|
All-Century Roster: Mets
By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor
|
Mets fans have been blessed and tortured alternately since the team was
born in Queens in 1962. Perhaps no team has made such an erratic trip to
the depths of the game and risen back to the top in the up-and-down nature
that has become familiar to the Mets.
 | | | Mike Piazza, right, and Robin Ventura are the present and future of the Mets.(Allsport) | |
They began as a 120-loss unit that became lovable for the character it
exhibited in losing. But before it's infancy was complete, the team rose to
be World Champions unexpectedly in 1969. The young pitching on the rise in
the late '60s kept the Mets on a high through another World Series
appearance in 1973.
But the bandwagon drove off the plateau and down a deep ravine as the
70s wrapped up with some poor teams that did little to draw attention from
the Yankees in the Bronx. Another pitching renaissance, a group of veteran
stars in Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and couple young catalysts like
Darryl Strawberry and Len Dykstra had the Mets back on top of the baseball
world again as 1986 World Series champions.
The winning remained as the team finished either first or second in the
NL East from 1984-90 but another black hole of ugly losses and headlining
off-field events sunk the Mets for the first half of the 90s.
Winning returned to Shea as the century ended. A quality infield of
outstanding fielders and quality hitters was the core of an NLCS group that
had its best shot at knocking off the NL East dynasty Atlanta Braves.
Whether the 1999 group was just the beginning of another extended run of
excellence or a peak leading to another down period is to be determined in
2000.
Lineup
| Mike Piazza, Catcher, 1998-99 |
| Piazza doesn't have the tenure of some other terrific Mets catchers -- Todd
Hundley, Gary Carter, John Stearns, Jerry Grote -- but he is by far the
most outstanding offensive catcher to suit up at Shea and among the best
ever. Piazza has received votes in MVP balloting every year he's been in
the league and finished second in 1996 and 1997. He's among the greatest
right-handed hitters of his generation and set the team RBI record in 1999
with 124 while joining Hundley as the only Mets to hit 40 home runs. |
| Keith Hernandez, 1B, 1983-89 |
| Hernandez combined his quality hitting stroke, outstanding glove and
intense desire to be one of the great leaders in Mets history. From 1984-86
he hit .310 and he won Gold Gloves from '83-88. He has more assists than
any first baseman in history and covered the infield and turned double
plays as well as any first baseman ever. His .297 batting average as a Met
is second best in team history. |
| Edgardo Alfonzo, 2B, 1995-99 |
| The Mets knew early in his minor league career that Alfonzo would be a
quality major leaguer. From 1995-98 he showed steady improvement becoming a
key figure in the field and at the plate. In 1999, Alfonzo's entire
skillful package was displayed regularly at Shea as he developed into an
MVP candidate. He joined a thin group of second baseman to have scored and
driven in 100 runs in a season and added 27 homers and nearly flawless
defense. He's a .290 career hitter who is developing into one of the best
all-around players in the game. |
| Rey Ordonez, SS, 1996-99 |
| The Mets have never received much offense out of a shortstop and when it
comes to defense, Ordonez has few peers, not only among his contemporaries
but also over time. He has helped turn shortstop into a "showtime" position
with his glove and footwork on the infield. In 1999, Ordonez even drove in
60 runs from near the bottom of the Mets' order. |
| Howard Johnson, 3B, 1985-93 |
| "Hojo" made the 30-30 season something more popular when he was in his
prime from 1987-91. His average offensive output during that time was 31
homers, 95 RBI and 32 steals with three 30-30 seasons.
He led the NL with 38 HRs and 117 RBI in 1991. |
| Darryl Strawberry, OF, 1983-90 |
| Strawberry had as much talent as anyone in the game through the mid and
late '80s. His sweet swing from the left-handed side of the plate looked
like perfection and it produced like no bat the Mets had ever seen. Dave
Kingman once brought terrific power but Strawberry had much more and wasn't
far from being the best player in the game. His Mets career marks won't be
caught for quite a while. He leads the team in homers (252), RBI (733) and
runs (662). |
| Rusty Staub, OF, 1972-75, 81-85 |
| Staub was one of the most intriguing personalities in the Mets' first four
decades. Though he didn't have the ideal build of a strong-hitting,
ground-covering outfielder, he prepared himself extremely well and lasted
much longer than many might have figured. He and Ty Cobb are the only
players to homer before age 20 and after age 40. Staub had most of his
2,716 hits for other teams but he made a strong contribution to the Mets in
his two stints. The first time around, Staub was a consistent performer who
had his best season in 1975 scoring 93 runs, hitting 19 homers and driving
in 105. His most lasting contribution to Mets history came in the fourth
game of the 1973 World Series when he hit a game-winning home run. |
| Cleon Jones, OF, 1963-75 |
| Jones played crucial roles for the Mets' first two World Series teams in
1969 and 1973. He hit .340 for the '69 Mets setting a team batting record
that stood until John Olerud hit .354 in 1998. Jones' 1969 season also
included a career-best 75 RBI and 92 runs. He was a solid outfielder who
provided a bit of speed and just barely gets the nod over several other
outfielders who had solid but not exactly overwhelming careers in the Mets
outfield. |
Pitchers
| Tom Seaver, SP, 1967-77, `83 |
| The Mets came of age along with Seaver's tremendous repertoire. He still
holds all the significant career marks for Mets pitchers and though nearly
half of his career was spent with other teams, he'll always be identified
as a Met, as he is in the Hall of Fame. Over 395 starts he had a phenomenal
2.57 ERA and won 198 games. He pitched 171 complete games and 44 shutouts
as a Met. |
| Jerry Koosman, SP, 1967-78 |
| Koosman combined with Seaver to form the best lefty-righty combo as the NL
turned into the 1970s. Koosman burst on to the scene in 1968 winning 19
games with a 2.08 ERA and seven shutouts as a rookie. He won 17 games, plus
two more in the World Series for the "Miracle Mets" of 1969. He had a
fairly mediocre run the next six seasons but reached a personal best with
21 wins in 1976. He won 140 games with a 3.09 ERA as a Met. |
| Dwight Gooden, SP, 1984-94 |
| For all "Doc" accomplished, going 157-85 in his 11 New York seasons, the
question still remains what if? If injury and drug and alcohol problems
hadn't interrupted Gooden's career, would he have been considered one of
the all-time greats? He is one of only six pitchers to ever have a winning
percentage above .720 (119-46) over a seven-year period (1984-1990).
Gooden was a four-time All-Star who won the NL Cy Young Award in 1985 and
Rookie of the Year in 1984. |
| David Cone, SP, 1987-92 |
| The "Coneheads" have popped up in Yankee Stadium and Skydome where Cone has
reached outstanding heights as a World Series winning pitcher with the
Yankees and Blue Jays but his career with the Mets also had many impressive
moments. His 1988 season was among the best ever by a Met. He went 20-3
with a 2.22 ERA in just 28 starts. In 1990 his 9.9 strikeouts per nine
innings was the best ratio in the NL. In 1991, he had a 19-strikeout game.
He was 80-41 as a Met. |
| Ron Darling, SP, 1983-91 |
| Like Koosman before him, Darling was always the No. 2 star in the Mets
rotation as he helped solidify the team's staff during its strong run from
1984-90. From 1984-88 Darling went 60-29 with his best season being the
Mets' World Championship year of 1986 when he went 16-6 with a 2.90 ERA.
New York went 27-8 in his starts during '86. His 99 wins as a Met are
fourth most in club history. |
| John Franco, RP, 1990-99 |
| Franco has appeared in more games (485) than any Mets pitcher and the
second most games in major league history (878). His 268 saves as a Met far
outdistance Jesse Orosco's 107. He averaged 27 saves over 10 seasons to
consistently rate among the best closers in the game. |
| Bench |
| Gary Carter, Todd Hundley, Robin Ventura, Kevin McReynolds, Ed
Kranepool, Dave Kingman, Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, George Foster, Lee
Mazzilli |
| Best season |
 | | | The 1986 Mets will go down as one of the best teams in history.(Allsport) | |
The Mets of 1986 were an arrogant, brash band of great talent,
hustle and charm that ran through the NL for 108 wins. That their World
Series victory required perhaps the most influential error ever diminished
their aura of dominance a bit but there's no disputing that the '86 group
is among the best handful of teams since division play began in 1969. |
| |
| Worst season |
| Forget the 120-loss 1962, that was a bad season from a
physical ability standpoint but made the Mets "lovable losers." Their was
nothing lovable about the 1992 season. After seven consecutive first-or
second-place finishes, the Mets signed free agent Bobby Bonilla and were
supposedly destined to repeat the success of 1986. Instead, the team lost
90 games providing enough fodder for John Harper and Bob Klapisch to pen
the book The Worst Team Money Can Buy which detailed much more than
just the team's on-field struggles. |
| Best individual season, player |
| Darryl Strawberry's career hit a high point
in 1987 when he set career highs in average (.284), slugging (.583),
on-base percentage (.398), homers (39), walks (97), steals (36) and runs
(108). But because the Mets failed in their dynasty making, finishing
second to St. Louis, Strawberry was only seventh in MVP voting. |
| |
| Best individual season, pitcher |
| In some estimations, Dwight Gooden's 1985
was the most impressive season of the past 50 years, better than Gibson's
1.12 ERA season in 1968 and Pedro's dominant 1999 or Guidry's 1978. "Doc," in just his
second season, won the pitcher's triple crown and if not for Orel
Hershiser's 19-3 season for a .864 winning percentage, Gooden would have
led the league in the five most telling pitching statistics: wins (24), ERA
(1.53), strikeouts (277), innings (268) and winning percentage (.857). |
|
|
|