When 21-year-old Darryl Strawberry made his major league debut with the New York Mets on May 6, 1983, against the Cincinnati Reds at home, fans were eager for an impact player to help turn the organization’s fortunes around. After all, the club hadn’t made the postseason since they lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games in the 1973 Fall Classic. In addition, the Mets...
In this series leading up to the MLB Draft on July 17, we’ll look back at the backgrounds of some notable Mets picks prior to their arrival in the big leagues. We begin with the No. 1 overall selection 42 years ago. With a smooth hitting motion, Darryl Strawberry belted out 252 homers and drove in 733 runs for the New York Mets. With swift legs, he stole 191 bases. He made seven All-Star...
The greatest trade in New York Mets history wouldn’t have been so great if his stay in Queens lasted four months. Keith Hernandez — already with a batting title, an MVP, and several Gold Gloves decorating his resume — was sent from the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals to the perennially downtrodden Mets in June 1983 for reliever Neil Allen and starter Rick Ownbey. And it sent the...
How do you let Tom Seaver go? A rhetorical question for most, but the Mets actually had an answer on June 15, 1977 when they traded him to the Reds. Five-and-a-half seasons later, Seaver came back to Queens. In 1983, his 17th big league season, he made 34 starts, posted a respectable 3.55 ERA, and had the third-best bWAR (2.6) for a young team that managed just 68 victories. At age 39 and on the...
I watched tonight’s match-up between St Louis and the Mets in tandem with the first part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary, Once Upon a Time in Queens. I took in every game of the 1986 season – either in a bar, on my couch – or someone else’s – many at Shea. The Mets were like a drug for me in the mid to late eighties. And if the game were crucial, you could be certain, I would go to...
The Mets are now in search of a general manager after firing Jared Porter for inappropriate conduct. The Mets have had 14 official GMs in their history (along with five interim GMs, three of whom simultaneously in 2018 and of the five, two at one point held the GM title). A few of the Mets GMs are notable for their achievements (Johnny Murphy presided over the 1969 championship team; Bob...
When Jay Horwitz interviewed for a public relations position with the New York Mets back in 1980, he was convinced that the prospects of getting hired were slim to none. After all, Horwitz showed up to his interview a half-hour late after he went to the wrong hotel, and then proceeded to spill a container of orange juice on general manager Frank Cashen’s lap after nervously reaching...
The 1986 New York Mets team is one that will forever be revered by fans. Lauded for their gritty style of play, the ’86 club was one in which no matter what the score or situation, the team never felt like it was going to lose. It’s hard to argue with that statement, considering the club won 108 regular-season games, running away with the East Division by 21.5 games. On the first day...
In the center of this vintage photo from 1962 is the first owner of the New York Mets, Joan Payson, who is flanked by our first general manager George Weiss, and the team’s first manager Casey Stengel. All three played a significant role in the formative years of the Mets, and when Nelson Doubleday purchased the franchise in 1980, he believed the first of order of business was to honor the...
It’s been five years since anyone in baseball has recorded a 30/30 season, the rare feat of hitting 30 home runs while stealing 30 bases. The last two players to reach the milestone were Mike Trout and Ryan Braun in 2012, who both finished second in their league in MVP voting. Dating back to 2007, only 12 players have reached that mark, including beloved Met third baseman David Wright in...
As the Mets get set to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their 1986 World Championship team, here’s a chronological timeline of how it all came together. Unfortunately, the architect of that championship team, Mets GM Frank Cashen, is no longer with us. But his legacy and the impact he had on our franchise lives on forever. The following shows exactly how all the players from that Mets...
So our friends Mark Armour and Dan Levitt are continuing to roll out their Top General Managers in MLB history. They, of course, are the co-writers of In Pursuit of Pennants, which examines how front offices have historically found innovative ways to build winning teams. Last week, they named ranked Sandy Alderson 12th Best GM of all time, which led to some hot debate as you would imagine. But...
