Howard Johnson
In 1985, Major League Baseball made the Home Run Derby a part of the All Star Game Festivities. Darryl Strawberry would become the first ever Met to participate in a Home Run Derby and the only Met to win one. He shared the title with Wally Joyner, who also hit four home runs. Needless to say, it was a much different back then.
No other Met who followed would ever win a Home Run Derby. In 1989, Howard Johnson‘s two home runs fell short of the three home runs hit by Ruben Sierra and Eric Davis. In 1993, Bobby Bonilla would fall short as well as his five home runs were two short of the seven hit by Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey, Jr. The Mets would not be close to winning until 2006 with David Wright.
It was that night in Pittsburgh that Wright seemed to be emerging from star to superstar. With Paul Lo Duca as hit pitcher, Wright would hit 16 homers in the first round. He made it all the way to the finals before losing to Ryan Howard. In 2013, when the All Star Game was hosted at Citi Field, Wright would acquit himself well hitting five home runs. However, he would not make it out of the first round. Not many would notice as Wright wasn’t the story of that Home Run Derby. It was Yoenis Cespedes flashing La Potencia:
Cespedes wowed the crowd with 17 first round homers en route to winning the 2013 Home Run Derby. It was on that night that Cespedes’ legend began. It was on that night that Mets fans began to become infatuated with him. Three years later, he’s now their best player, and with him goes their hopes of returning to the World Series.
In 1987, Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry became the first Mets to have a 30-30 season. HoJo would do it again in 1989 and 1991. The Mets would not have another 30-30 season for another 16 years when HoJo was the Mets hitting coach.
In 2007, under HoJo’s tutelage, David Wright joined the 30-30 club. Since that time, the Mets organization once again has had a drought. Over the past nine years, the Mets have not had a 30-30 season. It’s not that surprising.
What is surprising is that with all the young exciting talent in baseball, the sport is in the middle of a drought of 30-30 players. As Andrew Simons reports on MLB.com, baseball is in the midst of a drought of 30-30 players. Since the aforementioned 1987 season, there was a 30-30 player every year until 2012. Baseball has not seen one since.
Looking at the Mets roster, Wright is the only player who has had a 30-30 season. Looking over the Mets roster, Wright is the only player that has had a 30+ homerun season and a 30+ stolen base season. He hasn’t had a 30 homerun season since 2008. He hasn’t had a 30 stolen base season since 2007. With his back, no one should anticipate Wright accomplishing either of those tasks let alone both in one season. Overall, if baseball is going to have a 30-30 player this year, it’s not going to come from the Mets.
That’s fine. It’s a statistical anomaly that has little correlation to successful teams. As we see with 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2007, those 30-30 seasons did not lead to playoff berths. Seeing a player accomplish a 30-30 season is fun, but it’s not as fun as a playoff berth.
Yesterday, the Mets announced that the Mets will wear the iconic 1986 racing stripe jerseys every Sunday home game this season. I love these jerseys, but it does seem odd that the team is wearing these jerseys each and every Sunday.
The Mets everyday left fielder, Michael Conforto, was born on March 1, 1993. At that time, the only members of the 86 Mets still around were Dwight Gooden and Howard Johnson. Gooden’s Mets career was effectively over at that point. He was a shell of his former self due to drug abuse and injuries. HoJo was only a utility player on the 86 team. The main contribution he made that year was being the on deck batter when Ray Knight scored off of Mookie Wilson‘s little dribbled up the first base line.
It seems odd to me to see Conforto wearing a 25th anniversary patch that was created for a team seven years before he was born.
Again, if the Mets want to do this, they should do it right. Update the patch to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1986 World Series championship. This way it truly becomes an homage to the 1986 team that it was intended to be. Furthermore, the jerseys will look more appropriate when you purchase them.
Speaking of purchasing one, which I intend to do, there are two problems with the jerseys. The first is the diaper effect of the jerseys:
The next is if you don’t want the diaper, you don’t get the patch, nor do you get the option to personalize it:
One last note, am I the only one that thinks it’s going to look absurd to see Tim Teufel effectively wearing Darryl Strawberry‘s jersey?
Overall, I love that these jerseys are back. I think the Mets were smart making them the Sunday jerseys. I hope they return in 2017. I just wish they were updated to be the tribute the Mets wanted them to be.