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.
the number 8 will always belong to Gary Carter. He is only an expo in the HOF because they made it that way. He WANTED to be a MET. For being the “Mets Police” you certainly have your placed exactly where Jim Duquette did.
Carter doesn’t seem and more “Met” than say Ray Knight does. Maybe Keith has just been smarter in that he was always around. Surprised SNY hasn’t grabbed Gary yet.
As for who should push the button on the 8th to last day, I think even CyclonesFan has to agree it should be Gary.
I love Carter and he was the final key in getting the Mets to the series, But where did he play more games? Where did he win more awards? Where was he an All Star more? All with Montreal.
12 years in Montreal, only 5 in NY
However that said, he should be the one to take down the number of the 8th to last day.
Carter doesn’t want to be in NY – he’s happy being close to home. It’s why he walked away from managing in the Mets organization.