WHO’S NEXT?
Now that Piazza’s No. 31 is going to be retired, News looks at who Mets should honor next
The Mets have been in existence for 55 seasons, and Mike Piazza will become only their second player to have his uniform number retired when the newly minted Hall of Famer is so honored at Citi Field on Saturday. With Piazza’s No. 31 set to join “The Franchise” Tom Seaver’s No. 41 — as well as former managers Casey Stengel (37) and Gil Hodges (14), and baseball-wide honoree Jackie Robinson (42) — up on the outfield wall, the question lingers whether anyone else truly deserves the prestigious designation in the coming years.
Clearly, there still are plenty of Mets fans — especially during this yearlong reminiscence over the 30-year anniversary of the 1986 championship squad — who have a real soft spot for fallen stars Dwight Gooden (No. 16) and Darryl Strawberry (No. 18) in this regard.
As we all know too well, however, and as Judd Apatow’s terrific, if occasionally disturbing, ESPN 30for-30 documentary released earlier this month certainly reinforces, Doc and Darryl still are known more for their litany of off-the-field issues with drugs and other crimes — and way too much unfulfilled promise — than for their too-brief dominance on the field.
Rewarding them with the highest honor the franchise can bestow upon them still doesn’t seem right to me all of these years later, especially since the duo epitomized the play-hard, party-harder group that most strongly believe should have won more than one championship and made more than one World Series appearance.
We will get back to the two players I believe should be real possibilities for jersey retirement honors from that Mets era in a bit, but first let’s dissect the case for another perennial All-Star who certainly seemed headed for such treatment until recent years, David Wright (No. 5).
The third baseman and team captain is now 13 years into his Flushing tenure, but it is fairly evident that he will fall short on the Hall of Fame trajectory now because of all the injuries he has endured five of the past six seasons, including just 75 appearances over the past two due to serious back and neck Mike Piazza’s jersey retirement ceremony begins Saturday at 6:30 p.m. All fans Friday received a replica Piazza jersey, and the first 15,000 fans Sunday will receive a Piazza bobblehead. Piazza’s Hall of Fame plaque also will be on display in the Mets Hall of Fame at Citi Field through Sunday. SIMMONS/NEWS problems he may never fully overcome.
A .296 lifetime hitter, Wright is the franchise’s all-time leader in hits and RBI and second in games played and home runs. Depending on how (if?) he returns from these most-recent injuries, has the seven-time All-Star already accomplished enough to warrant inclusion on such an exclusive list? Perhaps.
Honestly, the even better cases here, for me, are for Gary Carter (8) and Keith Hernandez (17), the unquestioned leaders of the ’86 champions.
Carter was, like Piazza, one of only four catchers in the past half-century to wind up in the Hall of Fame, while Keith was a borderline Hall case who probably should have garnered more support on the ballot after winning all of those Gold Glove awards (11) at first base and batting over .300 seven times in his career.
Certainly, both players already were established stars when they joined the Mets. Hernandez was an NL MVP and a batting champion in St. Louis ahead of his 6 ½ seasons in New York, while Carter made seven of his 11 career All-Star appearances with the Expos before five seasons in Flushing.
The argument here is that the emotional pull of both of these stellar players should be enough to outweigh their relatively short Met tenures.
Carter was a passionate firebrand and the molder of the team’s young pitching staff in the mid-80s, finishing third in MVP balloting during the championship campaign. The Kid’s 2012 death due to brain cancer only further cemented his place in the hearts of Mets fans, as evidenced by his family easily receiving the loudest ovation at the 30th anniversary celebration last month.
Hernandez also deserves the honor based on what he means to the franchise and the fan base on and off the field, evolving in the past decade into what Phil Rizzuto meant to Yankees fans as a star former player turned beloved team broadcaster.
Piazza fittingly will get his day on Saturday, deservedly so for baseball’s all-time home run leader among catchers. But it’s up to the Mets whether he will be, or should be, the last one for a while.