The New York Mets have a rich history of historically significant players and a solid handful of Hall of Famers. Some of the former Amazins in Cooperstown don a Mets hat on their plaque, such as Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, but those players aren't who this is about. Some others like Gary Carter and Joe Torre are considered primary Hall of Famers for other teams, but still have their Mets tenure to thank for some of their legacies. Those players also are not who this is about.
Today we are here to talk about the OTHER Hall of Famers who have passed through Queens. The guys who were only here for a couple of years as old men, and who made minimal on-field contributions. "Why talk about guys who were largely irrelevant during their Mets career?" you may ask. Well, there are two very good reasons. Reason one is that they are some of the best players to ever play the game, and us Mets fans ought to remember how many greats have worn the blue and orange, even briefly. Reason two is because there is A LOT of them.
16 Hall of Fame players and managers have been Mets at some point in their career, but only two of then (Seaver and Piazza) are what could be considered "primary Mets". Those 16 Hall of Famers puts the Mets as having the 17th most of any team, which is certainly not impressive in and of itself, but that's excluding a key factor
No new MLB franchises were created between 1901 and 1961, meaning that there is a huge age gap between the 16 old franchises and the 14 new franchises. This disparity plays out how you would expect when counting Hall of Famers, with every single old team having more enshrined players than any young team. When you eliminate the old teams from the leaderboard and compare the Mets only to their true contemporaries, you find that the Mets have more Hall of Famers than any of them. While the Mets have the most total Hall of Famers (beating the second place Angels by two), they do not have the most primary Hall of Famers, being beaten by multiple teams in that category. The reason they can have so many total and so few primary is that 87.5% of the Mets Hall of Famers are non primary, which is the second highest percentage of any qualified team (qualified meaning has at least one primary). This percentage allows the Mets to have as many non primary Hall of Famers as the Tigers, who are 61 years older. Having the second-highest percentage of non-primary Hall of Famers in certainly a dubious honor and in many ways, not an honor at all. What it is though is statistically significant and yet another example of the exceptional uniqueness of the Mets franchise.
So without any further adieu, its time to get into the list:
Willie Mays
Played for the Mets in 1972 and 1973. Mets WAR of 1.6
Willie Mays is widely (and rightfully) considered to be one of the best hitters in MLB history, and its a point of great pride that the Mets were able to have him even for two seasons. Mays was not a regular starter during the 1973 pennant run, starting 45 games in centerfield all year while slashing .211/.303/.344. Although his on-field performance didn't do much to aid the "ya gotta believe" Mets, the presence of such a legend certainly helped the team in more ways than stats could measure.
Rickey Henderson
Played for the Mets in 1999 and 2000. Mets WAR of 1.3
Rickey's time with the Mets was very significant in some ways, as his Mets batting average of .298 is higher than his average for any other team. Despite this, his offensive production was still down as a whole during his time at Shea because his advanced age greatly hindered his speed. In 1999 he won the Comeback Player of the Year, which is impressive, but also telling about how late he was in his career, as in his prime, Rickey would never have to "comeback".
Duke Snider
Played for the Mets in 1963. Mets WAR of 1.2
The acquisition of Duke Snider was a very important part of the early Mets campaign to bring in fans, specifically former Brooklyn Dodger fans. This ended up working with many from Brooklyn becoming lifelong Met fans, and the Duke has to be given some credit for that. He requested to be sent to a "contending team" before the 1964 season, which must have been disappointing for some fans, but can you blame a guy for not wanting to play on the early 60s Mets?
Richie Ashburn
Played for the Mets in 1962. Mets WAR of 2.1
Richie Ashburn may have been the most successful Met on this list, with his 2.1 WAR in '62 being the best single-season WAR of anybody mentioned here today. Unfortunately, he retired after that season, as he also didn't want to play for the early 60s Mets. In his final season though Ashburn had the rare honor of being a double All-Star, as that was during the brief time where the All-Star game was a doubleheader.
Casey Stengal
Managed the Mets from 1962 to 1965. Mets record of 175-404
The Mets propensity towards old stars isn't limited to players, proven by the fact that the new team got 7-time world champ, Casey Stengel, as their first manager. Stengel was now 71 years old and even though his tenure started off great (beating the Yankees in a preseason exhibition), it quickly went downhill, with that year's Mets winning only 40 games. While the struggles of the expansion team obviously weren't all Casey's fault, it was demoralizing all the same, leading Casey to say "Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose 'em I never knew existed before".
Yogi Berra
Played for the Mets in 1965. Mets WAR of 0.0
By far the shortest Mets tenure on this list, Yogi, who was at the time a Coach for the Mets, was signed as a player on April 27th. He played in four games, and was released on the 17th of May. Yogi continued coaching for the Mets until he became the Manager in 1972. Berra is commonly remembered at the Manager of the pennant winning 1973 Mets, but its rare that people know of his incredibly brief time as a Mets player.
Warren Spahn
Played for the Mets in 1965. Mets WAR of 0.0
Warren Spahn, the only pitcher on this list, threw 20 games for the Mets in 1965 to a 4-12 record and a 4.36 ERA. He was also the Mets pitching coach at the same time, something I've never heard of an active player doing before. He was released halfway through the season and would retire after a brief stint with the Giants. Unfortunately, he didn't pitch in any of the games Berra caught, as a 44-year-old Spahn throwing to a 40-year-old Berra in a Mets uniform, would have been the stuff of legends.
Eddie Murray
Played for the Mets in 1992 and 1993. Mets WAR of 2.8
Murray's Mets career was fairly uneventful, as it happened in a time when the Mets were pretty bad, and Murray was neither very good nor very bad. He had 43 home runs in his 310 games with the Mets, along with a batting average of .274 and 113 OPS+. Murray was also younger than many of the guys on this list, as he was only 36 during his first season with the Mets, but his career was still on its last legs at that point.
Roberto Alomar
Played for the Mets in 2002 and 2003. Mets WAR of 0.4
It's a shame that Alomar became a part of this list, as he came to the Mets fresh off his the best season in his career, as a major acquisition. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for him in New York and it wouldn't work anywhere else after. Alomar came in fourth in the MVP voting during the 2001 season, but after two poor years with the Mets and brief equally mediocre stints with the White Sox and Diamondbacks, Alomar called it quits at 37 years old.
Even though there haven't been any late-career Hall of Famers on the Mets in 17 years, don't let that fool you into thinking the Mets have changed their ways. Citi Field has seen quite a few potential Cooperstown residents, and the Mets HOF list is certain to grow in the coming years. Gary Sheffield is the first, hitting his 500th home run for the Mets in 2009. Sheffield's Mets WAR is .3 but his power numbers will surely get him into the hall when all the other steroid guys eventually get elected. The next is Bobby Abreu, who played for the Mets in 2014, compiling a -.5 WAR. Abreu is a long shot at the hall and probably won't make it, but his 60+ career WAR gives him a chance. Another long shot is 2018 Met Adrian Gonzalez, who also posted a negative WAR during his time in Queens. Gonzalez has an even tougher road to Cooperstown than Abreau and personally, I don't think he belongs in the Hall, but it wouldn't be the BBWAA's worst decision. Finally, the active Met Robinson Cano, who will, like Sheffield, be a certain Hall of Famer once the rest of the steroid users are inducted. Cano in his first year with the Mets had a .3 WAR, but he'll have a bit of time to boost that as he may be a Met until 2024.
Why do the Mets sign so many old "washed up" players? you could make the argument that it's for ticket sales, and it probably was in their early years, but nowadays I would disagree. I think the Mets are just eternally optimistic (and cheap). All of the players here were all-time greats and the Mets just wanted to see what they had left in 'em. After all, it typically doesn't cost too much and the potential upside (of a Hall of Fame late-career resurgence) is significant. For whatever reason though, and whether you like it or not, it has become a staple of the way the Mets operate and I'm certain it's not going anywhere any time soon. Mets fans everywhere; prepare for the 2032 Mike Trout signing, its gonna be Amazin.
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