly, he's the Mets' all time leader in home runs. In fact, he's still in the top two in numerous offensive categories for the Mets. Strawberry was a major player in the great Mets teams of the late 80s that won two division titles and one World Series (he finished second in the NL MVP voting in 1988). Despite his offensive prowess, Strawberry had numerous run ins with the law, mostly pertaining to his drug use and his myriad of other issues.
Keith Hernandez: An all around great player and captain of the 1986 World Series winning Mets. Hernandez won five of his eleven Gold Glove awards as a Met, finished in the top five of the NL MVP voting twice and is in the top ten in numerous offensive categories in Mets history. Hernandez also had problems with drugs in his career, testifying in the Pittsburgh drug trials, which was the huge drug related shit storm in baseball at the time. Hernandez is one of the best players to not be elected to the hall of fame.
Davey Johnson: The manager of those 80s Mets. Johnson was and still is known for his easygoing managing style, letting his players do their own thing so long as they were productive on the field. If you haven't noticed, lots of Mets players had major drug issues under his run. Just sayin'. But Johnson was a great manager, accumulating the most wins in Mets history and the second most postseason wins in Mets history.
Dwight Gooden: Doctor K! Possibly the best and most entertaining pitcher on Mets teams stocked full of great and entertaining pitchers. Gooden ranks second in Wins and Strikeouts and third in Games Started and Complete Games among Mets pitchers. Gooden, and please temper your surprise, had a debilitating drug problem. While all of the Mets players with drug issues were tragic to a degree, Gooden's problems ruined perhaps the most promising young career on the Mets at the time. He would likely have put up hall of fame caliber numbers had he never had these issues or got them under control early. He's perhaps the ultimate what-could-have-been not just in Mets history, but baseball history as a whole.
Gary Carter: Kid! A phenomenal player for the Mets who surprisingly was a classy guy who kept his nose clean. Carter was astoundingly durable in his career, catching in 90% of his teams' games five times. He was an exuberant force and one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
John Franco: The Mets all time saves leader. Franco was one of the greatest relief pitchers in history, ranking up 424 saves in his career, the fourth most in history and the most ever by a left-hander. He also served as team captain from 2001-2004 and played in more games than any other Mets pitcher.
Mike Piazza: Another great Mets catcher. Piazza was perhaps the greatest hitting catcher of all time, which more than made up for the fact that he was a pretty pedestrian defender. He hit over .300 nine different times in his career, including an astounding .362 in 1997 when he was with the Dodgers. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1993, also with the Dodgers. He won five of his ten Silver Slugger awards and seven of his twelve All-Star selections during his Mets run.
Five Current Guys You Should Know
David Wright: The current face of the franchise. Wright has been one of the few consistently great bright spots on the Mets roster over the last decade. He has batted over .300 in seven seasons, had over 160 hits in seven seasons, drove in over 100 RBIs in five seasons, and played in at least 90% of the possible games in six seasons. He is also in the top 5 at least in almost every major offensive category in Mets history and is the leader in a sizeable chunk of them. In short he's really, really good.
Dillon Gee: One of the Mets great pitchers. Gee hasn't been spectacular, but he's certainly been very good. He's struck out over 100 batter twice and had pitched over 130 innings twice. He's a good piece in a great rotation.
Matt Harvey: THE Mets great pitcher. Harvey has asserted himself this year as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was named to the All-Star game and as of this writing, is leading the NL in strikeouts with 178 and is second in the NL in ERA with 2.09. The future looks bright with number 33 on the mound.
Marlon Byrd: A journeyman veteran who's had a very good year. Byrd has had 101 hits, drove in 60 RBIs, hit 17 home runs, with a .279 batting average. I don't know if he'll be on the team next year, but he's been great for the Mets this year.
Eric Young: A great pickup the Mets got from the Rockies. Young has played in 44 games this year and has 48 hits with a .258 batting average. And he is FAST. He has 15 stolen bases, or in other terms, at little more than one stolen base for every three games.
And that'll do it for the Mets retrospective. They're not quite amazing this year, but they certainly aren't losers, and they're worth a watch. Try 'em out!
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