| Table of contents |
|
2 Players of note 3 External links |
When a new team was proposed for New York after the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers left for California, a number of names were proposed. The name "Metropolitans" had the advantage of historical precedent, having been the name of an earlier baseball team in New York in 1883-1887.
The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc (nicknamed "Mets" almost from the start, as had been the earlier Metropolitans) began their existence posting a 40-120 record, the worst record for any team in the 20th century. They ended the decade, though, as the 1969 "Miracle Mets", posting not only their first winning season, but their first NL pennant and World Series championship, upsetting the Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.
Beloved by New York fans despite their losing ways--or even because of them--the Mets of the early 1960s became famous for their ineptitude. Players like the ironically nicknamed "Marvelous Marv" Throneberry became watchwords for athletic incompetence. Thus, when the Mets stunned the sports world with their 1969 championship, the story was regarded as one of history's great turnarounds, giving hope to underdogs and also-rans everywhere.
The subsequent history of the franchise has been very checkered, with brief periods of success alternating with longer periods of mediocrity. In 1973, the Mets won an extremely weak NL East, finishing only three games above .500. Despite this, they beat the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS to become the worst regular-season team to ever play in the World Series. The Mets would lose that Series to the Oakland A's. During the mid to late 1980s, the Mets fielded one of the strongest teams in baseball, featuring fireballing right-handed pitcher Dwight Gooden, lanky power-hitting rightfielder Darryl Strawberry, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, and slick-fielding first baseman Keith Hernandez. Some predicted a new baseball dynasty in the making. However, that Mets team managed to capture only one world's championship (1986), defeating the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game series that featured one of the most remarkable comebacks in baseball history. The Mets came back from two runs down with two outs in the tenth inning of game 6 to defeat Boston 6-5, the last run scoring on a ground ball off the bat of Mookie Wilson that trickled through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner.
Since 1986, the Mets have enjoyed only one World Series appearance. They were soundly defeated in the Subway Series by their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees in 2000, four games to one.
Franchise history
Players of note
Baseball Hall of Famers
Current stars
Not to be forgotten
Retired numbers
External links