Mets Walk-Offs did a nice rundown of the Top 60 Homers in Mets history...thought I’d comment. My comments are in bold, and an excerpt of walk-offs is below. Please visit his site.
53- Walt Terrell, August 6, 1983 (#2,061, 2,062)
The only pitcher in Mets history to hit two home runs in a game did so against a Hall of Famer, Ferguson Jenkins. He admits to being a little lucky.
I remember thinking at the time how awesome it was to have a pitcher that could hit. I was actually sad when they traded him, but not too sad because I knew that “Johnson” was good for the ’84 Tigers because of Microleague Baseball.
46- Todd Hundley, September 8, 1996 (#3,893)
Say what you will about the legitimacy of Todd Hundley’s numbers, and though I won’t say much, I’ll honor it in this position. He’s still the first Met to reach the 40 home run mark, which he did with a home run off Joe Borowski in a Mets win in Atlanta. His 41st, hit six days later against the Braves would set the bar for all other Mets that followed.
Man I liked Todd, and I liked the idea of Todd. Sure Los Angeles had that Piazza guy, but we had our own stud catcher. Hundley was OURS and he was awesome. Well, you know what happened….
28- Gary Carter, August 11, 1988 (#2,781)
Gary Carter hit both his 100th and 200th home runs against the Mets. He hit number 300 for the Mets, but boy was it ever a torturous exercise to get there. Perhaps we should have braced ourselves for this adventure with what happened in going from 99 to 100. Carter hit 29 home runs in 1980, but it took him three weeks to advance from double to triple digits (vs Mark Bomback, May 10, 1980).
I’m so glad this one is on the list. Carter had a great start to the season, and then all of a sudden every ball died on the track. It was the beginning of the end for Carter. Believe it or not kids, 300 home runs once seemed like an awful lot.
This next one I would put at #2 if I weren’t too lazy to make a list…
3- Gary Carter, April 9, 1985 (#2,205)
“There aren’t enough words to describe what I felt,†Carter told the media after his walk-off home run beat the Cardinals in his Mets debut on Opening Day, 1985.
It was so exciting that day. 1984 came from nowhere (make sure you watch the 1984 episode of Mets Yearbook on SNY) and now we had the best catcher in the majors on our team….and he won it on day one. Woooooo!
And my choice for #1….
18- Darryl Strawberry, April 4, 1988 (#2,681)
Randy St. Claire got fired as Nationals pitching coach not too long ago, so now he’s back to being best known not for that job, but for yielding one of the longest home runs in Mets history. With the Mets leading 7-4 in the 7th inning on Opening Day, St. Claire delivered a pitch that Darryl Strawberry put into a monstrous orbit with a huge uppercut swing. It hit the Olympic Stadium roof in right field before coming down.
You had to see to believe it. I think it is still climbing. The longest home run ever by a country mile.
As for walk-off’s choice for #1…well it wouldn’t be right to not send you there for the visit. I happen to think it is the most overrated home run in the history of organized baseball, but that’s just one of several unpopular opinions I regularly share on this site.
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