KOT2 "Best of the Worst Met Teams":

1962 -  2007:

Flushing, NY:  November 10th, 2008: 

The NY Met franchise was born out of the embers of they burning passion of NY fans to have National League baseball return once again to Gotham City.  In 1957 the NY Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers announced their plans to "transfer" their franchises to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively.  Besides breaking the hearts of millions of fans, this move left a void in the sports world of New York City.  How could the US's largest city be without a National League Franchise ?  Surely NY was not a 1 horse town.  Since the National League wasn't offering any suggestions or alternatives NY based lawyer Bill Shea came up with the idea of a rival league called the Continental League.  Shea's idea threatened the core of Major League Baseball.  MLB, which had not expanded for over 50 years, felt threatened by an upstart league and so came the idea of expansion.  In 1961 the AL added 2 teams (WAS/LA) and the NL agreed to follow suit in 1962.  Logically New York, along with Houston, was awarded a franchise.

With the first pick in the expansion draft the New York Metropolitan baseball club selected catcher Hobie Landrith.  Newly hired manager, Casey Stengel, said, "if you have all these people throwing balls, you need someone to catch them".  The articulate Stengel was going to be the face of the franchise as it got off the ground.  Early on in the expansion draft the it became apparent that the Mets' strategy would be different than Houston's.  Houston was going to go after the best available athletes and try to build a consistent winner with a firm base.  The Mets didn't have the luxury that Houston had.  Since major league ball was never played in Houston the Colt 45's were in uncharted territory.  They could build from the ground up.  The Mets needed to capture the hearts, minds and soul of the abandoned NL fans in NY, so their decision was easy:  Draft any former NY Giant or Brooklyn Dodger player, no matter how old or how infirmed they were.  Sprinkle in some former Yankees as well to make this team have a NY flavor.  The Mets never expected to win in their first few years, they just hoped to capture NY's heart.  They were Amazin' as Casey would say.  They didn't just lose, they found new ways to lose.  Fans loved seeing Gil Hodges, Roger Craig, Duke Snider...one last time in their twilight.  And so began the love affair that New York has had with their "Metsies".

1962:  Let's just say that the owners of MLB did not exactly put their best players into the expansion draft.  After seeing the LA Angels do so well in their first year out of the starting block ownership made sure that the 2 new NL teams would not have much to choose from.  The Mets brought home some old time NY favorites like Gil Hodges, Roger Craig and Gene Woodling.  Frank Thomas was a huge find and gave the team offensive credibility.  The big issue was the pitching.  The Mets had none.  Roger Craig was the ace of the staff and won 10 games and lost over 20.  He was responsible for over 25% of the Mets wins that year.  Fans turned out to see them play in the old Polo Grounds in droves.  In fact they outdrew the World Champion Yankees at the gate.  It was never a question of "will the mets win or lose", but "how would they lose" ?  The Mets found new and different ways to blow games every day.  Manager Casey Stengel was heard mumbling, "Can anyone here play this game" ? After going 40-120 I think the answer was apparent !  It was so bad, team MVP Richie Ashburn (.305) quit at the end of the season because he didn't want to suffer anymore.  Ashburn received a boat from the team as a MVP prize.  The day he put it in the water it sunk.  I think that says it all.

1964:  The Mets move into their new state of the art multi-purpose ballpark, Shea Stadium in Flushing New York.  After 2 years of playing in the run down Polo Grounds the Mets finally had their new home, which was aptly named for the man who made it all possible for NL baseball to return to NYC, Bill Shea.  New home, same old results.  The Mets again finished in 10th place (dead last), but a core group of young players were starting to replace the old guard veterans from the first few years.  Young Ron Hunt anchored second base and became the first Met to start in an All-Star game, which was actually played at Shea.  Fittingly the two biggest moments at the new ballpark belonged to non-Mets, Jim Bunning and Johnny Callison.  Bunning threw a perfect game against the Mets on father's day and Callison hit the game winning homer at the All Star game.

1967:  Stengel was forced to retire due to poor health and Wes Westrum (former NY Giant) was now at the helm.  The results were the same (bottom of the league), but the talent was young and raw.  A baby faced kid from Fresno California, via USC arrived on the scene with only 1 year of minor league experience.  In his first season as a pro, Tom Seaver won the rookie of the year and finished 16-13 on a bottom team.  He was not about to take losing lightly and his fire and passion was beginning to spread to the rest of this bunch.  Former Dodger Tommy Davis rebounded from his previous injuries and lead the team in hitting.  Something was starting here.

1968:  Westrum was fired before the end of 1967.  The Mets needed leadership to guide their crew of young talented players.  They knew exactly who the right man for the job was.  Unfortunately he was still employed by another team.  Never let a contract get in the way of getting things done.  The Mets traded prospects to the Washington Senators in order to bring back Gil Hodges to the franchise to manage the team.  Hodges played for the Mets during their first 2 seasons.  He was a fan favorite then, just like he was in his decade in Brooklyn as one of the key cogs in the "Boys of Summer".  After the Dodgers moved out west, Hodges remained in Brooklyn as a resident.  New York loved him.  Gil spent all of 1968 observing the young talent and teaching them professionalism.  His staff of former Dodgers (Rube Walker/Joe Pignatano) helped cultivate the young arms in hopes of bringing them to the next level.  Rookie Jerry Koosman flashed onto the scene and out pitched even Seaver.  a young fireballer named Lynn Nolan Ryan also began to gel.  Tommy Agee and Al Weis arrived from the White Sox in a trade for Tommy Davis and Cleon Jones, Bud Harrelson and Jerry Grote all began to mature.  For the first time in their history the Mets finished out of the cellar !  The seeds for next year's miracle were planted.

1974:  Following their improbable pennant in 1973, the Mets fell below .500 for the first time since 1968.  Injuries and age began to catch up to the team that had everything go it's way from late August until October the previous year.  Seaver battled sciatica all season and finished at .500 (11-11) for the first time in his career.  The man who coined the phrase, "Ya Gotta' Believe", Tug McGraw, lost his relief dominance.  Young players, who were billed with so much promise, were not able to fill the gaps left by injury.  The "new breed" of 1969 and 1973 began to get old.  Joe McDonald's famed farm system was starting to show cracks.  Was this a one year aberration or the start of decline.  Embattled manager, Yogi Berra, didn't seem to have the answer.  All he could do was offer up good quotes like, "it gets late early over here".  Berra was a decent manager, but the fans held two things against him.  One:  He was not the late/grate Gil Hodges and Two:  He was a Yankee at heart.

1979:  This season marks the mid way point in the franchises "dark years".  From 1977-1983, seven long years, the franchise never even came close to .500, let alone contending.  The franchise was going through some internal turmoil.  Matriarch owner, Joan Payson passed away.  Her heirs didn't have the same affinity for the Mets like she did.  Mrs. Payson was a New York baseball fan first, owner second.  She loved her team and her fans.  She was the lone dissenting board member who voted against the NY Giants moving west.  By 1979 her heirs let the team and Shea Stadium fall into ruins.  Led by their public lackey M.Donald Grant the Mets began a series of moronic trades that took away their talent, their heart and their soul.  The midnight massacre of the 1977 trading deadline saw "the franchise", Tom Seaver and slugger Dave Kingman traded away for youth.  Seaver was run out of town by NY Post scribe Dick Young, who publicly did Grants bidding.  They did everything in their power to discredit Seaver, so they could trade him and not hear the backlash.  Guess again, the fans new better and sided with Seaver.  Poor Joe Torre...the Mets player/manager.  He had very little skill left to play and no talent left on the field to manage.  He had some kids who showed some promise, but no one to build the franchise on.  Lee Mazzilli, a Brooklyn native with matinee idol good looks, was the one drawing card the team had.  "Maz" had average talent, but on this team of misfits and "never was's" he was their lone star.  Maz patrolled center field and hit from both sides of the plate.  Guys like Joel Youngblood, John Stearns and Doug Flynn offered tons of hustle, but lacked true talent.  It all came to a head at banner day, when security chased a young fan down and confiscated his banner which said, "WELCOME TO GRANT'S TOMB".

1983:  Who says you can never come home ?  Well they were wrong, Tom Seaver came home and the fans adored him as much as they did 6 years earlier when M.Donald Grant dumped him for 4 suspects, I mean prospects.  If ever one player personifies a franchise, Seaver would be that guy for the Mets.  He not only was the franchises best player, but he was it's most popular.  The Mets new ownership of Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon decided to right the wrongs of the past and return Tom Terrific to his adoring fans at Shea.  While the team wasn't ready to contend on the field they were ready to start making progress at the box office and with youth.  Young talent that would eventually win the World Championship 3 years later began taking shape on the field.  Wally Backman and Mookie Wilson were instant fan favorites.  Keith Hernandez arrived in June and with him came the championship pedigree and fiery leadership the franchise had been lacking.  Ron Darling came up in September and was lights out, but the real story was the 6'6" kid from Compton who could really go deep.  In what might have been the most anticipated call up ever, young Darryl Strawberry flashed upon the scene.  Straw was a home grown, larger than life talent who was drafter overall #1 in 1980.  From the day he was drafted Met fans waited in eager anticipation for his arrival.  In 1983 he surely arrived.  After a slow start he caught fire and won the rookie of the year award.  The franchise was back on track...

1992:  After years of bad trades and poor free agent signings the Mets championship caliber teams of the late 80's began decline.  By 1992 Straw was gone and Gooden was either in rehab or on the DL with arm issues.  Newcomers like Vince Coleman and Bobby Bonilla didn't have the same pride and passion that the members of the 80's teams had.  Veteran leaders like Carter and Hernandez were long gone.  David Cone was dealt mid season to Toronto for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson.  Neither of whom worked out as Mets.  Jeff Torborg was in charge and to call his managerial skills pathetic would be insulting anyone who was pathetic.  The Mets hovered around mediocrity with this core of aged veterans and young guns.

1993:  Simply known as, "The worst team Money Could Buy".  The Wilpon's shelled out a lot of cash to bring in some All-star caliber players to supplement the talent they already had.  The perception was that 1992 was an off year and the in 1993 the team would retool with some key free agents and return to championship form.  This premise couldn't have been any further from the truth.  The 1993 Mets succeeded in doing something that no Met team had done since the 1960's...lose over 100 games.  If their motto for the 80's was, "The magic is back", the motto for this team became, "the tragic is back".  Veteran Eddie Murray and young Jeff Kent provided decent stats over at the right side of the infield.  Unfortunately neither one cared much or moved much in the field.  Every team needs chemistry and this team had it...unfortunately it was just BAD.  Howard "HoJo" Johnson was in full decline.  He had had a history of having huge years for the team in odd numbered seasons.  The geniuses in the front office banked on this occurring in '93.  Their homage to superstition did not pay attention to the reality of HoJo's physical decline and dwindling skills.  Doc Gooden finished the season at 12-15 and plunged deeper into the abyss of drug addiction.  39 year old Frank Tanana was dreadful.  "El" Sid Fernandez' ERA remained low, but his weight began to balloon, subsequently his health also came into question as he missed many scheduled starts.  Former AL Cy young award winner Brett Saberhagen was bit by the injury bug as well as he missed half his starts and had a .500 record.  The bullpen lost John Franco to injury and ineffectiveness and could never rely on his replacement, Anthony "AY" Young.  Young would go on to hold the major league record for futility by losing 30 straight decisions.  This team was known more for throwing water balloons at writers, bleach guns and firecrackers than they were for producing on the field.  By the time this wretched season was over Torborg was fired and disciplinarian Dallas Green was brought in to shake up the troops and get them back on track.  None of which ever happened during his brief tenure.

2004:  Art Howe was a very nice guy.  He had some success in Oakland and on paper he looked to be the right guy to lead the Mets back to respectability.  Unfortunately he did not have the hard edged personality that a manager in New York needs.  Howe was the brunt of jokes on WFAN sports talk radio, where fans and commentators both called for his head.  Howe didn't help his own cause with his questionable on field moves and lack of articulation during news conferences.  With all that said, Howe didn't seal his and his team's fate, until he decided to move Mike Piazza from behind the plate to 1st base.  Howe told WFAN that he was going to make the move, but never told Piazza.  Rule #1 in sports management:  Do not alienate your franchise player.  Piazza was abysmal at first.  His lack of athletic grace coupled with his lack of practice hurt the team and his reputation.  Piazza looked like a grumbling malcontent.  The team was torn apart and in disarray.  The pitching staff basically had 3 starters.  Tom Glavine led the team in innings pitched, but had a sub .500 record.  Fans hated Glavine.  In their minds he was a money grabber, who really wanted to be in Atlanta, not in New York.  If you fast forward to the final game of 2007, you'll see that this suspicion was based in reality.  Braden Looper pretended to be the closer and practically blew every and any game he could get his hands on.   The true highlight of this season came from two 21 year old phenoms named Wright and Reyes.  While the team lost on the field their enthusiasm and talent energized the fans into believing that good times were coming.

Why sub .500 Mets teams ???  I think it's a fair question to ask.  The simple answer is that this franchise is defined more by it's "down" times than it has been by it's brief championship runs.  For most cities having 2 championships and 4 pennant winners in 47 years of history would be considered good.  Unfortunately the Mets are judged against the 10,000 lb gorilla that operates in the Bronx and makes a habit of winning almost every year.  The Mets have had more "dark" eras than they have had contending eras.  Choosing sub .500 teams wasn't hard to do :).