Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

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 70. The Jersey-Ripping Game  (August 30, 1992 vs Reds) This one is pretty cool. It was Sunday Night Baseball, the finale ...

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 75. Darryl Strawberry’s debut goes bonkers!  (May 6, 1983 vs Reds) Darryl Strawberry’s Mets debut was a HUGE deal. I can remember the Daily News begging him to ...

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, giving us 75 overall). 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’. 80. Dominic Smith’s season-ending walk-off  (Sept. 29, 2019 vs Braves) True story: I pulled into a parking spot right in front of my apartment as Dominic Smith came ...

Posts are probably gonna be limited for awhile (no foolin') but couldn't resist this... With the birth of a new season upon us, I feel compelled to reinvent this blog to fit the needs of the community. Walk-offs have run (or walked) their course and it's time to focus on something new. You may recall that I dabbled in such a thought at this time in each of the last four years, but my foolish pursuit to chronicle the history of Mets walks lasted merely one day, my intent to break down every Mets chalk-off turned into a brief endeavor, my desire to extract the finest details from every collision between ball (or person) and wall ran its (collision) course quite quickly, and the idea of charting every stupid Met-made comment became too huge an undertaking (especially in 2009). I don't profess to be an expert in this blogging thing by any means, but I think it has been a worthwhile experience. About 58 months ago, I came across a blog that was very unique- PlunkBiggio - wh...

Pause your DVD player at the point just after the ground ball goes through Bill Buckner's legs (or find a photo of the moment and take a glance at it). Within the frame are the key figures, but also two others. There's Mets first base coach Bill Robinson, along with an older, anonymous gentleman, both gesturing vociferously in different manners. Robinson's is one of celebration. The other guy is in the midst of making a ruling. There was no doubt that Mookie Wilson's ground ball was a fair one, but first base umpire John Kibler is the one who ruled it so. Kibler was background dressing for the two most picturesque moments of the series, the ground ball through Buckner's legs on that Saturday night. And then, he's there again as the home plate ump when Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett to end the 1986 World Series. We mention this because John Kibler died last week and his role in the most famous of Mets moments was briefly acknowledged in his obituary. Not m...

"There are certain things that stay with you, your whole life in sports. Mookie flying is one of those things." -- Blogger's father, 1:10pm on Feb 9. During the 1987 season, Mookie Wilson was on first base in seven instances in which the batter at the plate hit a double. How many times do you think Mookie scored? I'll give you a hint: Every time. According to some recent reading I've done, The average runner scores from first base on a double around 40-45 percent of the time. Mookie's career percentage: 65 percent (45 of 69) The average runner goes first to third on about 27 percent of singles hit. Mookie's percentage: 50 percent (120 of 240) The average runner scores from second base on about 58 percent of singles hit. Mookie's percentage: 75 percent (162 of 215) How good was Mookie Wilson? Let me put it to you this way. The guy turns 54 years old today (and got an early present by being re-hired by the Mets as a minor league instructor). I'd take...

News and notes on the newest Mets * New signee Josh Fogg has allowed 1.28 HR per 9 innings in his MLB career. The Mets have employed 3 pitchers who have logged more than 1,000 innings and have a HR per 9 rate of 1.28 or worse: Jose Lima, James Baldwin, and Oliver Perez . * Mike Hessmann, billed by the Daily News as the real life Crash Davis, has averaged a HR per 12.9 at-bats in his major league career. That's the same home run rate that Barry Bonds had in his career. We'll leave out that Hessmann strikes out every 3 at-bats. * Frank Catalanotto, if he plays, would become the 60th Met from New York state to play for the Mets. That's a group that includes Joe Torre, Ken Singleton, John Franco, Warren Spahn, and Shawon Dunston . It also includes Bobby Bonilla.

This is for all those who wonder what could have been. Let's play a game of make believe, just for a moment. Let's pretend Darryl Strawberry had, instead of signing with the Dodgers, re-signed with the Mets. Let's pretend that all the issues he dealt with- marital, financial, drug and alcohol related, didn't exist. Let's say he played six more seasons with the Mets at a Darryl Strawberry level. We can say they went something like this. .253 BA, 36 HR, 104 RBI .277 BA, 27 HR, 91 RBI .286 BA, 32 HR, 110 RBI .274 BA, 27 HR, 97 RBI .297 BA, 29 HR, 89 RBI .300 BA, 41 HR, 111 RBI You might recognize those numbers. They're the stats from the seasons in which Reggie Jackson was from the ages of 29 to 34. Let's now build in a fade to Strawberry's career, because producing at his level for 14 years definitely takes its toll. But let's make the presumption that he stayed a Met for life, and didn't have the luxury of the DH to fall back upon. We'll give ...

I want to look at where Dwight Gooden ranks among pitchers in Mets history, and I want to show just how much better he is than anyone who has followed him. Here's one way that we do that. Since the 1984 season began... * Dwight Gooden is your leader in Mets victories with 157. No one else has even reached 100. Most Wins for Mets Since 1984 157-Dwight Gooden 98- Sid Fernandez 98-Ron Darling >>Leader among current Mets: John Maine, 38 * Dwight Gooden is your Mets leader in complete games with 67, nearly doubling the next-closest person. Most CG For Mets Since 1984 67-Dwight Gooden 34- David Cone 24- Ron Darling 23- Sid Fernandez >> Leader among current Mets: Johan Santana, 3 * Dwight Gooden is your Mets leader in strikeouts with 1,875. No one else is within 400 of that. Most K For Mets Since 1984 1,875- Dwight Gooden 1,449- Sid Fernandez 1,172- David Cone >> Leader among current Mets: Oliver Perez, 457 * Dwight Gooden is your Mets leader in ERA, by a hair...(among t...

On Opening Day 2002, Gary Matthews Jr. pinch-hit for Al Leiter and flied to left field against Pirates reliever Mike Lincoln. That was the only at-bat of Matthews' Mets career...at least probably until Opening Day 2010. Matthews will soon depart from what is a prestigious Mets club- the one at-batters. There are currently 43 players whose Mets vanity plate could read ONEAB. * Most of them are pitchers. That position numbers 35, headed by current Met middle-man Sean Green. * Green is one of 18 players whose only Mets at-bat was a strikeout. Class of '62 Met Dave Hillman is at the front of that line, alongside teammate Bob G. Miller. . For him, bat silence was Golden, as in Jim Golden, who struck Hillman out and also holds the distinction of having a multi-triple game against the Mets. * Imperfection is the mark of many a one at-batter. Their collective account reads just five hits in 43 tries, which explains why most of them only got one turn at the plate. There was no Met fo...

When I was at the Hall of Fame a few months back, I got taken by surprise by one piece of memorabilia in Cooperstown's collection. A shattered shard from Jolbert Cabrera's bat was donated as a remnant from the greatest walk-off comeback win ever, the 15-14 Indians win over the Mariners on August 5, 2001. Cabrera, the newest Met, had the game-winning hit in the rally from a 14-2 seventh-inning deficit, an 11th-inning single against Jose Paniagua. Should Cabrera play for the Met, he'd join this roster of former/future Mets, who were a part of history. John Olerud, who was 2 for 3 with an RBI, before being pinch-hit for with his Mariners team up 12-2 in the fifth inning. Mike Cameron, who played the entire game for Seattle in center, and went 3-for-6 with 3 RBI. Mariners starter Aaron Sele, who was charged with 5 runs in 6 2/3 innings, and who can blame this game for his failure to reach 150 victories (he's at 148). Roberto Alomar, who went 0-for-2 as the Indians starting ...

5 trivia questions about Mark McGwire and the Mets, that have nothing to do with Steve Trachsel. 1- Mark McGwire's first career home run came in 1986 against a former Met, whose first name starts with W. Name him. 2- Mark McGwire's 50th home run in 1998 came against the Mets, and the pitcher who allowed it had a first name that starts with W. Name him. 3- Mark McGwire's 400th career home run came in 1998, also against the Mets. The pitcher who allowed it had 16 Ws that season. Name him. 4- Mark McGwire's 50th home run in 1999 came against the Mets. The pitcher who allowed it had a 3-letter last name, and had 1 career W with the Mets. Name him. 5- The pitcher who allowed the most home runs to McGwire is a former Met lefty. He pitched one miserable season for the Mets, in which he had 7 Ws. He did not allow a homer to McGwire while with the Mets. Name him.

It's been over a year since we elected anyone to the Mets Walk-Offs Hall of Fame, and we're going to make an addition today. The choice may be deemed slightly controversial, but it's our Hall of Fame and what would a Hall be without controversy. For those unfamiliar, the following 30 people are members of the Mets Walk-Offs Hall of Fame. If you're wondering why any of them are in, do a search of their name within this blog and you should find your answers. Benny Agbayani, Tommie Agee, Bill Buckner, Gary Carter, Lenny Dykstra, Wayne Garrett, Kenny Greer, Steve Henderson, Keith Hernandez, Gil Hodges, Ron Hodges, Cleon Jones, Ross Jones, Ray Knight, Hobie Landrith, J.C. Martin, Rodney McCray, Kevin McReynolds,Kevin Mitchell, Rey Ordonez, Mike Piazza, Todd Pratt, Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, Darryl Strawberry,, Ron Swoboda, Marv Throneberry, Robin Ventura, Al Weis, Mookie Wilson Our newest inductee is one who comes up on the Cooperstown ballot next year. He's unlikely to re...

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,...

Tomorrow, they will announce the BBWAA inductees for the Hall of Fame class of 2010. One potential honoree holds a special place in Mets history, though it's probably one with which you're not familiar. Andre Dawson has batted into the final out of the game in more Mets wins than any other player. Dawson has made the walk-off out 17 times, three more than the man with the next-most, Jose Cruz Sr (14). This is a record that doesn't look like it will be broken any time soon. The leader among active players is Andruw Jones with 11, one more than Pat Burrell's 10. Yes, I actually took the time to figure that out, with great assistance from Baseball-Reference.com, because that's just the sort of thing we do here. In 10 of those 17 instances, Dawson represented either the tying or winning run, so these were some pressure-packed moments that the Mets pitchers survived. In fairness, he did get three walk-off hits against the Mets, including a pair of walk-off home runs, Th...

Let's celebrate 2010, and not just with my brand new "Images of Shea Stadium" 2010 calendar, whose cover features the ballpark's namesake giving a ceremonial wreath to Joe Torre on Opening Day, 1978 (they didn't have a more apt image than that?) I'm in a joyful mood, and not just because it's the New Year. I've finally found a needle in my haystack, and wouldn'tcha know who was involved, albeit indireectly. Those of you who know this blog know that there's one type of ending that I was particularly intrigued by , but had been unable to find evidence of it occurring in a major league game. It turns out that it has happened, more or less. I'm referring to the Dodgers-Reds game, the only documented one to end in this manner within the last 55 years, on August 1, 1971. Our protagonist didn't make his impact until the 11th inning of this game, or rather, the game made an impact on him. With one out and the bases loaded, Bill Buckner was hit ...

Some things about Jason Bay that you probably don't know... * He's Canadian, from Trail, British Columbia. He'll be the 6th Canadian-born Met, joining, in order of success: Ron Taylor (1969 closer), Tim Harkness (early-years infielder), Ken MacKenzie (winning record for 1962 Mets), Ray Daviault (not much to say about him), and Brian Ostrosser (1973 cup-of-coffee guy). Harkness is the only one of those to hit a home run. * He's 59-for-his-last 66 in stolen base attempts (13-for-16 last season) That's 89 percent, which is quite good. * Jason Bay was NL Rookie of the Year in 2004. Rookies of the Year for Others Went on to Play for Mets Hideo Nomo Mike Piazza Vince Coleman Pat Zachry Willie Mays Angel Berroa Carlos Beltran Sandy Alomar Jr. Eddie Murray Tommie Agee * He went to Gonzaga That was also the school of choice for former Mets Tom Gorman (6-0 for the '84 Mets) and Rick Sweet (ex-backup catcher). * He's hit Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Brad Lidge ...

Let's play a little end-of-decade trivia. Answers in the comments section. 1- Two pitchers had the most shutouts for the Mets in the decade. The easy one is better known for a shutout he pitched in another decade. The harder one allowed only nine hits over the 36 innings of those four shutouts. Name them. 2- What Mets pitcher do we remember for having the most strikeouts in a game in the 2000s? 3-In the very first game of the decade, a Mets pitcher came within one ____ of tying a club record. Fill in the blank, name the pitcher, and name the pitcher who is the record-holder for that stat (hint: they share a first name). 4- Every Mets starting pitcher in a game this decade retired at least one batter, except one, who left with an injury that would sideline him for a month. This pitcher had an ERA over 5 in his lone season of the decade with the Mets, but is remembered pleasantly. Name him. 5- Among pitchers with 10+ starts for the Mets this decade, this one had the LOWEST percentag...

The Ultimate Mets Database tells me that 874 players have played in a game for the New York Mets. I'd guess if you were going to rate them on performance, compared to expectations, Roberto Alomar would rank 850th or below (but I haven't actually done this). It is very hard for me to reconcile the Roberto Alomar, Mets version, with the one that, in my mind, is a pretty easy check-off for this year's Hall of Fame class. It is essentially a case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, or in this case Robbie Fameful and Roberto Shameful. In 2001, for the Indians, Alomar had the best statistical season of his career. He hit .336. He never had a better batting average than that. He had an OPS of .956. He never had a better OPS than that. He had 100 RBI. He only had one season with more than that. He had 113 runs scored. He only had two seasons with more runs scored than that. In 2002, for the Mets, Alomar had the worst statistical season of his career. He had a .266 batting average. To that p...

I'm a couple days late on this, but the Mets have a new Hall of Fame inductee- Whitey Herzog. Herzog was a farm director for the Mets and spent one season in an on-field role in 1966, as the team's third base coach. In terms of eventful events, 1966 had a few, most notably drafting catcher Steve Chilcott with the No. 1 pick instead of Reggie Jackson, then lucking into Tom Seaver when the team's name was drawn out of a hat in a special drafting procedure. On the field, the Mets avoided losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history, going 66-95. Their roster included a number of players who became major contributors on the 1969 team- Kranepool, Harrelson, Jones, Swoboda, McGraw, and Ryan. Ryan has been in the news recently, as the Texas Rangers, for whom he is team president, are being sold, and Ryan said he will leave the team if it is sold to the ownership group headed by agent Dennis Gilbert. Ryan appeared in only two games, but he must have made quite an impres...