MMO Fan Shot By Jason Black
We have been here too many times. It’s September and the Mets won’t be going to the postseason. It’s been 35 years since our last World Series championship.
It was 32 years ago yesterday, on September 27th, 1989, when we said goodbye to two key players who made that championship possible.
Just three years after dominating the baseball world the Mets were on uncertain ground in 1989. Age, injuries, and discord in the clubhouse and with the front office were taking their toll.
Darryl Strawberry was feeling unwanted by the Mets after he was denied a contract extension during spring training. Manager Davey Johnson was getting pressure from the front office to discipline players. Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez spent weeks on the disabled list with injuries. Dwight Gooden suffered a muscle pull in July and missed the rest of the season.
On June 18th the Mets made a controversial trade sending Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to the Phillies for Juan Samuel. The Mets then traded Mookie Wilson to Toronto in July. Just like that, the 1986 World Champs were being disassembled.
The Mets won 87 games in 1989 and finished 6 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs. The Mets dynasty that so many had predicted didn’t happen.
The Mets hosted the last-place Phillies on the night of September 27th at Shea Stadium. Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez were not in the starting lineup.
35-year-old Carter was battling a bad knee that he had injured in Cincinnati on May 10th. He spent weeks on the disabled list before returning to the Mets on July 25th. On this September night, he found himself batting .184 with 2 home runs in 160 at-bats.
Hernandez, also 35, broke his right kneecap on May 17th when he ran into Dodgers infielder Dave Anderson while trying to break up a double play and ended up missing eight weeks. He was batting .235 at the time and sat on the bench as Dave Magadan manned first base.
Both Carter and Hernandez were looking at free agency, and the Mets had shown no interest in re-signing either player. Mets fans knew their days in the orange and blue were numbered, and they got a chance to say goodbye to both players on this night.
Trailing the Phillies in the eighth inning Hernandez was inserted as a pinch hitter against Jeff Parrett. Hernandez flew out to John Kruk in left-field and received a standing ovation as he walked back to the Mets dugout.
Carter fared better as he was inserted in the game behind the plate in the top of the ninth inning. He hit a double in the bottom of the ninth and also received a well-deserved ovation from fans as he was replaced by a pinch-runner.
This bittersweet moment was marred when Mets second baseman Gregg Jeffries ended the game by grounding out against Roger McDowell. As Jeffries ran to first base, heated words were exchanged between the two former teammates.
A brawl broke out between the Mets and Phillies though many of the Mets were more on McDowell’s side rather than Jeffries. Many players perceived Jeffries to be immature and self-absorbed, and they resented management for coddling him.
The Mets lost this game 5-3 to the Phillies, but more significantly they were losing the character, leadership, and style of play that had made them into champions. Here we are in 2021 and we’re still missing it.
* * * * * * *
This MMO Fan Shot was contributed by Jason Black. Have something you want to say? Share your opinions with the best and most diverse Mets community on the web! Send your Fan Shot to [email protected].
