The MMO team will be going all around the field, sharing our favorite Mets players by position.
Next up, left field.
Ryan Finkelstein
It is really hard to come up with my favorite Mets left fielder of all-time, because quite frankly the position has been a revolving door for most of my lifetime. Especially in recent memory, left field has been a position where the Mets have just tried to hide a bad defender to get more offense in the lineup.
With all that being said, I have to go with Cliff Floyd as my favorite. Growing up in South Florida, I got the chance to meet Floyd many times as he frequently made appearances at some of the baseball camps I attended when he was a member of the Marlins. I remember being thrilled when the Mets signed Floyd in 2003, because he had made such a great impression on me at those camps.
Looking over his numbers, Floyd was actually very solid in a Mets uniform as well, hitting .268/.354/.478, with an .832 OPS across four seasons.
Marshall Field
Since their inception in 1962, the Mets have had 272 different players man left field. It has truly been a revolving door with only sprinkles of uniformity throughout Mets history. Kevin McReynolds was the opening day left fielder in six seasons to lead the Mets in that category. But my choice here is an obvious one to those who know my predilection towards Mets history — the one and only Cleon Jones. Of course he caught the last out in 1969 to secure the Mets’ unlikely championship, but there is much more to Cleon than just that. The All-Star was inducted to the Mets Hall of Fame in 1991 and is still a great ambassador for the current Mets. Jones remains among the team’s all-time leaders in games played, at bats, and hits. And his .340 batting average stood as the team’s best until John Olerud‘s .354 in 1998. In June 2012, Jones was selected as the Mets’ “All-Time Left Fielder” by a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. That distinction is good enough for me and I’m proud to have been alive to see him play.
Rich Sparago
For my favorite Mets left fielder, I have to go with the first one I ever saw, Cleon Jones. When he hit .340 in 1969 I was too young to know what a baseball was, let alone a left fielder. In the first season I followed the Mets — 1973 when they won the pennant — Cleon was the left fielder. Though he hit just .260 with 11 home runs that year, he had a solid postseason, with a .300 average in the LCS and a .286 average in the World Series with a home run. Primacy matters in sports — Cleon Jones was the first left fielder I rooted for — and he remains my favorite to this day. He is also heavily involved in charitable work in his home state of Alabama, helping the area rebuild after hurricanes. Cleon was a good baseball player and is a better man.
Jordan Baron
Like a lot of staff members here at Metsmerized have said before me, left fielders wearing orange and blue don’t usually stick around for long periods of time. It’s a position that constantly cycles players, and, as a young Mets fan, I’ve had the privilege to see many athletes attempt to hold onto their spot out there. And that’s why, as a young fan, my one true choice for my favorite left fielder has to be one that holds a sour taste in the mouths of many Mets fans currently: Yoenis Cespedes.
Yea yea, I know we all like to complain about him and his choice to opt out after fighting his way back from crazy injury after crazy injury, and his four-year contract was only worth it for a brief period of time at the beginning. But, despite all that, Cespedes was the guy who helped lead the team to their improbable run to the World Series in 2015. I was too young in 2006 to remember the march to the NLCS, and I was an infant when they made the World Series in 2000. So, 2015 was my first taste of competitive baseball I can remember, and Cespedes was the guy who powered that. He’s responsible for countless memories of yelling and screaming and jumping up and down in front of the TV with my mom and dad and dog (who definitely had no clue what was going on but was just happy to be there). Cespedes is the player behind so many fantastic Mets memories for me, and that’s why he’s my number-one left fielder.
Michelle Ioannou
I never had the chance to watch him play, but for favorite Mets left fielder, I have to go with Cleon Jones. The Mets’ first homegrown star, Jones was an asset both offensively and defensively. On top of all that, he was a trailblazer and a good person, too. He was the type of player you wanted to see at the plate and the type of player you rooted for. He’s a player I wish I saw play live.
