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What's In A Name?

We haven't done any Mets home run breakdown analysis here since the conclusion of our Top 60 Most Metmorable Home Runs, so I thought I'd take a bit and look at a fun piece of trivia.


Most Mets REGULAR SEASON home runs by opposing pitchers first name.

Again, this information was compiled with the help of Baseball-Reference.com, from which I garnered a list of every Mets home run.


#1 Mike (246)


The total: The Mets have hit 246 home runs against pitchers named Mike.


That doesn't count: The three they've hit against pitchers whose first name was Michael (close doesn't count).


Name variety: Those Mikes encompass 57 different last names

Who dat?: Among those Mikes who gave up one: Mike Davison, Mike DuPree, and Mike Roesler.

Some of the best home runs vs a Mike: Del Unser hit a 17th-inning game-winning home run against Mike Wallace on April 19, 1976; Howard Johnson hit the Mets 3,000th home run against Mike Scott on May 5, 1990.

The most victimized Mikes: Morgan 22, Krukow 19, Hampton 16, Mussina 15, Scott 14

Mets fans named Mike know...From July 17, 2005 to August 21, 2008, the Mets hit 18 home runs vs Mikes, and all 18 came at home. That 18 is the difference in this stat: The Mets have hit 132 homers against the Mikes at home, 114 on the road.

#2 Bob (194)

The total: The Mets have hit 194 home runs against pitchers named Bob


That doesn't count: The 28 that came against pitchers whose first name was Bobby, nor the six that came against pitchers whose first name was Robert.


Name variety: The Bobs encompass 29 last names, a much smaller count than the Mikes.


Both names have eight pitchers who have yielded 10+ home runs to the Mets.


The big difference is that 22 different Mikes have allowed exactly one home run to the Mets, but only seven different Bobs have given up a single homer to the club.

Who Dat?: Among those who gave up one home run: Bob Owchinko, Bob Long, and Bob James.

Some of the he best home runs vs a Bob: The best one doesn't make the list, since it was postseason, but I'm thinking Darryl Strawberry's game-tying three-run homer vs Bob Knepper in Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS; The first go-ahead home run in Mets history was hit by Felix Mantilla against Bob Friend on April 15, 1962.

The most victimized Bobs: Gibson 23, Knepper 19, Buhl 13, Forsch 13, Kipper 13, Walk 13.

Mets fans named Bob know...The Mets haven't homered against a Bob since John Olerud against Bob Wolcott and the Diamondbacks on August 15, 1999.

#3 John (183)


The total: The Mets have hit 183 home runs against pitchers named John.


That doesn't count: The 19 home runs that came against pitchers who spelled their first name Jon or the 18 that came against pitchers named Johnny. We're very strict with our rulings here.


Name variety: The Johns encompass 33 different last names, including double-John, John Johnstone, who allowed one.

Who Dat?: John Urrea, John Roper, John Gelnar and John Fulgham are among those who gave up one home run to the Mets.


Some of the best home runs vs a John: Carlos Beltran gave Willie Randolph his first win as manager with an eighth-inning home run against John Smoltz in the 6th game of the 2005 season; Darryl Strawberry hit walk-off home runs against John Franco in both 1985 and 1988.


The most victimized Johns: Smoltz 30, Smiley 15, Tudor 15, Patterson 14, Burkett 13


Mets fans named John know...John Stearns is the only Mets John to homer TWICE against opposing pitchers named John (Candelaria and Montefusco). John Stephenson homered against John Tsitouris once, and John Milner homered against John D'Acquisto once.

#4 Steve (155)

The total: The Mets have hit 155 home runs against pitchers named Steve.


That doesn't count: The one home run the Mets have hit against a Stephen, though they've never homered against a Steven.


Name variety: The Steves encompass 26 different last names.

Who Dat?: Steve Dunning and Steve Foster are among those who gave up one home run to the Mets.

Some of the best home runs vs a Steve: A couple of candidates here- Mike Piazza's return from September 11 home run came against Steve Karsay. Ron Swoboda hit two home runs against Steve Carlton on the day in 1969 when Carlton struck out 19 Mets.

The most victimized Steves: Carlton 37, Renko 12, Bedrosian 11, Trachsel 11, Rogers 9

Mets fans named Steve know...Kevin McReynolds has the only Mets walk-off home run against a Steve- Steve Frey and the Expos on August 6, 1989.

#5 Jim (152)

The total: The Mets have hit 152 home runs against pitchers named Jim.


That doesn't count: The Mets have hit 12 home runs against pitchers named Jimmy, and two against pitchers named James. I know from experience of dealing with people named James that some are rather fussy when called Jim, so there's no chance I'm combining any totals here.


Name variety: The Jims encompass 34 different last names

Who Dat?: Jim Bruske, Jim Hardin and Jim Otten are among those who have given up one home run.

Some of the best home run vs a Jim: Johnny Lewis broke up Jim Maloney's no-hitter with an 11th-inning home run on June 14, 1965. On May 20, 1999, Robin Ventura hit a grand slam against Jim Abbott, the first of two grand slams he'd hit in a doubleheader against the Brewers.

The most victimized Jims: Maloney 15, Bunning 14, Lonborg 14, Deshaies 13, Rooker 10.

Mets fans named Jim know...The remainder of the Top 10 for first names: Rick (115), Don (109), Tom (106), Dave (101), Bill (98)

Comments

Binny said…
Nice post, though I'm wondering how you're distinguishing between the first names - in other words, since most Bobs are probably short for Robert what makes them a "Bob"? Their BR page? The reason I ask is I'm thinking about players who go back and forth with what they want to be called, and whether that would have any effect here. (J.A. Happ comes to mind, though that's a particularly awful example.)

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