It somehow seems fitting that the poll for The Dopiest Moment In Mets History ended in a three way tie. How absurd, but isn’t life as Mets fan often absurd. So in chronological order….
Winter 1984 – The Mets leave Tom Seaver unprotected.
I think my favorite Shea moment of all-time was Opening Day 1983 when Tom Seaver walked in from the bullpen along the right field line. The Franchise was back, and all was right in the universe. Sure he only won 9 games in 1983 but that was more about the team sucking than Tom sucking (check the stats). Also for a brief while in April he led the league in triples. Tons of fun.
Some genius in a bow-tie decided not to protect him in the off-season, and the White Sox claimed him. Why would you want Seaver in a Mets uniform winning his 300th game. Who would grab a future Hall of Famer off the wires?
There were 45 wins left in that arm….and ironically he would be in the dugout when the 1986 Mets won the World Series. Too bad it was on the third base side.
June 1989 – The Mets trade Roger McDowell and Lenny Dykstra for Juan Samuel.
I still don’t understand this one. These were two of the most beloved Mets, both performing well and they trade them within the division for a bum. The Phillies are probably still laughing. This is one of those moments you never forget – I was on I-80 coming back from a rafting trip in Pennsylvania, we could barely pick up WFAN and we thought they said that McDowell and Dysktra had been traded. That doesn’t make sense, why would they do that? This was one of many “Mets don’t understand their fanbase” moments. Well, at least we’ll always have Mookie Wilson. They would never trade him.
November 1998 – The Mets bring Bobby Bonilla back????!!!
Speaking of not understanding the fanbase -if you think the 2008 bullpen gets booed, you should have been around for Boo-nilla the first time. After killing the Mets in a Pirates uniform, this was the first of the “if you can’t beat ’em, sign ’em” signings that I hate. (Another one was Tom “Cylon” Glavine who was paid by Atlanta to be the ultimate sleeper agent).
Bonilla got separated from a guy named Barry Bonds, who turned out to be the slightly better of the two, and sucked. Everything Johan Santana was, Bobby Boo-nilla was not. Lazy, check. Douche, check. Clutch, uncheck. They couldn’t get him out of town fast enough. Then what do they do in 1998, they bring him back. Like we were going to love him. Idiots.
So it’s a three-way tie for the Dopiest Moment In Shea Stadium History (although a blown save today might re-open the poll). Hopefully Shea closes out on a high-note, and the dopey moments are few and far between at New Ebbetts Field, home of FredWilpon’s Dodgmets.
