New York Mets

The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens, New York. They play in Major League Baseball's National League (NL) East Division. They are one of two MLB clubs based in New York City, the other club being the New York Yankees. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League teams: the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mets' colors are composed of the Giants' orange and Dodgers' blue (which also comprise the outer two bands of the New York City Flag). During the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets' home ballpark was Shea Stadium. In 2009, they moved into their current ballpark, Citi Field.

In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40â€"120, the worst regular season record since Major League Baseball went to a 162-game schedule (two games were canceled). The team never finished better than second to last until the 1969 "Miracle Mets" beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. Since then, they have played in three additional World Series, including a dramatic run in 1973 that ended in a game seven loss to the Oakland Athletics, a second championship in 1986 over the Boston Red Sox, and a Subway Series loss against their cross-town rivals the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series.

The Mets have made one playoff appearance since then, when in 2006 they came within one game of the World Series, losing to the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 National League Championship Series. The Mets missed the playoffs with losses on the last day of the regular season in 2007 and 2008 and have finished with losing records every year since. In 2010, the Mets hired a new general manager, Sandy Alderson, and a new manager, Terry Collins.

Franchise history

After the 1957 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated from New York to California to become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, respectively, leaving the largest city in the United States with no National League franchise and only one major league team (the American League (AL)'s New York Yankees). With the threat of a New York team in a third league, the National League expanded, adding the New York Mets after requests from William Shea. The new team took as its primary colors the blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants (which are also two of the three colors on the New York City flag), and took their name from a 19th-century club, the New York Metropolitans.

For the first two years of its existence, the team played its home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. In 1964, they moved into newly constructed Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, where the Mets played until the 2008 season. In 2009, the club moved into Citi Field, adjacent to the former Shea Stadium site.

During their history, the Mets have won two World Series titles (1969 and 1986), four National League pennants (1969, 1973, 1986, 2000) and five National League East titles (1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 2006). The Mets also qualified for the postseason as the National League wild card team in 1999 and 2000. The Mets have appeared in four World Series, more than any other expansion team in Major League Baseball history. Their two championships are the most titles among expansion teams, equal to the tallies of the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins.

The Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record for 29 years. They broke the Yankees' 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million spectators in 1970. The Mets broke their own record five times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999.

The 1962 Mets posted a 40â€"120 record, a record for the most losses in a season since 1899. In 1966, the Mets famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors. But the following year, they acquired future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in a lottery. Seaver helped the 1969 "Miracle Mets" win the new National League East division title, then defeat the Atlanta Braves to win the National League pennant and the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles to win the 1969 World Series.

In 1973, the Mets rallied from 5th place to win the division, despite a record of only 82â€"79. They shocked the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds "Big Red Machine" in the NLCS and pushed the defending World Series champion Oakland Athletics to a seventh game, but lost the series. Notably, 1973 was the only NL East title between 1970 and 1980 that wasn't won by either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Star pitcher Tom Seaver was traded in 1977, a day remembered as "the Midnight Massacre", and the Mets fell into last place for several years. The franchise turned around in the mid-1980s. During this time the Mets also drafted slugger Darryl Strawberry (#1 in 1980) and 1985 Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden (#5 in 1982). In addition, former National League MVP and perennial Gold Glove winner Keith Hernandez was obtained by the Mets in 1983.

In 1985, they acquired Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter from the Montreal Expos and won 98 games, but narrowly missed the playoffs. In 1986, they easily won the division with a record of 108-54, one of the best in National League history. They won a dramatic NLCS in six games over the Houston Astros. The sixth game of the series went sixteen innings long, the longest playoff game in history until 2005. They came within one strike of losing the World Series against the Boston Red Sox before a series of hits and defensive miscues ultimately led to an error by Boston's Bill Buckner which gave the Mets a game 6 victory. They then won Game 7 to win their second World Series title.

The Mets continued playing well after 1986 and won the division in 1988, but were eliminated from the playoffs that year and declined into the 1990s. They were out of contention until the 1997 season when they were in wild card contention until the final week of the season. In 1998, the Mets acquired catcher Mike Piazza in a blockbuster trade and missed the postseason by only one game. In 1999, they made the playoffs after a one game playoff but lost the 1999 National League Championship Series to the Atlanta Braves. In 2000, they easily clinched a wild-card spot in the playoffs, and earned a trip to the 2000 World Series against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees for a "Subway Series". The Mets were defeated by the Yankees in five games.

The Mets had a near playoff miss in 2001 and struggled from 2002-2004. In the aftermath of the 2004 season, the Mets hired a new general manager, Omar Minaya, who immediately turned the franchise around by signing pitcher Pedro Martinez and hiring a new manager, Willie Randolph. The Mets finished 2005 four games over .500, and the franchise's resurgence was complete by 2006 as they won 97 games and the NL East title behind new acquisitions Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, as well as young superstars José Reyes and David Wright. The Mets advanced to game seven of the 2006 NLCS but lost after Yadier Molina’s game-winning two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. The Mets loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Adam Wainwright struck out Beltran looking with a devastating curveball.

In 2007, the Mets entered the final 17 games in the season with a seven-game lead in the division. But the team went on an ill-timed losing streak, losing 11 of the next 15 games and needing to win their final two games to make the playoffs. The Mets won their penultimate game, but on the final day of the season, Tom Glavine gave up seven runs in the first inning en route to an 8-1 loss that eliminated the team from contention. The Philadelphia Phillies won the division by one game after a win on the season's last day.

The Mets held a more modest 3.5-game lead after 145 games of the 2008 season, their final season at Shea Stadium. While their 7â€"10 mark down the stretch was better than the previous season's 5â€"12, it still allowed the Phillies to pass them once again for the division crown, which they lost by three games. The Mets opened Citi Field in 2009, but were not a factor due to a rash of injuries to numerous key players including Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Oliver Perez and Livan Hernandez. The effect of the injuries plummeted the Mets to a 70â€"92 record. The Mets improved to a 79-83 in 2010, but still finished in fourth place, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

After the 2010 season, the Mets fired Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel. Former Oakland Athletics G.M. and MLB executive Sandy Alderson was hired to run the team, who hired Terry Collins as manager.

In 2012, Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz settled a lawsuit brought against them on behalf of the victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme for $162 million. As a result of this agreement the liquidator, Irving Picard, agreed to drop the charges that Wilpon and Katz blindly went along with the scheme for their personal benefit. Picard had originally sought to recover $1 billion from the Wilpon family and Katz, but settled for $162 million along with the admission that neither the Wilpons nor Katz had any knowledge of the Ponzi scheme. In 2011-2012, Mets ownership sold twelve minority 4% shares (48%) of the franchise at $20 million apiece to provide a cash infusion of $240 million for the team.

Despite yet another losing season, the Mets made history in 2011 when closer Jason Isringhausen converted his 300th save with the team, the third player in franchise history to reach the milestone while with the organization (after John Franco and Billy Wagner). Also, Reyes became the first Met in franchise history to win a National League batting title, posting a .337 batting average. In 2012, as the Mets tried to bounce back from three consecutive losing seasons, they lost star shortstop Reyes to free agency, when he signed with the Miami Marlins. The team started out strong, getting a career-year performance from the league's only knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, and strong production from Wright. But they faltered midseason and ended with a 74-88 record, again finishing fourth in the division.

Prior to the 2012 season the Mets had yet to throw a no-hitter, and the franchise's hurlers had gone 8,019 games without pitching one â€" longer than any other major-league franchise. They were one of only two major-league teams to never have a pitcher throw a no-hitter (the other being the San Diego Padres). However on June 1, 2012 Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. Averting the spotlight from Carlos Beltran's return to Citi Field, Santana turned a routine game into a memorable moment in Mets history. Santana risked being removed from the game after he went over his limit of 110 pitches, placed by the team because of his shoulder surgery. Still Santana stayed in the game and threw 134 total pitches that evening in an 8-0 Mets victory, helped by a few great defensive plays as well as a controversial foul-ball call (coincidentally on Beltran), to pull off the first no-hitter in Mets history. That was the high point of 2012 along with pitcher R.A. Dickey winning the National League Cy Young Award. This would be Dickey's final season as a Mets though as he along with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas were traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for prospects Travis d'Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, Wuilmer Becerra, and veteran catcher John Buck. The 2013 season brought another 74-88 finish but they were able to finish in 3rd place. The highlight of the season was sweeping the season series between their cross town rivals Yankees, a first since interleague play started in 1997.

Prior to the start of the 2014 season the Mets made a big splash in the free agent market by signing former New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson to a 4 year $60 million contract. They also signed former Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Bartolo Colón to a 2 year deal to help offset losing ace pitcher Matt Harvey for the year after he required Tommy John surgery. They would improve to 79-83 and finish the season tied for 2nd place with Atlanta but it was their 6th consecutive season where the finished under .500. Pitcher Jacob deGrom would win the National League Rookie of the Year.

On April 23, 2015 the Mets tied a franchise season record of eleven straight wins. For the first time in its history the Mets won ten straight homestand games, becoming the 7th team since 1900 to win at least 10 straight homestand games.

Theme song

"Meet the Mets" is the Mets' signature song, written in 1961, one year before the first season, by Bill Katz and Ruth Roberts. It is played on the radio, during television broadcasts and at Mets' home games.

Mascot

Mr. Met is the official mascot of the New York Mets. A fan favorite, he was first introduced on the cover of game programs in 1963, when the Mets were still playing at the Polo Grounds in northern Manhattan. When the Mets moved to Shea Stadium in 1964, fans were introduced to a live costumed version. Mr. Met is believed to have been the first mascot in Major League Baseball to exist in human (as opposed to artistically rendered) form.

Mrs. Met (formerly Lady Met) is the female counterpart to Mr. Met.

Uniform and logo symbolism

The Mets' colors are blue and orange, originally chosen to honor the city's history of National League baseball; blue for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and orange for the New York Giants. Blue and orange are also the colors of New York City, as seen on its flag.

In 1998, black was officially added to the color scheme, although beginning with 2012 the black elements in the uniform began to be phased out, and were eliminated in 2013.

Logo

The cap logo is identical to the logo used by the New York Giants in their final years, and is on a blue cap reminiscent of the caps worn by the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the primary logo, designed by sports cartoonist Ray Gatto, each part of the skyline has special meaningâ€"at the left is a church spire, symbolic of Brooklyn, the borough of churches; the second building from the left is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn; next is the Woolworth Building; after a general skyline view of midtown comes the Empire State Building; at the far right is the United Nations Building. The bridge in the center symbolizes that the Mets, by bringing National League baseball back to New York, represent all five boroughs.

With the introduction of black as an official color, an alternate team logo was created in 1999. It is identical to the original logo, but the skyline is black instead of blue and the "Mets" script is blue trimmed in orange and white instead of orange trimmed in white (the alternate black jerseys displayed the primary orange and blue logo on the left sleeves in 1998; in 1999 this was changed to the alternate black and blue logo). The logo fell into disuse after the Mets dropped the alternate black jerseys and caps in 2012.

Also in 1999, the logo received a slight alteration. The "NY" to the left of the team script was removed. No other notable changes were made.

Uniform color and design

Currently, the Mets wear an assortment of uniforms.

On November 16, 2011, the Mets announced new uniforms for their 2012 season, as part of the unveiling of their 50th anniversary plans. The primary change was the removal of black drop shadows from all of the team's jerseys, mirroring the team's original on-field look. The off-white pinstriped jersey, introduced as an alternate in 2010 and based on the team's original 1962-77 home uniform, is the primary home jersey while the plain-white jersey with blue placket and sleeve piping, first introduced in 1997, is now the home alternate. Both uniforms feature the "Mets" script, player numerals and names in blue outlined in orange, and both be worn with the team's traditional blue cap with orange crest (although the orange button on top of the cap has been retained), blue undersleeves, belts and socks.

The gray road jerseys feature a radially-arched "NEW YORK" script in Tiffany style, player numerals and names in blue outlined in orange, and blue placket and sleeve piping. Like the home uniforms, the road grays are worn with blue caps, undersleeves, belts and socks.

On November 14, 2012, the Mets introduced two new blue alternate jerseys. The home alternate features the "Mets" script, player numerals and names in orange outlined in white, while the road alternate feature the "NEW YORK" script, player numerals and names in gray outlined in orange.

On December 10, 2012, the Mets unveiled an alternate blue fielding cap, featuring an orange brim and a white trim around the orange "NY" insignia.

For the 2014 season, a Mr. Met sleeve patch was added to the blue alternate jerseys.

On select Monday nights during the 2014 season the Mets will wear camouflage jerseys. These camouflage jerseys are to honor the military, in a "Military Monday theme." The jersey design has the classic Mets script in blue with an orange trim with the number to the bottom left and the jersey itself is camouflage.

Players of note

Team captains

• Keith Hernandez 1987-1989
• Gary Carter 1988-1989
• John Franco 2001â€"2004
• David Wright 2013â€"present

Baseball Hall of Famers

Retired numbers

Tom Seaver is the only player to have his number (41) retired by the Mets and is the only player depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Mets cap insignia. Seaver is the only Mets player to win the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award in 1969 and was voted the Mets' "Hometown Hero" in a 2006 poll sponsored by DHL.

Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson's number 42 on April 15, 1997, when the Mets played the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. Butch Huskey wore the number throughout the rest of his Mets career because of a grandfather clause placed on the retired number by MLB. Mo Vaughn also wore 42 during his stint with the Mets, because of the same clause.

On the final opening day at Shea Stadium, April 8, 2008, the Mets unveiled a sign bearing the name "Shea" next to the team's retired numbers honoring William Shea and his contributions to the franchise.

Numbers out of circulation but not retired

• 8: Not issued since Gary Carter was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003. When the Mets honored Carter, they did not retire number 8, but instead gave him a replica of his Hall of Fame plaque depicting him as a Met instead of an Expo. Desi Relaford was the last Mets player to wear No. 8; Matt Galante, a coach, later wore the number. After Carter's death, the Mets honored him in a ceremony on opening day 2012, where they unveiled the "Kid 8" memorial logo (also worn on the uniform sleeve) on the outfield fence. However, the number 8 is still not officially retired.
• 17: After being worn by a player nearly every year since leaving the Mets, Keith Hernandez's number 17 was last worn by utility player Fernando Tatis, who played from the Mets from 2008â€"2010. After years of lobbying by fans to retire the number for Hernandez, it has not been re-issued to any player or coach since 2010.
• 24: Issued to two players since the retirement of Willie Mays. Then-owner Joan Whitney Payson had promised Mays it would not be issued again. The first time was to first baseman-outfielder Kelvin Torve in 1990, by mistake. The second was to Rickey Henderson in 1999â€"2000 as a player and again in 2007 as a coach.
• 31: Not issued since Mike Piazza left after the 2005 season. This number belonged to John Franco from the time he joined the Mets in 1990 until the team acquired Piazza in 1998.

Rivalries

Subway Series: New York Yankees

The Mets â€" New York Yankees rivalry is the latest incarnation of the Subway Series, the competition between New York City's teams, the American League New York Yankees and the National League Mets. Until Interleague play started, the two teams had only met in exhibition games. Since the inception of interleague play the two teams have met every regular season since 1997, and since 1999 they have met six times each season, playing two three-game series, one in each team's ballpark. From the 2013 season however the number of games was reduced to four, two at each ballpark with the Mets winning six of the last eight games in that span. They have made the postseason in the same year three times: 1999, 2000, and 2006, and faced off in the 2000 World Series.

Atlanta Braves

The Bravesâ€"Mets rivalry is a rivalry between two teams in the National League East, featuring the Atlanta Braves and the Mets.

Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the 1969 National League Championship Series, en route to their first World Series championship, the first playoff series won by an expansion team (also the first playoff appearance by an expansion team), the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1990s, when division realignment put the Mets and the Braves in the same division. The two teams faced each other again in the 1999 National League Championship Series, and the Braves won the series four games to two. However, they would go on to lose to the Yankees in the 1999 World Series

Philadelphia Phillies

The rivalry between the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies from 2006 to 2008 was said to be among the "hottest" rivalries in the National League. The two National League East divisional rivals have met each other recently in playoff, division, and Wild Card races.

Aside from several brawls in the 1980s, the rivalry remained low-key before the 2006 season, as the teams had seldom been equally good at the same time. Since 2006, the teams have battled for playoff position. The Mets won the division in 2006 and contended in 2007 and 2008, while the Phillies won five consecutive division titles from 2007 to 2011. The Phillies' 2007 Eastern Division Title was won on the last day of the season as the Mets lost a seven-game lead with seventeen games remaining while losing 12 of 18 games that season to the Phillies, including being swept at home in the first 3 games of the remaining 17, dropping their lead from 7 games to 3.5.

Current roster

New York Mets Foundation

A registered 501(c) 3 charity, the New York Mets Foundation is the philanthropic organization of the New York Mets. Founded in 1963, it funds and promotes charitable causes in the Mets community. One of these causes is Tuesday's Children, is a non-profit family service organization that “has made a long term commitment to meet the needs of every family who lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001”. The Mets host the annual Welcome Home Dinner, which raised over $550,000 for the Mets Foundation in 2012. All proceeds were distributed to Katz Institute for Women's Health and Katz Women's Hospitals of North Shore-LIJ Health System and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Owners and executives

New York Mets broadcasters

Television

Most Mets games are carried by SportsNet New York (SNY), a joint venture of the Mets and Comcast SportsNet. The team's terrestrial broadcast home is WPIX, where the team has broadcast games since 1999.

Longtime Mets radio announcer Gary Cohen does the play-by-play, having moved to television with the launch of SNY in 2006. Former Mets Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are the color commentators.

Radio

As of 2014, the Mets' radio flagship is WOR. The Mets were previously carried by WFAN, which inherited the team's broadcast rights from WHN when it took over its frequency in 1987, and WFAN-FM, which simulcasts the AM signal. Spanish language broadcasts are carried by WEPN-AM.

Since 2012, Howie Rose and Josh Lewin have been the radio broadcast team; they share play-by-play and analyst duties. Rose, who has spent much of his career covering the Mets, replaced Bob Murphy as Gary Cohen's partner in 2004 following Murphy's retirement. Lewin joined the broadcast after the team parted ways with Wayne Hagin following the 2011 season. Pregame and postgame shows are hosted by Wayne Randazzo.

Both Rose and Lewin have other broadcasting duties that conflict with their baseball duties. Rose is the television voice of the New York Islanders while Lewin is the radio voice for the San Diego Chargers. In late season NHL games that conflict with Rose's Mets duties, Jiggs McDonald substitutes for him on television most times but Lewin will sometimes man a solo booth. Lewin's duties with the Chargers prevent him from calling weekend games throughout September, and Rose often calls games by himself in his absence.

Minor league affiliations

See also

• List of New York Mets managers
• List of New York Mets seasons
• List of New York Mets owners and executives
• New York Mets award winners and league leaders
• List of World Series champions
• 1969 New York Mets season

References

External links

• New York Mets
  • History of the New York Mets
• New York Mets Team Index
• Ultimate Mets Database

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