The 1980s decade for the Mets started weakly, showed signs of life in 1983, and exploded upward beginning in 1984.
It was a shame that such a great team won just one World Series in the 1980s with a team with great pitching, strong D...and fine hitting.
The best Mets' hitter of the 1980s? Well, Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez were excellent, but the hitting honors in my mind have to go to Darryl Strawberry.
In 957 games spanning 1983's rookie season through 1989, the equivalent of six 160 game seasons, Straw hit 215 HRs, knocked in 625 runs, scored 570, and stole 176 bases.
That averages out to 36 HRs, 104 RBIs, 95 runs scored, and 29 steals over an average 160 game season, with a slugging % over that time well north of .500. Sweet.
His only career baseball weakness was hitting lefties. In his career, he was .238/.319/.444 hitting lefties, far below the damage he did against righties.
Despite injuries and personal issues, he ended up with a nice round 1,000 RBIs for his entire career. Those who marveled at him as a 21 year old rookie who hit 26 HRs in 122 games in 1983, won Rookie of the Year, then made the All Star team every other season in the 1980s probably thought, watching that 21 year old, that he would hit 600 career homers and knock in a nice, round 2,000 instead.
As well as he did, he under-preformed his talent and God-given natural gifts.
Keith Hernandez, to me, was the Mets' best overall non-pitcher of the 1980s. But the timing of a decade can hurt some players, and in Keith's case, he slid in 1988 and 1989; in 1988, he hit .276 in just 95 games at age 34, and just .233 at age 35 in 1989 spanning just 75 games. He had, after all, played for St Louis over all or part of 10 seasons BEFORE he came to the Mets.
But he was outstanding from 1983 (partial, after his trade from St Louis) through 1987, hitting .306, .311, .309, .310 and .290 in those 5 seasons. Far better averages than Darryl.
Yet, he only hit 80 HRs in 880 Mets games, and never drove in more than 94 Mets runners.
Still, he was tremendously clutch. In "late and close situations in his career, he hit a wonderful .294/.399/.418. And he was defensively perhaps the best defensive first baseman of all time.
If you picked Keith over Darryl as the best hitter of the 1980s for the Mets, I could not argue with you.
When the Mets acquired Gary Carter from the Expos for the 1985 season, the Mets went from very good to outstanding.
Like Hernandez, Carter had a lot of mileage on him, having played 10 full seasons with Montreal prior to the Mets getting him.
But in 1985, he hit 32 HRs and knocked in 100 in 149 games, and 24 homers and 105 RBIs in just 132 games in 1986 - and a huge hit in game 6 of the World Series to keep the Mets alive.
But age was catching up and he hit 20 homers and knocked in 83 in 1987 while hitting just .235, and just 13 HRs and 61 RBIs in 180 games in 1988 and 1989, and in 1989 hit just .183 in 50 games.
Had he been 3 years younger starting his Mets tenure, he might well have been the best hitter of the three.
One player who deserves special mention was Kevin McReynolds, who was a Mets starting in 1987. From 1987-89, he averaged 26 HRs and 93 RBIs.
Another good hitter was not there long enough, Lenny Dykstra (.278/.350/.419 with 116 steals over 544 games).
And scrappy Wally Backman was there for most of the 1980s, and averaged just 85 games a season due to platoons, hitting .283/.353/.344 as a Met, with 106 steals.
Lastly, George Foster joined the Mets in the early 1980s on the downside of his career, but still managed to hit a commendable 99 HRs, and drive in 361, in 665 Mets games.
It was, as is obvious reading the above, a very good Mets decade with the bat.
2 comments:
In the cases of both Darryl Strawberry and his pal Dwight Gooden you have to wonder how good they could have been had they kept their personal demons from interfering with their baseball careers.
Reese, if they had kept a focus like Cal Ripken, maybe they both would have strolled into the Hall of Fame together - as Mets.
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