The Mets Police

An honor that somehow has eluded Hernandez was afforded Tom Seaver in 1988. Seaver's uniform number was retired; his 41 was put in mothballs. And the ceremony that surrounded that salute is what Hernandez embraces 20 years later.

"The greatest thing I've ever seen at Shea," is how he identifies it. It moved him, and it had stayed with him.

"Tom was so eloquent in what he said," Hernandez recalled recently. "And when he did what he did -- take off his jacket, throw one last pitch and then bow to the crowd -- it was so appropriate, and appreciated by the fans. They went crazy.