The Mets have drafted 72 outfielders in the first 5 rounds (top 100 picks) during the 48 year history of the MLB draft. Of those 72, 18 made it to the majors. Of those 18, six of them enjoyed what can only be described as cups of coffee with a variety of teams. They were, John Gibbons (24th overall 1980), John Christensen (38th overall 1981), Terry Blocker (4th overall 1981), Stan Jefferson (20th overall 1983), Rod Gaspar [...]

There are many adjectives that are used in conjunction with the 86 Mets. Confidence. Arrogance. Swagger. Obnoxious. But they were good, damn good. And they knew it. That’s a far cry from the 2013 Mets. However, it’s not just wins that count. It’s playing as a cohesive unit. It’s playing as, no pun intended, a TEAM. And that is something this club does not do. You don’t have to get along off the field. You don’t [...]

Championship seasons are invariably marked by certain games and plays that are later tabbed as “turning points” for posterity.  For the 1986 edition of the Mets, their turning point may well have occurred in only the 6th game of the season when, after winning their first two contests but dropping the next three, the team sat a game under .500. Although another 157 games remained to be played, many fans and even tabloid back pages cried [...]

I want to kick that football, I can see Lucy holding it. She’s promised not to pull it away, I know she’s promised before and still pulled it away, but she seemed really honest this time. I’m Charlie Brown, and I really really want to kick that football. I can visualize it in my mind, the feel of the ball on my toe, watching it glide through the uprights. I know it can happen. As [...]

The last time the Mets had a youth movement, it was the in early 80’s and they were coming off a terrible run of losing seasons. The likes of Dwight Gooden, Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, and Darryl Strawberry roamed the grounds at Shea Stadium and they quickly made a name for themselves especially after their magical run in 1986 that led them straight to a World Series Championship. Sprinkled in with a group [...]

It seems you just can’t watch the evening sports reports these days without hearing about how yet another Yankee “great” has landed himself on the disabled list. This week it was Mark Teixeira. The longtime Yankee first baseman will miss eight to ten weeks after an injury suffered while hitting balls off a tee during a workout for the World Baseball Classic. Teixeira will join Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez with longterm DL stints once the season [...]

It usually is not a good sign when a name not recently in the news shows up on the “What’s Trending Now,’’ list when one logs onto the Internet. Dwight Gooden was there this morning and we can expect to see future postings as his latest issue with the law unravels. Gooden, long out of baseball but not forgotten by Mets fans, allegedly threatened his estranged wife, Monique, on Friday, when he should have been on [...]

Yeah, it’s been difficult being a Mets fan these last few seasons.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t love our team.  Here are a few things I am thankful for as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow: David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana: Yes, Wright forgot how to hit home runs, and the other two guys missed a big chunk of 2009, but we still have a nice core of all-stars.  Some teams don’t. The [...]

A friend passed this clip along to me way back in April, and I was going to write about it then, but never got around to it.  Well, now that it’s the off season and we are all stewing in the aftermath of another failed Mets’ season, I thought it would be a good time to share this for a good laugh as well as a good feeling of ’86 nostalgia. The clip is from [...]