“Hi, I’m Jacob deGrom, and I have the chance with my stuff to just dominate baseball for years to come.” Never has Joe Buck made a call so prophetic. The 27-year-old reigning Rookie of the Year wasn’t around long for his welcoming onto the All-Star stage. That was of his own doing. If you blinked, you missed it. If you saw it, as a national audience did, it was hard to argue that he was...
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It had been 124 straight games in which the New York Yankees won after taking a lead into the eighth inning. But that wasn’t going to stop the Mets, nor were six home runs. Even if it took facing Mariano Rivera at the end. Matt Franco defied the odds and defeated the defending champions with a single to right field that brought in Rickey Henderson and Edgardo Alfonso to put an exclamation...
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The Mets of the mid and late 1980s was not short on star power. Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter were vital to their success, but they all revolved around Keith Hernandez: the leader of that group and the primary reason why those teams were perennial winners and champions in 1986. He’ll receive the highest franchise honor Saturday and on the eve of his No. 17 being retired,...
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There have been many splendid pitching performances in Mets history, and Tom Seaver is appropriately responsible for most of them. For all the gems this mound artist conjured up, his outing on July 9, 1969 is his masterpiece. In front of a jam-packed Shea Stadium, the Mets faced the team they were chasing in the National League East and a lineup that included three Hall of Famers — Ernie Banks,...
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Carlos Beltrán is the best center fielder in Mets history. He ranks fourth in OPS, sixth in home runs, and sixth in runs batted in among all Mets hitters. For a time he held the single-season record for homers. He has the third-highest bWAR among position players. That, plus he had three Gold Gloves. The finest example of his stellar defense came at Minute Maid Park, when he prolonged a marathon...
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