Lindsey Nelson and the New York baseball broadcasters’ southern connection

“Hello everybody I’m Lindsey Nelson,” was the first phrase ever proclaimed on the very first New York Mets MLB broadcast, back in April of 1962. Nelson delivered that phrase in a cheerful, upbeat style, as he would for the rest of his broadcast days. He also spoke it in the distinctive twang of his native [...]

Daniel Murphy: Hitter

When Daniel Murphy reported to his first minor league team, a coach asked him what position he plays. Murphy’s reply was, “Hitter.” He wasn’t kidding. Murphy came up to the Mets in 2008 and played left field. He worked hard on adjusting to left field on the major league level even though he appeared in [...]

Mets did addition by subtraction on December 11, 1981

Most of you can probably put a name/event to dates pretty easily in Mets’ history. 9/24/69 – Mets win first World Series 6/15/77 – Mets trade Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman 1/24/80 – Nelson Doubleday buys the Mets 6/15/83 – Mets trade for Keith Hernandez You can probably cite half a dozen more, too. But [...]

Three days in Monterrey: The Mets’ historic trip south of the border

After a rough stretch in the early 1990s, the 1996 season was a transitional season for the New York Mets. The team finished with a dreadful 71-91 record, good for fourth-place in the NL East, but gave fans a foreshadowing of the success which followed in the later part of the decade. Generation K was [...]

The top 10 Mets teams in defensive runs saved

The Mets historical performance defensively has been, in a word, bad. As we have examined the best and worst fielders in Mets history, it was evident identifying bad players was a little easier than identifying outstanding players. At second base, the answer was largely “no one.” It is never easy to explain *why* the Mets [...]

The best and worst hitters against Seaver, Koosman and Matlack

Back in the day we were constantly told how journeyman Tom Hutton did great against Tom Seaver. And Hutton did begin his career against Seaver off strong, going 9-22 against him in his first three years. But by the end of his career, things had turned the opposite way. In his last 11 trips to [...]

Who’s the greatest Mets hitter: Darryl Strawberry or David Wright?

Ever since David Wright retired, there has been a feeling that he is the best Mets position player of all time. Looking at Baseball-Reference’s Mets team page, Wright is #1 in At-Bats, WAR, oWAR, Hits, Singles, Doubles, Runs, RBIs, Total Bases, Walks, Extra Base Hits, Runs Created, Sacrifice Flies, Times on Base, Double Plays Grounded [...]