Because it had taken so long for the Mets Hall of Fame to expand its member base, the recent inductees have been overdue. That holds true for the players joining this year.
Howard Johnson and Al Leiter‘s Mets careers don’t overlap. HoJo generated the fourth-most homers, fourth-most RBIs, and third-highest stolen base total, primarily in the racing stripe uniforms. Leiter pitched t0 a 124 ERA+ with more than 1,100 strikeouts in a variety of colors, black included.
Both arrived to New York through offseason trades from the reigning World Champions. Both deals would be instrumental in helping solidify the franchise as a title contender for multiple years. Both are still among the top 15 in overall bWAR.
Johnson was a platoon third baseman when the Mets won it all, while Leiter was an integral part of a starting rotation that came up short in the Fall Classic. In fact, Leiter’s most admirable performance might have been the World Series-deciding loss.
He strove to single-handedly fend off a Yankee three-peat, even creating a run-scoring play with a perfectly-placed bunt. As his pitch count crept toward a season-high 142, two-out ninth-inning hits against the exhausted lefty plated the tie-breaking runs and spoiled hopes of sending the Subway Series back to the Bronx.
It was so much of what Leiter was about: tough, fearless, durable, emotional.
The value of pitching wins notwithstanding, Leiter never earned a victory in his seven postseason appearances despite six of them being quality starts. But he was at his best when the Mets’ first playoff trip in 11 years was at stake in Cincinnati.
For the one-game tiebreaker to determine the 1999 NL Wild Card, Leiter dealt a two-hit shutout. He allowed a baserunner in each of the first three innings, but then went on to retire 13 Reds in a row. He dotted the strike zone beautifully with pitches that led to seven strikeouts and rarely resulted in hard contact.
Leiter’s masterpiece holds a special place in the history of the Mets, the team this Toms River, New Jersey native watched while growing up. The left-hander had been a part of championship teams in Toronto and Florida when he joined the Mets prior to 1998. But playing for the team he rooted for fulfilled a childhood dream.
Leiter gave no misconceptions about his feelings on the mound. That infectious passion was a feeling the Mets fed off of during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He began exceptionally well. During a ’98 season when home runs were flying out at a record pace, Leiter gave up only eight. When the median ERA of all major-league pitchers was a hefty 4.42, Leiter’s was a robust 2.47. And in a season in which the collective league-wide batting average was .266, Leiter held opposing hitters to .216. He also led all Mets in victories with 17 while losing just six and walked 71 batters two years after he led the NL with 119.
While the numbers Leiter accumulated over seven years don’t measure up to the other great starting pitchers, they are impressive when considering the time period in which he did it. It’s difficult to judge him against those who were afforded the luxury of pitching in less hitter-friendly eras. A few advanced statistical measures, though, make it clearer.
Leiter’s overall Mets ERA is not among the top 10 in franchise history, but that 124 ERA+ is. His pitching WAR of 28.0 is fifth among all Met arms. As for his adjusted pitching runs, used to measure the number of runs prevented from scoring compared to the league’s average pitcher in a neutral park, Leiter remains fourth—trailing only Tom Seaver, Jacob deGrom, and Dwight Gooden.
While Leiter was a key component upon arrival, Johnson’s progression didn’t happen overnight. Once a middling utility player in Detroit, he averaged a little more than 10 homers and 42 RBIs in his first two seasons in New York. He certainly had his moments during the championship year. Most notably, a key long ball in St. Louis to propel the Amazin’s to a four-game sweep versus their NL East rivals and assert themselves as a dominant club.
He split his time at the hot corner with Ray Knight, who enjoyed a comeback season that ended with World Series MVP honors. Shortly after the champagne dried, Knight was gone and Johnson was the everyday starter.
In 1987, opportunity and ability crystallized for HoJo. He stunned the league with 36 home runs — 24 more than in any previous year. If his sudden power turn was shocking, his speed on the base paths was also an eyebrow-raiser. He stole 32 bases, outdistancing his career-high by 22. Johnson became the first Met to achieve a 30-homer, 30-steal season. And he’d do it two more times.
This began a prolific five-year stretch highlighted by 157 homers, 475 RBIs, and 160 steals.
In 1989, Johnson matched his home run total of ’87 and set a new personal best in steals with 41. He also made the NL All-Star team as a starter.
Johnson would go on to establish both personal and franchise records. His 80 extra-base hits were the most by any Met, later tied by Carlos Beltrán in 2006 and broken by Pete Alonso. But he continues to stand alone in terms of single-season OPS+ (169) and offensive WAR (8.0).
Two years later, Johnson was again an All-Star and entered an exclusive 30-30 club segment. By knocking out an NL-best 38 and swiping 30 bases, he joined Bobby Bonds as one of only two players who had reached this rare single-season feat three times.
HoJo captured leadership in two-thirds of the National League’s triple-crown categories by pacing the league in homers and RBIs. He became the first Mets hitter to lead the league in round-trippers and runs driven in for the same season, the third Met to hit more than 30 homers in three different seasons, and the third to post multiple 100-RBI years. Almost as impressive was how he kept himself immune to the dissension and ailments that engulfed the Mets in the waning months of the schedule.
But as the Mets continued to be in a state of disrepair, Johnson was breaking down. Injuries derailed his final two seasons in New York and he was a Colorado Rockie by 1994 before retiring after 1995.
Johnson is perhaps the most underrated player in franchise history. He’s certainly among those names at the top. His best years came while the Mets were underachieving or, sometimes, worse. And that’s a big reason why Johnson doesn’t get enough consideration when discussing the franchise’s best.
Hopefully, this weekend’s ceremonies help give HoJo the esteem he deserves as he and get their well-earned recognition together.
