1971 TOPPS COINS TEAM SET From 1961 through 1971, Topps issued at least a single one-per-pack insert each year. Here's a complete list, for those of you keeping score at home: 1961 Magic Rub-Offs 1961 Stamps 1962 Stamps 1963 Peel-Offs 1964 Coins 1965 Embossed 1965 Transfers 1966 Rub-Offs 1967 Pin-Ups 1968 Game 1969 Decals 1969 [...]
This year’s ballot is extremely crowded, due to a host of players who should have been elected previously combined with a strong freshman class. It’s only going to get worse next year and unless the BBWAA starts electing people who are clearly qualified or the Hall of Fame changes it’s rules on who is eligible [...]
If the season were to begin today, the New York Mets would have a starting rotation that was questionable at best. Johan Santana was a disaster after his historic no hitter and his health is a major factor. The Mets even have been rumored to be shopping him. The question is who would be dumb [...]
Looking ahead 1.3 months into the future I see a number of exciting storylines to keep Met fans (even those who have lost heart with the 2013 season already) something to watch. I thought I would get this boulder rolling early so we could get some discussion started about where it might land (and whom [...]
Well, as the calendar year turns, let’s take a look at some interesting, or banal depending on your mileage on such tidbits, factoids about the 2012 New York Mets First up, a look at the Met All-Time Roster, and Met Leaders by games played at each position; The Mets used 49 different players in 2012, [...]
The cliché that we learned growing up is that sports build character. The line they try to feed us now is that sports don’t build character so much as they reveal it. Like most things, I imagine the truth is somewhere in the middle. In player-management disputes, I am unapologetically pro-player. After all, the players [...]
If I’ve learned anything from the great sports movies of the past it’s that a team of unlikely underdogs is more than capable of winning it all. ‘Major League’, ‘The Bad News Bears’, ‘Rookie of the Year’, ‘Cool Runnings’, ‘The Replacements’, ‘Slap Shots’, ‘The Mighty Ducks’, ‘Caddy Shack’ etc… They all show us that if [...]
After a two-month hiatus, it’s way past time for a Roundtable! I reached out to friends in the blogosphere to answer the following questions: Were you in favor of the David Wright extension? What do you expect him to produce in 2013? These people all do great work and their names are hyperlinked to their [...]
Despite a flurry of off-season moves by teams all over the Majors - some more surprising than others – the Mets are the only team in MLB that has not signed a single free agent to a Major League deal. They committed to franchise player David Wright by signing him to a $138 million contract [...]
One of the more intriguing storylines for the Mets’ last year was the up and down season Ike Davis had to endure. It was a tale of two halves for Davis, for Davis was the Mets’ version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Davis, while overcoming an ankle injury he sustained in 2011 and then [...]
Ruben Tejada has little speed and less power. Yet despite that damning duo, Tejada was able to post a 2.1 fWAR last year in 114 games. If he plays a full season in 2013, it’s within reach for the Mets’ 23-year-old shortstop to put up a 3-WAR year. Mets fans got used to that type [...]
1963 FLEER ROGER CRAIG No triskaidekaphobe, our Roger Craig. He started the 1962 season wearing number 38, and ended up with a 10-24 record. By August of 1963, Craig was sporting a 2-20 mark. At that point, I suppose he figured that he could break all the mirrors, walk under all the ladders, and cross [...]