Steve Carlton gave up a Casey Stengel-esque 37 home runs to the Mets. That's the most home runs the Mets have hit against any pitcher.
They've hit 33 home runs against Ferguson Jenkins, 30 against John Smoltz and 28 against Greg Maddux. The former is in Cooperstown. The latter two will be, or should be.
They've hit 28 home runs against Rick Reuschel, who will need to pay admission to get into the Hall of Fame. He interrupts the path to Phil Niekro (27) and Juan Marichal (25).
They've hit 25 home runs against Livan Hernandez, the most they've hit against anyone who was, at one time, a Met. That's one more than they've hit against Tom Glavine (24), and I wish they'd hit 24-hundred against him.
They've hit 23 home runs against Don Carman- the same number they've hit against Bob Gibson (the Cardinal, not the ex-Met)- and that's the only time you'll ever see those two mentioned in the same sentence.
There's no point (Dave Lapoint, 6) in going through every single name, so we'll skip ahead. That's Skip as in Guinn (1) and Pitlock (3), whoever the heck they were.
Twenty one pitchers have allowed at least 20 home runs to the Mets. One hundred fifty have yielded at least 10, including Roger Clemens, who nails double-digits right on the nose (just like he did, Mike Piazza).
When I initially began this project, I didn't have a full grasp on what the results would be. I didn't realize I'd take pleasure in discovering that the Mets had homered against an A.J. (Burnett, 7), a C.J. (Nitkowski, 1), a CC (Sabathia, 1), J.A. (Happ, 5), J.D. (Durbin, 2), J.R. (Richard, 4), R.J. (Swindle, 1), and T.J. (Tucker, 3).
My fanhood begins around 1981, so I'm a little too young to remember some of these pitchers, like Hoyt Wilhelm (1), who at age 48 is the oldest pitcher to allow a home run to the Mets. Or Rick Wise and Gary Nolan (12 apiece), who were just 18 when they became the youngest pitchers to give up home runs to Mets.
But I do remember Anthony Young (1) and Chris Young (4), if not Danny Young (1) and Jason Young (3). The Mets weren't old enough to homer off Cy Young, and, just as notable, were unable to homer in their turns against Cy Acosta (0).
By my count (John Montefusco, 11), a total of 494 pitchers have allowed exactly one home run to the Mets, and that's where the list gets kind of big and goofy (like Charlie Kerfeld, 1). But the names that make for Sterling lists (Hitchcock 7; Slaughter, 1), are the exception, not the rule (Vern Ruhle, 1).
In all, the Mets have homered against 1,476 different pitchers, including 61 of whom have homered against the Mets. They've yet to homer against a Homer (Bailey, 0). But they have hit a HR against an HR (Horacio Ramirez 8; Howie Reed 1).
My thanks for the inspiration to the many writers who have done similarly themed pieces in the past...always wanted to try writing one of these, and I finally had the inspiration to do so.
They've hit 33 home runs against Ferguson Jenkins, 30 against John Smoltz and 28 against Greg Maddux. The former is in Cooperstown. The latter two will be, or should be.
They've hit 28 home runs against Rick Reuschel, who will need to pay admission to get into the Hall of Fame. He interrupts the path to Phil Niekro (27) and Juan Marichal (25).
They've hit 25 home runs against Livan Hernandez, the most they've hit against anyone who was, at one time, a Met. That's one more than they've hit against Tom Glavine (24), and I wish they'd hit 24-hundred against him.
They've hit 23 home runs against Don Carman- the same number they've hit against Bob Gibson (the Cardinal, not the ex-Met)- and that's the only time you'll ever see those two mentioned in the same sentence.
There's no point (Dave Lapoint, 6) in going through every single name, so we'll skip ahead. That's Skip as in Guinn (1) and Pitlock (3), whoever the heck they were.
Twenty one pitchers have allowed at least 20 home runs to the Mets. One hundred fifty have yielded at least 10, including Roger Clemens, who nails double-digits right on the nose (just like he did, Mike Piazza).
When I initially began this project, I didn't have a full grasp on what the results would be. I didn't realize I'd take pleasure in discovering that the Mets had homered against an A.J. (Burnett, 7), a C.J. (Nitkowski, 1), a CC (Sabathia, 1), J.A. (Happ, 5), J.D. (Durbin, 2), J.R. (Richard, 4), R.J. (Swindle, 1), and T.J. (Tucker, 3).
My fanhood begins around 1981, so I'm a little too young to remember some of these pitchers, like Hoyt Wilhelm (1), who at age 48 is the oldest pitcher to allow a home run to the Mets. Or Rick Wise and Gary Nolan (12 apiece), who were just 18 when they became the youngest pitchers to give up home runs to Mets.
But I do remember Anthony Young (1) and Chris Young (4), if not Danny Young (1) and Jason Young (3). The Mets weren't old enough to homer off Cy Young, and, just as notable, were unable to homer in their turns against Cy Acosta (0).
By my count (John Montefusco, 11), a total of 494 pitchers have allowed exactly one home run to the Mets, and that's where the list gets kind of big and goofy (like Charlie Kerfeld, 1). But the names that make for Sterling lists (Hitchcock 7; Slaughter, 1), are the exception, not the rule (Vern Ruhle, 1).
In all, the Mets have homered against 1,476 different pitchers, including 61 of whom have homered against the Mets. They've yet to homer against a Homer (Bailey, 0). But they have hit a HR against an HR (Horacio Ramirez 8; Howie Reed 1).
My thanks for the inspiration to the many writers who have done similarly themed pieces in the past...always wanted to try writing one of these, and I finally had the inspiration to do so.
Comments
Rick Reuschel - I think we faced him a zillion times in 1984, and usualy torched him. I think the only wins against the Cubs that year were against Reuschel.