SNY released their spring training broadcast schedule Monday morning, the same day pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. The first game on SNY will be the Mets’ Grapefruit season opener on Saturday, February 24 at 1:00 pm E.T. The terrific trio of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will man the booth this spring, along with field reporter Steve Gelbs. Former Mets...
More often than not in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Braves got the better of the Mets. That dominance extended into the 1999 NLCS when Atlanta overcame New York in six games to advance to their fifth World Series trip of the decade. At Shea Stadium 22 years ago, just when it looked like the end result would be all-too-familiar, the Mets managed to get the Braves’ number. Ten, to be...
The greatest comeback in Mets history? Game 6, 1986 World Series — obviously. The largest deficit ever overcome by a Mets team? That would be September 2, 1972 in Houston — making up eight runs on the Astros. What took place on a Friday night in June at Shea Stadium 21 years ago doesn’t hold the same significance as the ‘86 Fall Classic and not quite the depth of recovery in ‘72 at...
With all due respect to James McCann, he’s no Mike Piazza. On this Shoebox Memories, the chosen subject is from the 2003 Topps Stadium Club set produced by Topps in November 2002, just in time to be given as gifts under the tree. While most sets are released the following year with stats and pictured from the previous season, this set contains stats from 2002, during which Mike Piazza...
The card above is from the 2002 Fleer set. I came across it recently while cleaning out and organizing baseball cards that haven’t been seen by the author in quite some time. What was the date of the game played? Can we determine the exact play in the game? Was Jay Payton safe on the play? Who is the umpire, and who is the opposition player also shown on the card? Did the Mets win the...
Cue the Baha Men. The Mets embraced this one-hit wonder musical group’s top track during the postseason, as most of the country did in the summer. They even allowed them to alter “Who Let the Dogs Out?” with a Mets theme. And speaking of things that were confined to the year 2000, Mike Hampton in New York had already been considered a success by the time October arrived. He was...
Baseball is ramping up for 2020, with the Mets (finally) engaging in workouts at Citi Field. This is welcome news for fans all over, who have been anxiously awaiting the beginning of the 2020 season. Talk of labor strife, failed re-start negotiations, and the airing of the mutual animosity between the players and owners has permeated the airwaves for too long. However, we have to be a bit more...
Twenty years ago today, Mets outfielder Derek Bell stepped to the plate leading off the bottom of the eighth inning against Braves pitcher Don Wengert with New York trailing 8-1. The Mets were all but toast against the first place Braves. With two outs in the inning, the Mets were still losing 8-2 and only had one runner on base. Back-to-back singles by Todd Zeile and Jay Payton brought the...
With the start of summer came more meltdowns. Entering their series with the Phillies and a homestand of almost two weeks, the Mets had found themselves leading in each of their last 15 straight contests — yet found a way to lose six of them. That streak would continue long into this temporary Shea residency, but the initial two games versus Philadelphia exposed New York’s latest...
Two-thirds of their way through a cross-country road trip, the New York Mets were making headway in their quest for a second consecutive postseason appearance. With their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the Gateway to the West, the Mets sat six games above .500 (28-22) and leapfrogged over Montreal for second place in the National League East. Five-and-a-half games separated themselves and...
As the calendar turned to June in the year 2000, the Mets sat just five games above .500, and already seven games behind the Atlanta Braves. Relative to their standing the prior June in 1999, things could have been worse. Derek Bell (.873 OPS) and Todd Zeile (.919) were both raking in the place of Roger Cedeno and John Olerud, but the offense still lacked the depth that would eventually push it...
Here is proof that some good came out of the abominable 1992 season. Hoping to eradicate a disastrous conclusion to 1991, the Mets’ winter maneuvering was predicated upon acquiring proven veterans. Bret Saberhagen, Eddie Murray, and Willie Randolph were among the newcomers, joining Gooden and HoJo to help foster expectations of a division title. The initial test of this experiment came...
