Mets Top 100 Home Runs: From No. 46 (Shawn Estes) to No. 50 (3 in a row in 1986!)

In 2009, I did a project for my website, Mets Walk-Offs and Other Minutiae, celebrating the best home runs in Mets history. I selected the top 60 regular season home runs and the top 15 postseason home runs. The reason I picked 60 was because it represented the top 1% of home runs in Mets history (and 15 just felt right for postseason).

This was fun to do, but it was imperfect. I had one egregious omission. I tended to favor oddities.

It’s time to give that project an update. And why not do it as a top 100?

The Mets have hit 7,671 regular season home runs. The top 80 represent about the top 1%. And the top 20 postseason home runs get us to an even 100 to celebrate.

Come along for the ride. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the reminiscing. Hopefully you’ll find it Amazin’.

No. 76 to 80 can be found here
No. 71 to 75 can be found here 
No. 66 to 70 can be found here 
No. 61 to 65 can be found here
No. 56 to 60 can be found here
No. 51 to 55 can be found here

50. Back-to-back-to-back 
(July 27, 1986 vs Braves)

This is one of those that serves as an example asserts the regular-season dominance of the 1986 team, with Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell going back-to-back-to-back in a win over the hapless Braves to close a 10-game road trip.

And yes, the Mets were both dominant and unlikeable.

“I’ve heard so much about the nasty Mets, the arrogant Mets,” Ray Knight said in a Marty Noble story. “We’re just winning and we have a number of emotional players. People hate winners. That’s what it boils down too.”

My favorite stat: This marked the first time that the Mets had hit three home runs in a row since July 20, 1974 when George Theodore, Rusty Staub, and Cleon Jones did it against the Padres (I know Mets fans of that era like George Theodore, so any chance to get his name in here was worth it).

49. Daniel Murphy 
(September 13, 2015 v Braves)

I may be overvaluing this one but I like it because it was against the Braves and because it foreshadowed Murphy’s penchant for big home runs in the 2015 postseason. It followed three dramatic wins in Washington D.C. against the Nationals and three more wins in Atlanta against the Braves.

The Mets trailed 7-4 with two out and nobody on base in the ninth inning. Juan Lagares doubled against Peter Moylan to keep the game alive and then Curtis Granderson walked against reliever Ryan Kelly. That brought up Murphy, who creamed an 0-1 pitch to right center field, prompting Gary Cohen to scream “This team doesn’t know how to lose.”

It’s the kind of words not said often in these parts. The Mets went on to win with a three-run 10^th inning and headed home having raised their NL East lead from 4 games to 9 ½ in the span of a week.

My favorite stat: There have been six instances of a Met hitting a three-run home run or grand slam to tie a game in the ninth inning or later. They were hit by Ken Boswell (1972 vs Cardinals), Richie Hebner (1979 vs Cardinals), Carl Everett (1997 vs Expos and on our list), Victor Diaz (2004 vs Cubs), Daniel Murphy (2015 vs Braves), and Todd Frazier (2019 vs Nationals).

48. The (Hell’s) Bells Are Ringing for Mike Piazza 
(April 28, 1999 vs Padres)

How’s this for ownage of a pitcher. Mike Piazza made outs in each of his first three at-bats against his future Hall of Fame mate Trevor Hoffman. But in his next 11 turns, he had eight hits, including both a walk-off home run with the Dodgers in 1995 and this one with the Mets, a two-run opposite-field bomb that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win.

“He's got a lot of options and he's got that great changeup,” Piazza told reporters afterwards. He just gave me a pitch that I liked and I did what I could with it."

My favorite stat: The loss snapped an all-timer of a streak for the Padres, who had won 181 consecutive regular season games in which they led after eight innings.

47. Mike Piazza vs Yankees 
(June 17, 2001 vs Yankees)

This is one of the lesser-acknowledged Mike Piazza great home runs, but it capped an improbable and amazin’ comeback against the Yankees in a Sunday Night Baseball game that didn’t end until just after the clock struck midnight.

For the better part of nearly four hours, the Yankees dominated. They led 7-2 as the Mets came up in the home eighth inning. The frame began innocently enough with a Derek Jeter error. That opened floodgates by which the Mets game crashing through.

By the time Piazza came up, the Mets had scored three times and trailed 7-6 with two men on base and two outs. Tsuyoshi Shinjo had just beaten out a potential double play with a crazy feet-first slide into first base to keep the inning alive (Bobby Valentine would describe it as one of the finest plays he’s ever seen). Yankees manager Joe Torre did the Mets a favor here, electing not to use any of his bullpen standouts, instead letting Carlos Almanzar try to dance his way through. Didn’t work.

On Almanzar’s second pitch, Piazza bonked a high fastball one over the left center bleachers, nearly hitting the Sharp advertising sign underneath the DiamondVision. The Mets led 8-7 and Armando Benitez’s 1-2-3 ninth inning finished off a super-dramatic win.

“He’s a scary guy,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre.

Piazza scared a lot of Mets opponents in his time.

My favorite stat: The Mets record for go-ahead home runs in the eighth inning or later is 13, shared by Mike Piazza and Kevin McReynolds.

46. Shawn Estes Gets Revenge His Way 
(June 15, 2002 vs Yankees)

Shawn Estes joked that he missed his spot when he tried to do what Mets fans were encouraging, bean Roger Clemens as a matter of avenging Clemens hitting Mike Piazza in the head. Estes’ attempt barely moved Clemens’ feet, but he didn’t miss in the fifth inning, hitting a two-run home run to extend a 1-0 lead to 3-0. Piazza homered off Clemens (again) an inning later as his own means of revenge.

By the way, Estes pitched a great game that day. On the 25^th anniversary of the Tom Seaver trade, he pitched like Seaver, striking out 11 and allowing only five hits in seven scoreless innings.

My favorite stat: Shawn Estes is the only pitcher to homer against Roger Clemens.