I have had many discussions with co-Mets fan friends regarding this very subject. We have never come up with a satisfactory answer other than maybe somewhere along the way, Koos pissed off the wrong people?? – the Wilpons? But that doesn’t explain Hernandez nor Piazza. 50 years of Mets history and Seaver (albeit he was “The Franchise”) is the only player to have his number retired? It doesn’t make sense.

Why the Mets don’t embrace a rich and varied team history is beyond me?

With Mr. October, though he is a hall of famer, his stint with the Yankees was brief in terms of his overall career. Guidry, Mattingly and Martin, though having made great contributions to the team and reflective of loyalty to their pinstripe roots, do not deserve to be on the same wall as Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra and Ford. Munson was on his way to a hall of fame career till his tragic ending.

One has to be extra special to have his number retired. I think of Kid and Tug because their lives were cut short way too soon and that makes them something special beyond just what they did with the Mets but like with Reggie, Kid’s stay with the Mets was also brief compared to Montreal. With Tug, it would be more for sentiment ala Billy Martin because of his spirit to the orange and blue.

I think one who should have his number retired is Ralph Kiner. Ralph never played a game for the Mets but the number four worn for most of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates deserves such special honor for all the reasons too obvious to need repeating.

Other than Munson, Mattingly, and Guidry (Howard being retired is an Obvious choice from an team Historical perspective) thats a pretty historical list of names just about everyone in the country recognizes and acknowledges as some of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game!

We have only retired 4 (3 with Robinson) in 50 years….
Seaver
Hodges
Stengel

Seaver is as Immortal as any of the guys the Yankees have save maybe Ruth, Mantle and Gehrig.

I have a hard time picking even one name from the Mets that carries the same weight as those guys (not named Seaver).

That said… would I be happy to see Koosman recognized as one of the greatest Mets of all time? YOU BETCHA! But retiring a number can’t be just about his relevance to the team who is retiring the number…Thats what the Met Hall of Fame is for…
Nor can it just be about a guy who was a good player in his Era…Thats what the baseball Hall of Fame is for….

Retiring a Number should be reserved for players who did more than just what it takes to get into the Hall…You need to be the kind of player people will remember and talk about 100 years from now! Koosman isn’t really that guy and neither is Carter who is probably more likely to get his number retired than Koosman considering his untimely death.

Granted that isn’t what other teams do because they just want to retire a number to say they have one and make a promotion out of it while honoring thier best player…

But when you do that you DILUTE the distinction, the meaning the RELEVANCE and IMPORTANCE of having your number retired…..

And at some point you run out of numbers and no one wants to see them switch to Hexadecimal Uni Numbers just to field a team….

Now coming to the plate number “F8″….

As I said in another piece about Koosman….
Seaver was the guy who killing linups but Koosman was the guy who boxed them up and nailed the coffin shut!

He is IMO the second greatest Pitcher the Mets have ever had, even better than Gooden!
But go to peoria and ask them who Koosman is and most people would say WHO?
Thats why his number will probably never be retired by the Mets….
Until they need a promotion to get people to come out to see a team not worth coming out to see unless they are honoring a guy who doesn’t play anymore so we can live off what the team USED to be.

Koosman had a terrific career overshaddowed by probably the best pitcher of that generation