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Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif Dec 31 2017 10:22 PM

Your New Year's Rockin' Eve countdown of every Mets season, here.

Lefty Specialist Jan 01 2018 01:03 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Awesome. Could barely quibble with the rankings. 2007 cracked me up.

41Forever Jan 01 2018 01:27 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif wrote: Your New Year's Rockin' Eve countdown of every Mets season, here. Good call slipping 1973 just ahead of 2015. That year was magical. So was 2015, of course, but '73 was just a little more amazin.

dgwphotography Jan 01 2018 02:20 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

A great read as always, thank you for this and everything you have written this year. But... 1986 over 1969?

MFS62 Jan 01 2018 02:43 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Good job. About that brief 1963 write-up: Harkness' 14th inning homer was off lefty reliever Jim Brewer. It went into the upper deck in deep right center at the Polo Grounds. It was one of the longest home runs hit by a Met that I remember seeing that year. But another highlight of that year was beating All-Star reliever elRoy Face twice in a double header. Later

Ashie62 Jan 01 2018 08:28 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Jan 06 2018 02:46 AM

1999 was best for me. Had a corporate box for all home games and was about fifteen yards from Chipper in the Ventura game. I was barely aware it was drizzling. I thought Octavio Dotel would become the next Mariano Rivera. Saw Ventura's ball moving through the raindrops like a star. The moment Finley turned around with his head down and then it was all confetti and Gary Glitter. I have the unused WS ticket sheet.

Nymr83 Jan 02 2018 01:39 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Ashie62 wrote: 1999 was best for me. Had a corporate for all home game and was about fifteen yards from Chipper in the Ventura game. I was barely aware it was drizzling. I thought Octavio Dotel would become the next Mariano Rivera. Saw Ventura's ball moving through the raindrops like a star. The moment Finley turned around with his head down and then it was all confetti and Gary Glitter. I have the unused WS ticket sheet. I was 16 and I've learned since growing up and having kids that sports will never be as meaningful to you again as they once were. 1999 will forever be my top Mets season. Damn you, Kenny Rogers.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 01:45 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Word! For me it's 1985 and 1986 for the same reason. Although October 2015 was a hell of a ride.

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 02:04 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I talked this over with J.C. Lunchbucket once, and we estimated that about 70% of the value of the 1979 Mets came from Lee Mazzilli's performance in the All-Star Game. That's 70% of the value of the team's whole year garnered from two plate appearances, and two innings in the field. With no chances. In an exhibition game. In the Kingdome.

Zvon Jan 02 2018 07:47 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

41Forever wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Your New Year's Rockin' Eve countdown of every Mets season, here. Good call slipping 1973 just ahead of 2015. That year was magical. So was 2015, of course, but '73 was just a little more amazin. Agree! dgwphotography wrote: A great read as always, thank you for this and everything you have written this year. But... 1986 over 1969? I feel the '86 World Series tops the '69 classic, but the '69 season trumps the '86 season. Ashie62 wrote: 1999 was best for me. Had a corporate for all home game and was about fifteen yards from Chipper in the Ventura game. I was barely aware it was drizzling. I thought Octavio Dotel would become the next Mariano Rivera. Saw Ventura's ball moving through the raindrops like a star. The moment Finley turned around with his head down and then it was all confetti and Gary Glitter. I have the unused WS ticket sheet. Great post Ashie! "Saw Ventura's ball moving through the raindrops like a star." I also thought Dotel was gonna be the shit.

Zvon Jan 02 2018 12:56 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Zvon wrote: I feel the '86 World Series tops the '69 classic, but the '69 season trumps the '86 season. I hadn't read your article yet when I posted this. You explain your list criteria up front. I was commenting from and personal & emotional viewpoint. I should explain my comment. I didn't see the '69 World Series games as they were happening. Saw highlights on the news and such. So all emotion connections were formed in retrospect. The '69 series was totally amazin', but we had some breathing room there. I separated series from season, so disregard my original comment. I'll stick by that but I should have read your article before posting. The '86 series went 7 and...the unforgettable Buckner play when we thought it was all but over was such an uplifting experience. I jumped off my couch like a lunatic with his ass on fire! And as far as the '86 season, we just rolled over almost everybody. I thought '69 with the uphill climb was more surprising and such a great underdog story. But going by the standards you set for the list, you are absolutely right. EVERYTHING went our way in 1986! You couldn't have dreamed of a more asskickin' season and post season. BTW, the list was great read.

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 01:24 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

The 1986 Mets are better than almost all athletic seasons ever. The 1969 Mets are better than almost all things ever. My thinking, anyhow. But I mostly agree with the ranks and the reasoning. I'm a madman for 1983.

G-Fafif Jan 02 2018 06:35 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

If I can have only one between '69 and '86, I'd happily take either.

dgwphotography Jan 02 2018 06:43 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Edgy MD wrote: The 1986 Mets are better than almost all athletic seasons ever. The 1969 Mets are better than almost all things ever. I agree. 1969 is iconic, and transcends baseball. To me, while the 86 post season was heart-wrenching and ultimately thrilling, the season as a whole was pretty boring. As far as seasons go, 1985 has always been my favorite. I think 1986 left a sour taste in my mouth, because I look at it as if it should have been more.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 06:53 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

1969 was before my memory, but I agree that the regular season of 1985 was more fun than the regular season of 1986. But 1986 didn't leave any kind of bad taste in my mouth. Those Mets lived up to everything we could ask of them. The bad taste kicks in during the subsequent seasons.

G-Fafif Jan 02 2018 07:11 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Marty Noble, always the most insightful of beat writers, wrote a story during the summer of '86 asking the players if they found the current season a tad less pulsating than the one before. I clearly recall Darling and Santana nodding yes. It reflected my thinking at the time. I surely wasn't bored by being 20 games up in August, but the level of engagement differed from 1985. In the aftermath of it all, I found myself wishing the '86 postseason could have been grafted onto the '85 season, though I don't know that even at that youthful stage of my life my heart could have withstood that much delirious tension over seven months. I also remember a simmering sidebar to the '86 romp, that the current players were politely ready to stop hearing about '69, and that even the '69ers were ready to have company. That also synced with where my head was. My entree to the Mets was '69, just as it was getting extraordinary. I grew up absorbing every morsel of the backstory and reveling in what it all meant. Without it, we'd have had next to nothing to fall back on. But I was tired of falling back on it. For my birthday or perhaps Chanukah in 1985, I received a vintage plaque celebrating the Mets as 1969 World Champions, and as much as I loved it, I thought, "It's time for a new one." I might not have so strongly felt that way even two years earlier, but '84 and '85 really primed the pump. We were so on the verge from every angle, and '86 delivered on every possible count, save for prevailing in an excruciating pennant race (postseason made up for that) and harbinger of world championships to come (there's no accounting for future).

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 07:15 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Can you imagine how we'd be feeling now, if everything since then turned out the same, except that Gary Carter struck out in the tenth inning of Game Six?

G-Fafif Jan 02 2018 07:24 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Can you imagine how we'd be feeling now, if everything since then turned out the same, except that Gary Carter struck out in the tenth inning of Game Six? 1. 1987 (133-29; NL East Champs, World Champs) Where the dynasty began in earnest, when the Mets shook off the embarrassment of their six-game loss to the Red Sox and decided to take baseball and life more seriously. Hall of Famer Doc Gooden admitted a cocaine problem in November of '86, licked it in the offseason, and made 1985 look like practice for '87. More rigorous physical training kept all the pitchers sound of mind and body. Ray Knight and Kevin Mitchell co-captained not just a second consecutive division title but a rampage through the postseason never before seen in major league annals. There've been multiple trophies since, but none quite as meaningful.

Centerfield Jan 02 2018 07:26 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 1969 was before my memory, but I agree that the regular season of 1985 was more fun than the regular season of 1986. But 1986 didn't leave any kind of bad taste in my mouth. Those Mets lived up to everything we could ask of them. The bad taste kicks in during the subsequent seasons. I'm on board with this too. 1985 was my first taste of greatness. What an amazing season. I remember feeling a twinge of disappointment in '86 from my heroes falling back to Earth. Following '85, there was no question Darryl Strawberry was going to hit 30 something HR's and challenge for the MVP. He fell back a bit in '86. And the difference was even more stark between '85 Gooden and '86 Gooden. '85 Gooden was like nothing I have ever seen. I remember spending a lot of '86 wondering when that guy would come back.

Centerfield Jan 02 2018 07:29 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Can you imagine how we'd be feeling now, if everything since then turned out the same, except that Gary Carter struck out in the tenth inning of Game Six? I honestly don't know if the Mets would still comprise such a big part of my life. 1985-1988 were such impressionable years. I don't know what my childhood would have been like without the excitement and newness of 1985, the euphoria of 1986, the bitter disappointment of 1987, and the shock and heartbreak of 1988.

Frayed Knot Jan 02 2018 08:00 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I've told this story here before, but the circle of NYM fan friends I ran with in '86 considered anyone who didn't have a day-by-day knowledge of [u:2xxykqzl]1984[/u:2xxykqzl] (the season, not the Orwell book) to be a Johnny-come-lately bandwagon jumper. '85 was obviously the better season, but '84 was out of nowhere and therefore a helluvalottafun.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 08:07 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

1984 was a lot of fun, but the fun ended rather early that year. I know I could look it up, but I'll go on memory here. Didn't the Cubs sweep a four-game series at Shea around August 1, which allowed them to open up a pretty comfortable gap in the standings? At least in 1985, the excitement lasted into early-October regular season games. I still remember watching Darryl Strawberry's home run in St. Louis. I was sleeping over at my grandmother's house because my home was still without power from Hurricane Gloria.

G-Fafif Jan 02 2018 08:20 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 1984 was a lot of fun, but the fun ended rather early that year. I know I could look it up, but I'll go on memory here. Didn't the Cubs sweep a four-game series at Shea around August 1, which allowed them to open up a pretty comfortable gap in the standings? At least in 1985, the excitement lasted into early-October regular season games. I still remember watching Darryl Strawberry's home run in St. Louis. I was sleeping over at my grandmother's house because my home was still without power from Hurricane Gloria. Mets won a Friday night game at Shea, Doc starting to become Doc; Sisk started being Sisk that Saturday in a close game that got away by a lot; and then a doubleheader sweep on Sunday at the hands of the Cubs. A little over a week later, there was a four-game sweep at Wrigley in the wrong direction. Mets scuffled to stay viable for the rest of August, but it definitely slipped through Mets hands over the course of those two series, sort of the opposite of what happened when the Mets swept the two series from the Nats in 2015. Before there was time for wounds to fester, Gary Carter was acquired, so 1984 looks nothing but golden in retrospect. Would have been nice to have held off the Cubs, though.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 08:24 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I was at that Sunday doubleheader sweep. I remember the Mets were shut out in the first game, and didn't score a run in the second game until around the eighth or ninth inning.

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 08:31 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

In retrospect, Doug Sisk's 1983 and 1984 are two of the more remarkable seasons of tightrope walking ever witnessed. He somehow did heavy-lifting, workhorse, shutdown work while walking everybody and striking out nobody. Year ERA IP BB/9 SO/9 1983 2.24 104 1/3 5.1 2.8 1984 2.09 77 2/3 6.3 3.7 In 1985, he hurt his elbow and lost his sink, his hit rate ballooned, and that was too much to bear. You look at those lines and say, "In no way is that sustainable," but the miracle is that he somehow sustained it as long as he did. If the Mets had one more pitcher in 1985, they win the pennant. In Bats, Davey Johnson recalled vetoing a deal to bring back Seaver. Johnson believed his young rotation was set for years, and didn't want to disrupt it. I don't know what this deal would have cost the Mets, but since reading that, I was certain putting Seaver in the rotation and Aguilera in the pen would have otherwise meant the division title. Aggie, of course, never matured as a starter, but eventually prospered as a reliever for some other team.

HahnSolo Jan 02 2018 09:04 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif wrote: Mets won a Friday night game at Shea, Doc starting to become Doc; Sisk started being Sisk that Saturday in a close game that got away by a lot; and then a doubleheader sweep on Sunday at the hands of the Cubs. A little over a week later, there was a four-game sweep at Wrigley in the wrong direction. Mets scuffled to stay viable for the rest of August, but it definitely slipped through Mets hands over the course of those two series, sort of the opposite of what happened when the Mets swept the two series from the Nats in 2015. Before there was time for wounds to fester, Gary Carter was acquired, so 1984 looks nothing but golden in retrospect. Would have been nice to have held off the Cubs, though. That Saturday game still stings. Mets had a 4 1/2 game lead and Darling had matched Sutcliffe (this was Sutcliffe's Cy Young year) through seven innings. Sisk and I think Gaff blew up in relief.

dgwphotography Jan 02 2018 09:10 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: 1984 was a lot of fun, but the fun ended rather early that year. I know I could look it up, but I'll go on memory here. Didn't the Cubs sweep a four-game series at Shea around August 1, which allowed them to open up a pretty comfortable gap in the standings? At least in 1985, the excitement lasted into early-October regular season games. I still remember watching Darryl Strawberry's home run in St. Louis. I was sleeping over at my grandmother's house because my home was still without power from Hurricane Gloria. Mets won a Friday night game at Shea, Doc starting to become Doc; Sisk started being Sisk that Saturday in a close game that got away by a lot; and then a doubleheader sweep on Sunday at the hands of the Cubs. A little over a week later, there was a four-game sweep at Wrigley in the wrong direction. Mets scuffled to stay viable for the rest of August, but it definitely slipped through Mets hands over the course of those two series, sort of the opposite of what happened when the Mets swept the two series from the Nats in 2015. Before there was time for wounds to fester, Gary Carter was acquired, so 1984 looks nothing but golden in retrospect. Would have been nice to have held off the Cubs, though. I was at that Friday night game, a one-hitter. The only hit was a Keith Moreland slow roller up the third base line that Ray Knight charged, but couldn’t field cleanly. It was a party atmosphere that night, Doc becoming Doc, teddy bears hung in effigy off the upper deck, and the first time I saw Shea really rock in person.

HahnSolo Jan 02 2018 09:31 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I believe the Doc one-hitter was the Friday night in September, their last gasp at the division.

dgwphotography Jan 02 2018 09:38 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

HahnSolo wrote: I believe the Doc one-hitter was the Friday night in September, their last gasp at the division. Yes, it was. I thought that was the game Greg was referring to.

Zvon Jan 03 2018 05:40 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Edgy MD wrote: The 1986 Mets are better than almost all athletic seasons ever. The 1969 Mets are better than almost all things ever. Well put Edgy.

Zvon Jan 03 2018 05:42 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

dgwphotography wrote: I think 1986 left a sour taste in my mouth, because I look at it as if it should have been more. I assume you mean more success in 87, 88, 89, 90........ I really thought we had a dynasty in the working. Kinda still was, as far as good Met teams go, but the end results did not meet my expectations.

Edgy MD Jan 03 2018 05:49 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Mets Willets Point Jan 03 2018 07:41 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

My favorite seasons include 1985, the first season in which I was actively interested in following baseball (and the Mets were fun but fell short), 1997 when I got back to watching baseball after a few years of collegiate indifference (and the Mets were fun but fell short), and 2015 because that team was just so much fun and likable and did so many unbelievable things. I'm also much more fond of 1987 than Greg because I see it more as another reason to hate the f'in' Cardinals than to be disappointed in the Mets.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 03 2018 09:26 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Once you start making rules as to winning percentage governing things it interferes with my perception. I'd probably rank 84 as my favorite year. I also have a fondness for 99, 76, and 05 among the non-pennant years.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 03 2018 09:37 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

My favorite years in which the Mets didn't win the pennant would probably be, in order, 1985, 1999, and 2006. And then 1988, I guess. That 1999 post-season made me feel like a kid again. And the 2015 post-season did the same. So much fun.

G-Fafif Jan 03 2018 09:46 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

In crafting the Top 56, I went with the concept that seasons are better when your team a) clinches something; b) wins more than it loses. Think how happy you were at the moment last outs were secured the twenty times the Mets ran toward each other to embrace and douse one another. The goal is to get to those moments. On a more basic level, winning simply beats losing over ~162 games. On a more personal level, I maintain a different order of preference: 1999 and 1985 at the very top, with 1986, 1997, 1980, 1975 and 1970 filling the next tier of full-season experience, and special places reserved for the stretch drives and postseasons of 1969 and 1973. A lot of honorable mentions as well.

41Forever Jan 03 2018 10:40 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I was working as a reporting intern in the summer of 1986, and one of the reporters who was a Mets fan was talking about that season verses 1985. He said he was actually enjoying 1986 less while it was happening because it was a foregone conclusion that the team was going to win the division, whereas the year before it seemed like he was hanging on every game, and every game mattered and he couldn't wait for the that day's game to start. I get what he was saying. I also enjoyed clobbering the competition. I loved that cocky team.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 05 2018 08:58 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif wrote: On a more personal level, I maintain a different order of preference: 1999 and 1985 at the very top, with 1986, 1997, 1980, 1975 and 1970 filling the next tier of full-season experience, and special places reserved for the stretch drives and postseasons of 1969 and 1973. A lot of honorable mentions as well. I thought this piece was the most enjoyable one of the year, and that's saying a lot. I would have liked to read your "personal level" list. The way I figure it, it's your subjective list, so tell us how you really feel. Why paint yourself into a corner by imposing self-constraints with rules about these kind of seasons having to be ranked over those kinds of seasons which in turn need be ranked higher than the ones over here? Anything unexpected or counter-intuitive would make for an interesting read and you, of all people, have the expertise and credibility to pull off any "crazy" take on the rankings.

Zvon Jan 05 2018 09:27 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

batmagadanleadoff wrote: On a more personal level, I maintain a different order of preference: 1999 and 1985 at the very top, with 1986, 1997, 1980, 1975 and 1970 filling the next tier of full-season experience, and special places reserved for the stretch drives and postseasons of 1969 and 1973. A lot of honorable mentions as well. I thought this piece was the most enjoyable one of the year, and that's saying a lot. I would have liked to read your "personal level" list. The way I figure it, it's your subjective list, so tell us how you really feel. Why paint yourself into a corner by imposing self-constraints with rules about these kind of seasons having to be ranked over those kinds of seasons which in turn need be ranked higher than the ones over here? Anything unexpected or counter-intuitive would make for an interesting read and you, of all people, have the expertise and credibility to pull off any "crazy" take on the rankings. WHAT HE SAID!^

Ashie62 Jan 06 2018 02:47 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Nymr83 wrote: Ashie62 wrote: 1999 was best for me. Had a corporate for all home game and was about fifteen yards from Chipper in the Ventura game. I was barely aware it was drizzling. I thought Octavio Dotel would become the next Mariano Rivera. Saw Ventura's ball moving through the raindrops like a star. The moment Finley turned around with his head down and then it was all confetti and Gary Glitter. I have the unused WS ticket sheet. I was 16 and I've learned since growing up and having kids that sports will never be as meaningful to you again as they once were. 1999 will forever be my top Mets season. Damn you, Kenny Rogers. WORD

Edgy MD Jan 06 2018 02:54 AM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

I guess I was 16 in 1983, and damned if that wasn't my favorite. And for Pete Flynn's sake, it was 1983.

G-Fafif Jan 06 2018 08:33 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

batmagadanleadoff wrote: On a more personal level, I maintain a different order of preference: 1999 and 1985 at the very top, with 1986, 1997, 1980, 1975 and 1970 filling the next tier of full-season experience, and special places reserved for the stretch drives and postseasons of 1969 and 1973. A lot of honorable mentions as well. I thought this piece was the most enjoyable one of the year, and that's saying a lot. I would have liked to read your "personal level" list. The way I figure it, it's your subjective list, so tell us how you really feel. Why paint yourself into a corner by imposing self-constraints with rules about these kind of seasons having to be ranked over those kinds of seasons which in turn need be ranked higher than the ones over here? Anything unexpected or counter-intuitive would make for an interesting read and you, of all people, have the expertise and credibility to pull off any "crazy" take on the rankings. Much, much appreciated. "Top" vs. favorite has always been an intriguing delineation for me, dating to the Top 79 Songs of 1972 referenced in the article. This time top (constraints, rules and all), next time, perhaps, the fave raves from going on 57 years of swingin' Met hits.

Zvon Jan 06 2018 11:44 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

G-Fafif wrote: G-Fafif wrote: On a more personal level, I maintain a different order of preference: 1999 and 1985 at the very top, with 1986, 1997, 1980, 1975 and 1970 filling the next tier of full-season experience, and special places reserved for the stretch drives and postseasons of 1969 and 1973. A lot of honorable mentions as well. I thought this piece was the most enjoyable one of the year, and that's saying a lot. I would have liked to read your "personal level" list. The way I figure it, it's your subjective list, so tell us how you really feel. Why paint yourself into a corner by imposing self-constraints with rules about these kind of seasons having to be ranked over those kinds of seasons which in turn need be ranked higher than the ones over here? Anything unexpected or counter-intuitive would make for an interesting read and you, of all people, have the expertise and credibility to pull off any "crazy" take on the rankings. Much, much appreciated. "Top" vs. favorite has always been an intriguing delineation for me, dating to the Top 79 Songs of 1972 referenced in the article. This time top (constraints, rules and all), next time, perhaps, the fave raves from going on 57 years of swingin' Met hits. That'b great. And you have next years article topic already penciled in! A Yay! for the both of us.

G-Fafif Feb 04 2018 06:45 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Was invited on the Talkin' Mets podcast to dive in to the Top 56 countdown, with detours into basically every Mets era. Listen here should the Super Bowl pregame show run out of steam over the next several hours.

Zvon Feb 04 2018 09:51 PM Re: Top 56 Seasons Of All-Time

Was invited on the Talkin' Mets podcast to dive in to the Top 56 countdown, with detours into basically every Mets era. Listen here should the Super Bowl pregame show run out of steam over the next several hours. OOOOh, I like the jazzy/Shaft version of Meet The Mets. :) I linked all my bros to that article and they really dug it. We need to chip in and get that guy a mic that don't *POP*. What a devious chuckle you have Greg.