How many of the 11 players who have been enshrined in Cooperstown who have also played for the Mets can you name? Most of these players made their marks for other teams yet many of them had big moments for the Mets, too. Here is the list:
Roberto Alomar – It was thought to be quite a steal when the Mets traded for Alomar, who was coming off a .336/.415/.541 line for the Indians in 2001. But Alomar fell off a cliff and had just a .703 OPS in his two years with the Mets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011, receiving 90% of the eligible vote.
Richie Ashburn – He was an original Met and played just one season for the team. He has the distinction of being the first batter in Mets history as well as the teams first All-Star. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.
Yogi Berra – I’ll give you a pass it you didn’t guess Berra because he only played five games for the Mets in 1965. He is more remembered for being the manager of the 1973 National League Champion Met team. Of all the players on this list he played in the least number of games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.
Gary Carter – The Kid is the only member of the 1986 team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He played five seasons for the Mets from 1985 to 1989 and was one of the leaders of the 86 championship team. He drove in over 100 runs twice while with the Mets and in 1985 he hit a career best 32 home runs. He was inducted in 2003.
Rickey Henderson – The all-time stolen base champion played for the Mets in 1999 and 2000. When he wasn’t playing cards he hit 12 home runs for the Mets before they released him in 2000. He was inducted in 2009.
Willie Mays – The Say Hey Kid finished his career with the Mets playing two seasons, 1972 and 1973. He was not the same player who dazzled the baseball world while with the Giants but he did manage to hit 14 home runs as a Met, including one in his first at-bat. He was inducted in 1979 his first year of eligibility.
Eddie Murray – The 1977 AL Rookie of the Year played two seasons with the Mets, 1992 and 1993. While with the Mets he also hit his 400th career home run. He was inducted along with Carter in 2003.
Nolan Ryan – Unlike the most of the players on this list Ryan started his career with the Mets rather than finish it with the team. Unfortunately in his five seasons with the Mets, 1966-1971, he pitched well but did not show signs of becoming a Hall of Fame pitcher and the Mets traded him to the California Angels and the rest as they say is history. He was inducted in 1999.
Tom Seaver – This one is a gimme and if you didn’t get this one right than you can’t call yourself a Mets fan. Tom Seaver was inducted in 1992 and is the only player to enter the Hall of Fame as a Met. Hopefully he will not be the last. The Franchise won three Cy Young Awards with the Mets and is the team’s all-time leader in wins. He was inducted in 1992, receiving 98.8 percent of the vote, the highest percentage in Hall of Fame history.
Duke Snider – He only played one season with the Mets, 1963. He was an All-Star in his only season with the club and hit 14 home runs for them. He was inducted in 1980.
Warren Spahn – Arguably the greatest left hand pitcher in baseball history was not that great with the Mets. In his only season, 1965 he posted a 4-12 record in 20 games. The Mets released him in the middle of the season.
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Who do you think the next player to make the HOF to have also played with the Mets will be?
It’s going to Mike Piazza and then Glavine and Pedro…
MDonaldWilpon
I love the name—encompasses all the bad in one name.
regarding Warren Spahn, every time he pitched the Mets ran him up against the ace pitcher of whoever they were facing: Sany Koufax, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Larry Jackson, etc…all the pitchers the Mets had NEVER beaten to that point. Although they obviously considered him their ace, he was much older than those other Hall-of-Famers he kept facing and the team behind him was vastly inferior…offensively and defensively I recall him pitching fairly well (4.36 ERA) and the Mets traded him to the Giants where he went 3-4 ERA 3.39 the rest of 1965.
Sorry nickel – that’s simply not true. Spahn acted as Stengel’s pitching coach that year and had flexibility to pick his matchups and if anything – he made it so he didn’t have to go up against aces on a regular basis. Remember this is the days of just 9 other teams and 4 man rotations, so it was not easy to avoid good pitchers. Here is the log of Spahn’s opponents:
Turk Farrell, Claude Osteen, Bobby Bolin, John Tsitouris, Jim Bunning, Bob Gibson, Sammy Ellis, Wade Blasingame, Jim Bunning, Bob Veale, Bob Buhl, Bob Veale, Don Drysdale, Sammy Ellis, Sandy Koufax, Larry Dierker, Dick Kelly, Dick Ellswort and Turk Farrell.
So, the four pitchers you mentioned – Spahn faced them just 3 times with the Mets.
Also his ERA was not good – it was an ERA+ of 81. This was the low-scoring 1960s
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In this category we outdo our peers the Colt .45s/Astros, who’ve had only six HOFers in their ranks since 1962: Joe Morgan, Nellie Fox, Robin Roberts, Eddie Matthews, Nolan Ryan, and Don Sutton.
I expect that they have a couple of lifers (Bagwell and Biggio) on the brink…
Good stuff Doug. Until Bagwell/Biggio they won’t have one that did most of his damage with their club. Morgan was really good with them but he didn’t come close to touching the numbers he put up with the Reds from ’72-’76 — 50.5 fWAR in five years!
what about Tom Glavin?
What about Joe Torre?
This article was written in 2012 and those players were not elected at that point in time.
Was Tom Glavine actually a Met??
Glavine was a Mets only for a few years.
Again only Piazza and Seaver have gone in with Mets caps. Wright would be next but he has to have a miraculous recovery to his career.
Glavine, Pedro and Piazza are in now. Billy Wagner will be next. Only Piazza in with a Mets cap. Not sure who else will go in with a Mets cap. Wright, only if he can rejuvenate his career. Santana would have but he stopped playing too young. Bartolo will be a shoe-in I think.
Bartolo a shoe-in? A shoe-in for dropping off in the first ballot?
Did you forget he was caught and banned for cheating?