The Mets will play their 8,617th regular season National League game when they open the 2016 season in April. This old timer of a fan has seen the majority of those games on TV.
While it has not always been the case that I have a favorite player or players each year there have always been players I have looked forwarded to seeing pitch or hit.
Going all the way back to the spring training before the team’s inaugural season in 1962 my father had me prepped to look forward to seeing Frank Thomas. This Frank Thomas has nothing to do with the Hall of Famer White Sox first baseman who came decades later. This is the one whose career was more like Ralph Kiner-lite. This one played for the Pirates and Cubs. Like Kiner he was a power hitting left fielder who stood right on top of the plate giving him the opportunity to pull pretty much every pitch. Also like Kiner his defense was, let’s say, suspect.
Indeed Thomas did not disappoint as he did take full advantage of the Polo Grounds’ ridiculously short dimensions down the left field line. He hit 34 homeruns in 1962.
But as that season progressed my eyes were turned more and more to 35 year old Richie Ashburn playing in what was to be his final season. Ashburn managed a .306 BA and even had a career high of 7 homeruns during the campaign. He was the Mets representative at that year’s All Star game.
As it turns out it seems the players that have caught my attention as batters have been the lefty ones with a sound approach. Ashburn was the first but others that come to mind included Dave Magadan, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, Darryl Strawberry (of course), and the recently departed Daniel Murphy.
But the first Mets player who I ever called my “favorite” player was Ron Hunt. During his Mets years he was not the hit-by-pitch machine that he later became but he was a gritty pistol out there.
Tom Seaver was my favorite Met for many years. My oldest son was born the morning after Seaver was traded to the Reds. Talk about an emotional roller coaster…
Skipping ahead to the present the players that I most look forward to seeing this year are Michael Conforto and Noah Syndergaard. Can Conforto build on his rookie success? Can Kevin Long help him improve on his power stroke without compromising his ability to shoot balls into the left-centerfield gap? This should be great to watch.
Among the pitchers it’s a pick-em. Surely many of you are anxious to see Matt Harvey and others are turned on by Jacob deGrom. Steven Matz can be a great story himself. Even Bartolo Colon is a candidate for Eighth Wonder Of The World.
But the buzz about Syndergaard reminds me of the buzz the team felt back in 1967 when Tom Seaver made his debut.
So please have at it in our Comments section and tell us which players you are most excited to watch as the 2016 Mets try to improve on a great 2015 season.
Harvey is number one for me because I really think he’s poised for a Cy Young season. Syndergaard and Conforto are next. I’m really intrigued to see what they’ll do in their first full seasons. One other guy is Duda. With the best lineup protection he’s ever had, can he establish himself as a cornerstone player?
In the early days: Jim Hickman, Rod Kanehl
The Seaver years: Jerry Koosman, Jerry Grote, Cleon Jones, Rusty Staub (I could go on)
Later on: Bobby Ojeda, Edgardo Alfonso, John Olerud
Now: Juan Lagares (2014 version) JdG, Thor, Grandy,—heck, just about the whole team.
Buying tickets as a fan, there are always pitchers who you want to see, and those you wish to avoid. This year it’s crazy, because I will be thrilled to see 4/5ths of the starting staff.
With hitters, it’s the bathroom test. Whose ABs must you watch? Used to be Cleon, Kingman, Strawberry, Keith, Piazza, Reyes.
And now Cespedes.
Not because he’s the best or my favorite, but because every AB holds the potential for something special.
I would have loved to have seen Tom Seaver pitch. Loved watching Tom Glavine pitch during his Mets tenure, and seeing Jose Reyes during those years. Never saw a player as electrifying as him in a Mets uniform.
This year, I’m looking forward to seeing Zack Wheeler come back from injury, along with Noah Syndergaard’s development. Really the whole pitching staff is going to be entertaining to watch. Familia is also great to watch.
Conforto’s progression is also going to be exciting to follow. Hopefully he can put together a solid year, while playing against lefties and righties. Let’s see what he’s got!
James,
Matt Harvey has many of the qualities of Seaver as a pitcher. He commands the mound and forces his will on all but the best hitters. The difference is that Seaver joined a ragtag team that lost games at a prodigious pace. Then on the day he pitched we Mets fans finally felt that this is a game not only that we could win but that we should win.
It was a rare instance of one single player changing the attitude of an entire franchise.
Jose will always be one of my favorite all time Mets that I’ve had the pleasure to watch play live. (I’m only 23 so my sample size is relatively small).
Some of the past players I enjoyed included Rusty Staub.. what a sweet left-handed swing. Also Lenny Dykstra.. hard-nosed, fine speed, and a great lead off man, unfortunately the 21st century has had some obstacles for him.
Joura would put Duffy Dyer in there.
I’d put Felix Millan in there somewhere.
I agree with you on Conforto and Thor, Larry. Looking forward to seeing those two take the next steps. I’m also really looking forward to seeing how Familia handles year 2 as closer. I think he’ll bounce back just fine from the WS and, really, it’s exciting to have that dominant closer that no team wants to face at the end of a close game.
As always, I live and die by David Wright. But I’m greatly excited to see what Conforto can do as well, and I’d love to see Henderson do well, too.
I have been a long time Mets fan, and remembering my first game in memory being a Pirate vs Mets doubleheader back in the days we had Sunday matinees in baseball. I attended games before then but this one stuck with me. I remember seeing Roberto Clemente is why. My love of baseball grew from there on, and every year from then on it was about my love of the game and how much it meant to me. In 1967 it was about Long Islands’ native son….Carl Yazstremski. !968 is the year I started to bleed the blue and orange, and I loved Jerry Grote, Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones. I still have my pictures from Fan Appreciation Day of Jerry and Tom. I looked forward to seeing Tommie Agee in 68, but it was 69 that was his shining year. I remember how Donn Clondenon came over from Montreal in 69 and ignited that magical year in my life of 1969…for that year ignited my love of aeronautical science as well as a life long love affair that being a Mets fan is. I was at the game for the heartbreak of 1988, when Gooden gave up the home run. Always looked forward to seeing him pitch, Gary Carter play. When we started to play the free agent signing game we put together some good teams that lacked spark or fight. I have always enjoyed watching our home grown talent above any of the imports with rare exception. So this year I am looking forward to them arriving here in Az since I know I will get a good game on any given day I go with these 5 studs we have for the mound. I look forward to seeing what Cespedes can do in a full season at Citifield. I got to watch Conforto when he played against ASU and hope to see him blossom this year and will be watching for it. So I have had many favorites over the decades, looked forward to seeing many depending on which year. This is the first for so many at one time and I look forward to seeing Matz become as beloved a Long Island icon as the Yaz, especially since he plays for his beloved Mets and bleeds blue and orange like the rest of us.
Love homegrown talent. Who doesn’t?! The insane, that’s who.