Vindoggiedawg asks:
What is your take on Jerry Koosman getting his number retired before Keith Hernandez?
Joe D. replies:
That’s a great question and I’m guessing you’re not the only Met fan questioning this move by the team. But let me reassure you that the Mets did in fact make the right choice here. Yes, I know, the Mets making the right decision? Shocking.
Let me just begin by saying that one day in the hopefully not too distant future, Keith Hernandez will likely see his number retired one day by the Mets. His impact on that memorable 1986 season cannot be understated and I do not wish to denigrate his accomplishments with the Mets in anyway. But if you put things in proper perspective the bottom line is he played in parts of seven seasons with the Mets, however only four of them were truly special.
On the other hand with Jerry Koosman, he gave the Mets 12 seasons including six very solid ones and two elite level seasons including 1976 when he finished second in the NL Cy Young voting.
Koosman burst out of the gate almost immediately and by the end of his rookie season in 1968, he had already established himself as one of the top three lefthanded pitchers in the game, winning an astonishing 19 games including seven shutouts and posting a 2.09 ERA and 1.101 WHIP for a ninth place team. He’d finish second in the Rookie of the Year to Johnny Bench while earning an All Star nod and even placing 12th in the MVP vote. The wins, shutouts, and ERA all set Mets franchise records.
Together with Tom Seaver he gave the Mets the most lethal 1-2 top of the rotation in the game for the better part of a decade before the Mets dealt Seaver in 1977.
However, ask anybody who saw them pitch and nine out of ten would tell you they’d take Koosman over Seaver when the game was on the line and you needed a big win. Kooz was one of the most fearless pitchers in the game and he was at his best whenever the team’s back was against the wall. To this day, the Mets have never had a better money pitcher.
Among the many incredible achievements and accolades as a Met chief among them all was his performance down the stretch in 1969 when he won eight of his last nine games including the clincher, and of course his supreme showing in the World Series when he one-hit the star-studded Baltimore Orioles lineup in Game 3 and then went all the way in Game 5 to clinch the first championship for the Amazins.
If not for a bad decision by then manager Yogi Berra, Koosman nearly propelled the Mets to another World Series title four seasons later in 1973. But alas it was not meant to be despite his stellar scoreless performance against Reggie Jackson and the Athletics.
In 1976, Koosman gave the Mets his best season ever, establishing career highs with 21 wins and 200 strikeouts while finishing second in the league with a 2.69 ERA. He was runner-up to future Met Randy Jones for the NL Cy Young Award.
Koosman felt like GM Donald M. Grant cut his heart out after dealing his best friend Tom Seaver over a contract dispute. And the following season he demanded a trade and was shipped to Minnesota for Jesse Orosco. And if you thought his best days were over, they weren’t, he went on to win 20 games that season for the Twins.
So long story short, Jerry Koosman should’ve had his number retired years ago and was easily the most deserving between him and Keith. Congratulations to No. 36.
