The Mets Police

Since we are already in June and the intention of this series was to complete it before the last game at Shea, I'll start looking at numbers in groups of 10. Today we have numbers 21 - 30 (once again with a tip of the cap to Mets By The Numbers):

21
Rightful Owner(s): Cleon Jones
Rent-A-Met(s): Carlos Delgado
Comment: Cleon played in 12 different seasons for the Mets and still has the highest single season batting average in team history. Delgado, well, he accepts a paycheck from the Mets.

22
Rightful Owner(s): Al Leiter
Rent-A-Met(s): Ray Knight & Kevin McReynolds
Comment: Yes, Knight won the World Series MVP in 1986 - he was more of a Red in his career than a Met though. Leiter is a bit of a stretch but he won more games with the Mets than any other team and he gets bonus points for growing up a Mets fan.

23
Rightful Owner(s): Doug Flynn
Rent-A-Met(s): Bernard Gilkey
Comment: It really is amazing that Flynn won a Gold Glove in 1980 - you don't usually see that on 90+ losing teams.

24
Rightful Owner(s): Art Shamsky
Rent-A-Met(s): Willie Mays & Ricky Henderson
Comment: Honor Willie, most certainly, but he was never really a Met. As for Ricky, the less said the better.

25
Rightful Owner(s): Danny Heep
Rent-A-Met(s): Bobby Bonilla
Comment: I still can't believe the Mets brought Bonilla back in 1999 - cause he made such a great impression during his first stint.

26
Rightful Owner(s): Dave Kingman
Rent-A-Met(s): Orlando Hernandez
Comment: Kong was really not a great ballplayer, but oh those monster sky shots.

27
Rightful Owner(s): Craig Swan
Rent-A-Met(s): Pete Harnisch
Comment: I've always felt bad for Swanny - he came up with the Mets right as they started getting bad in the 70's and his career ended just as the Mets started getting good in the mid-80's.

28
Rightful Owner(s): Bobby J. Jones
Rent-A-Met(s): Jeff Conine
Comment: Bobby J. immortalized himself with that one-hitter in the 2000 NLDS - arguably one of the top 2 or 3 pitching perfomances in Mets history. Does anyone remember that Conine was on the team last year?

29
Rightful Owner(s): Dave Magaden
Rent-A-Met(s): Frank Viola & Steve Trachsel
Comment: Everyone talks about how bad the Ryan trade was - the Viola trade ranks right up there too.

30
Rightful Owner(s): None
Rent-A-Met(s): Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, & Cliff Floyd
Comment: OK, so techincally Ryan and Scott were not "rented" by the Mets, but since they achieved greater fame and are more identified with other teams, they fall into this group. It is quite a coincidence that they both wore this number and then both pitched no-no's for the Astros.

Back again with some more thoughts on what real Mets and what "pretend" Mets are associated with each uniform number (and thereore who should take down the Shea countdown numbers). Today, with information from Mets By The Numbers, we're looking at 16 - 20, maybe the best group of numbers so far.

16
Rightful Owner(s): Lee Mazzilli & Dwight Gooden
Rent-A-Met(s): Derek Bell & Paul LoDuca
Comment: Two of the all-time favorites wore this number and yet the Mets continue to let others wear it? I'm not saying it should be retired, but Derek Bell? Angel Pagan is wearing it now which will change once Lee takes over as manager.

17
Rightful Owner(s): Keith Hernandez
Rent-A-Met(s): Bret Saberhagen
Comment: Yes I know Keith won his MVP and made his bones with the Cardinals - but he was the Captain. It's a shame that 15 other guys have worn the number since.

18
Rightful Owner(s): Darryl Strawberry
Rent-A-Met(s): Moises Alou
Comment: Joel Youngblood gets a nod here as well, but Darryl will always be 18. On a side note I have really been enjoying his in studio work on SNY.

19
Rightful Owner(s): Ron Gardenhire
Rent-A-Met(s): Bobby Ojeda
Comment: OK, so Gardenhire was a stretch and with his work managing in Minnesota clearly makes him more oa Twin than a Met now. Ojeda was a Red Sox that the Mets rented, period.

20
Rightful Owner(s): Tommie Agee & Howard Johnson
Rent-A-Met(s): Shawn Green
Comment: This is a great number with both real mets contributing to the only World Series victories for the Mets. I'd give Agee the nod to take down the game number though.

Continuing our series of what players are (or should be) associated with each number. (Inspired by the Shea game countdown on the outfield fence). So far we've covered numbers 1 through 10. With thanks again to Mets By The Numbers, here now are 11 through 15:

About a week and a half ago we published who are the real and the fake owners of numbers 1 - 4 for the Mets http://themetspolice.blogspot.com/2008/04/whos-1.html

As this is an angoing series, here are numbers 5 through 10 (once again thanks to Mets By The Numbers):

5
Rightful Owner(s): Davey Johnson & David Wright
Rent-A-Met: John Olerud

Comment: Wright will never be the only owner of tha number regardless of what he does. As for Olerud, most of that 1999-2000 team was rented.

6
Rightful Owner(s): Al Weiss & Wally Backman
Rent-A-Met: Daryl Boston

Comment: Sadly Wally is still persona non grata in most MLB circles. As for Boston......nop, got nothing

7

Rightful Owner(s): Ed Kranepool & Jose Reyes
Rent-A-Met: Juan Samuel

Comment: I still cringe when I think about all we gave up for....ugh...Juan Samuel. Hell I still remember where I was when I heard the news (on a train between Limerick and Galwayin Ireland. I think I screamed.)

8

Rightful Owner(s): Nobody
Rent-A-Mets: Yogi Berra & Gary Carter

Comment: Yogi was and always will be a Yankee. Gary - as much as he may have loved NY and was the final piece of the 86 puzzle - was an Expo.

9

Rightful Owner(s): Todd Hundley
Rent-A-Met(s): Joe Torre & Todd Zeile

Comment: Torre the player was a Brave - Torre the manager was a Yankee. The fact that he transitioned as a Met doesn't make him a Met.

10

Rightful Owner(s): Rusty Staub
Rent-A-Met: Nobody

Comment: Rusty wore 4 with his first stint, but was in 10 much longer. And yeah, he was an All-Star 6 times elsewhere and never with the Mets - but he played more years here than anywhere else.

11 through 15 next week.

So there's talk that the Mets would have a former player represent each day of the Shea Countdown Clock - so Craig Swan would show up with 27 days left and Hernandez with 17 etc. Presumably that means Mookie would do the last day (topic for another day).

Anyways, Cyclonesfan pulled this together for me, and he used Mets By The Numbers as a source of info....today's topic is Who is the Real Number?

First in a series...

1

Rightful Owner: Mookie Wilson
Rent-A-Met: Vince Coleman
Cyclonesfan's Comment: I'm surprised the Mets haven’t unofficially retired 1 considering how popular Mookie was
The Mets Police say: doesn't deserve to be on the fence, but if it were in semi-limbo like #24 that would be cool. Definitely Mookie's number.

2

Rightful Owner: Bobby Valentine
Rent-A-Met: none suggested, also no comment provided.

The Mets Police say: You gonna fly Bobby V in for the ceremony? You can't do that to Willie. How about Jose Oquendo? That would seem silly too.

3

Rightful Owner: Bud Harrelson / Rafael Santana
Rent-A-Met: Damon Easley
Cyclonesfan's Comment: OK, Raffy wasn't great, but he was a Met and an anchor in the infield

The Mets Police say: it's time to bring Buddy back into the fold. Sure he was afraid to go to the mound but in hindsight it got a lot worse than Buddy in the dugout (cough, September 2007).

4

Rightful Owner: Ron Swoboda / Lenny Dykstra
Rent-A-Met: Robin Ventura
Cyclonesfan's Comment: Regardless of the Grand-Slam Single, Ventura was a White Sox

The Mets Police say: tough call. If decisions must be made.....Swoboda.