David Cone
Since 1989, you would tune into the occasional New York Mets broadcast, and you would hear Howie Rose incredulous another Mets player wearing the number 17. With the New York Mets announcing Keith Hernandez‘s 17 will now be retired, we will be forever robbed of those moments, but we can look back at the players who wore the number after Hernandez left the Mets.
David Cone – Cone would change his number from 44 to 17 in honor of his teammate. It would be the number Cone wore when he led the league in strikeouts and tied Tom Seaver‘s then National League record of 19 strikeouts in a game.
Jeff McKnight – McKnight became the first player assigned the number after Hernandez wore it, and you could argue it was even more of an eyesore because it was the year the Mets had the underscore jerseys. Believe it or not, McKnight just had a knack for wearing great numbers. He would also wear David Wright‘s 5, Jose Reyes‘ 7, Carlos Beltran‘s 15, and Darryl Strawberry‘s 18.
Bret Saberhagen – Saberhagen changed from his usual 18 with the Kansas City Royals and the number he first had with the Mets after his good friend Cone was traded to the Toronto BLue Jays. While Saberhagen did have some success with the Mets, he was probably the player least suited to wearing the number after the bleach incident.
Brent Mayne – Again with the former Royals wearing 17. Mayne’s first hit with the Mets was a walk-off RBI single off Dennis Eckersley to take the opening series of the season. Even after that, he still couldn’t get recognized on the 7 line on the way to the park.
Luis Lopez – Lopez was a utility player for the Mets for three years including the beloved team. His biggest hit with the Mets was the time he punched Rey Ordonez on the team bus. Hearkening back to the team photo incident between Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry, this may be the most Hernandez moment any of the subsequent players to wear the number 17 ever had.
Mike Bordick – Bordick was supposed to be the key pickup for the Mets to replace the injured Ordonez at short. He gave us all hope as he homered in his first Mets at-bat, but things would end badly as he would be benched for Kurt Abbott in the World Series, and he would return to the Baltimore Orioles in free agency. Worse yet, 1999 postseason hero Melvin Mora, who was traded for Bordick, would go on to be a star for the Orioles.
Kevin Appier – With Cone, Saberhagen, and then Appier, it seemed Royals pitchers really liked wearing 17 with the Mets. Appier came to the then pennant winning Mets in the hopes of winning a World Series, but unfortunately, he is forever known as the key piece sent to the Angels for Mo Vaughn.
Satoru Komiyama – That Japanese Greg Maddux never was close to that spending one forgettable winless season with the Mets before returning to Japan.
Graeme Lloyd – Lloyd was one of the few who thrived with the Yankees who pitched well for the Mets. He didn’t last a full season as he and many of the 2003 Mets who battled under Art Howe was moved at the trade deadline.
Wilson Delgado – Mets fans were thrilled to obtain Delgado in 2004 as he would be the return for Roger Cedeno. Delgado played 42 games for the Mets in 2004. He’d never appear in a Major League game after that.
Dae-Sung Koo – A largely forgettable LOOGY who will forever live in Mets lore for that impossible double off of Randy Johnson followed by that mad dash home from second on a Reyes’ bunt.
Jose Lima – The 2006 Mets pitching staff was so injured that we’d get Lima Time! for four starts. After struggling mightily, this marked the end of his MLB career as he then played internationally.
David Newhan – There really isn’t much to tell with Newhan. In his one year with the Mets, he proved himself to be that classic Four-A guy who annihilated Triple-A pitching but struggled in the majors.
Fernando Tatis – Omar Minaya first signed Tatís as an amateur and would bring him to the Mets organization. Tatís rewarded Minaya’s faith by winning the 2008 NL Comeback Player of the Year. For a franchise known for “what ifs,” you can’t help but wonder if the Mets don’t collapse for a second straight season if Tatis didn’t injure his shoulder. While Tatís had many memorable moments with the Mets, perhaps, his most memorable was his being one of the few actually capable of hitting it over the Great Wall of Flushing.
After Tatis, the Mets had finally said enough was enough. They were taking the number 17 out of circulation like they had done in the past with Willie Mays‘ 24. That meant the number was not going to be worn again. That is, unless, the next Rickey Henderson came long. However, now, with the number being officially retired, no one will ever wear Hernandez’s 17 again.
To a certain degree, every baseball fan complains about national broadcasts. Part of it is the nature of the nearly daily regional broadcasts where there is a more intimate nature of the relationship between the broadcast, team, and fans. That goes double when you’re a New York Mets fan and you get the pleasure and privilege of hearing Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling every night.
While national broadcasts have generally been derided, baseball fans were very complimentary of the self dubbed Nerdcasts. With Jason Benetti, Eduardo Perez and Mike Petriello, baseball fans were treated to a different type of broadcast. The terrific play-by-play work of Benetti was complemented by the advanced stats which are currently driving the game (and really all sports). It was informative and fun.
Really, ESPN hit on something perfect. They presented the alternate broadcast everyone wanted, so naturally, as is typical with ESPN with their complete mishandling of all things baseball, it’s gone.
Part of the reason why is Perez was promoted to the regular Sunday Night Baseball booth. That’s a deserved reward for him, and it will certainly make that telecast ever better. If they also hire David Cone, even better. Now, you could argue with Perez and Cone, they’re going to bring that Nerdcast to the regular booth, and if so, kudos to ESPN.. Still, it remains to be seen just how much they do it.
The other reason ESPN is moving on from the Nerdcast is the success of the Manningcast, and they want to try to replicate it for baseball.
There are many reasons why the Manningcast works so well. The first is there are two Super Bowl winning and future Hall of Fame brothers. That brings a certain gravitas. They also both have this amazingly interesting and impossibly difficult to replicate seriousness and irreverence to the telecast. To a certain degree, they don’t find themselves beholden to traditional television rules, and yet, they are very serious about the game.
In many ways, that’s the problem with TV, especially with sports. Instead, of acknowledging there is something so unique and perfect and enjoying it, they keep going out and trying to replicate it. The more and more this happens, the more and more we learn there was only one John Madden. There is only one Manningcast. And yes, there is really only one Gary, Keith, and Ron.
That hasn’t stopped YES from trying. They brought on Cone and Paul O’Neill to join Michael Kay try to replicate what the Mets have. Of course, the biggest issue is Kay is Cohen. Another big problem is no one is Keith Hernandez. Mostly, Gary, Keith, and Ron is really something you can only do with the Mets franchise because everything about it is so thoroughly Mets.
Of course, ESPN doesn’t realize this. They’re taking Kay and meshing him with Alex Rodriguez to try to create a Manningcast. It’s just about the dumbest idea possible.
One of the reasons for the Sunday Night Baseball booth shakeup was everyone tired of A-Rod. While he was initially a success in the booth, everyone tired of him over nine innings. What was once promising turned out to be terrible. For some reason, they thought it best to pair him with Michael Kay to try to create a Manningcast.
There is just no way this makes any sense. Who is the market for this? No one wanted A-Rod anymore on Sunday Night Baseball, and of all the play-by-play broadcasters, they choose Michael Kay. It’s almost like they’re challenging Mets and Red Sox fans to never tune in and watch.
Then again, isn’t what ESPN is doing? Instead of taking a very successful Nerdcast broadcast and building that,they’re making something horrible which no one wants. As is usually the case with ESPN, baseball fans deserve better.
The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers have an interesting history. For fans of the original Mets team, many of them were originally Dodgers fans.
That includes Fred Wilpon, who built a ballpark in testament to those Dodger teams. Of course, that was resented by younger more modern Mets fans who have zero recollection of those Brooklyn teams.
For Gen X fans and younger, the history of the Mets and Dodgers is quite different.
There was the Dodgers upsetting the 1988 Mets. That was a painful series highlighted by David Cone perhaps riling up the Dodgers, Davey Johnson leaving in Dwight Gooden too long with the ensuing Mike Scioscia homer, and Orel Hershiser‘s virtuoso performance.
The 2006 Mets got some measure of a payback in the NLDS sweep. That was a total beatdown with former Dodgers Shawn Green and Jose Valentin relaying to former Dodger Paul Lo Duca who tagged out Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew at home plate.
Things between these two teams really ratcheted up in the 2015 NLDS. That all began with Chase Utley living up to his reputation as one of the dirtiest players ever with his tackling Ruben Tejada at second thereby breaking Tejada’s leg.
Utley would go on to cowardly duck the Mets in New York. Ultimately, the Mets won that series behind the brilliance of Jacob deGrom and the postseason heroics of Daniel Murphy.
The bad feelings of that series carried forward into the next season when Noah Syndergaard was ejected during a nationally televised game after throwing a pitch behind Utley. Utley would get the last laugh with Terry Collins being revered years later when the ejection video was released.
After that, things calmed down. That was due in large part to the Wilpons ineptitude taking the Mets out of contention. During that time, the Dodgers became the model franchise finally breaking through and winning the 2020 World Series.
Now, with Steve Cohen at the helm, things promise to be different.
With Cohen comes real financial heft which arguably surpasses what the Dodgers have. We’ve seen early on what that means with the Mets already signing Trevor May and James McCann as well as being in the market for George Springer and Tomoyuki Sugano.
But, it’s not just the financial strength. It’s also the scouting and analytics. The Dodgers have used that to identify players like Max Muncy and Justin Turner who have become relative stars. They’ve also developed an enviable pipeline of talent with young players like Gavin Lux and Will Smith.
The Mets have started heading in that direction by bringing back Sandy Alderson. They’ve also hired Jared Porter as GM and Zack Scott as Assistant GM.
Of course, the Mets have retained perhaps the best draft scouting with Mark Tramuta, Tommy Tanous, Drew Toussaint, et al. That group is responsible for great talent like Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, Seth Lugo, Brandon Nimmo, and Dominic Smith. That’s nothing to say of the talent still left in the system and traded away.
The Mets have the core, financial resources, burgeoning front office, and now the right ownership for the Mets to become a juggernaut like we haven’t seen from this franchise since the 1980s. They will very soon rival the Dodgers on and off the field.
That is going to lead to some more postseason run-ins. With that will be the heightening if tensions between these franchises which have already had their moments.
If the Mets make the right moves, we’ll see an epic postseason clash between these teams come October not just this year but in each of the ensuing seasons. The seeds are already there, and so, with more epic postseason series, we’ll see the makings of a bitter Mets/Dodgers rivalry.