I got in Media Goon’s fancy car and checked out some Mad Dog Russo….he was arguing with a caller about if A-Rod made the Yankees all-time Top 10.
Dog said no – and made a list. Â Rather quickly he named 8: Â Ruth, Gehrig, Joe D, Mantle, Berra, Ford, Jeter, Mariano. Â Then some debate on the rest which were less clear.
Got me thinking about who the Top 10 Mets are. Â One man’s list…
Seaver, Gooden, Strawberry, Piazza, Keith Hernandez….
…and now I’m in that middle area where it’s less obvious. Â Hojo’s name is on a lot of leaderboards. Â Ed Kranepool leads the team in hits
…Koosman 3rd in wins….then Darling with one more than Sid. Â Not sure I’m ready to put Sid on a Top 10.
…last week I put Wright on the Top 10 all-time third basemen so I guess I’d better add him..Reyes is 6th in hits just behind DW. Â But is that dissing Kranepool or does Krane deserve it?
So maybe it’s (don’t worry about the order): Seaver, Gooden, Strawberry, Piazza, Hernandez, Reyes, Wright, Hojo, Koosman and somebody.
I need to think about this. Â What’s your list?
Oh, assuming you like my list – if three of the Top 9 Mets of all time play on the same team, that team will go 83-79. (2005 Mets)
Beltran’s inches from making that list. Santana might as well.
I never cared for him personally, less so after his clumsy attempt to publically put himself in the running for the managers job, but the tenth guy on the list has to be Gary Carter.
Alfonzo!
Right on! Piazza overshadowed him, but Fonzie certainly deserves his due.
I’ll just turn it over to Centerfield Maz from here:
http://www.centerfieldmaz.com/2009/11/former-met-of-day-edgardo-alfonzo-1995.html
You have to have Gary Carter in the discussion! He’d have one of the 10 spots on my list.
My obvious picks are Seaver, Piazza, Strawberry, Gooden, Hernandez, Carter, Wright & Reyes.
The last two spots are tougher – I’d be picking from Koosman, HoJo, Alfonzo, Franco, Kranepool, Beltran, Mookie Wilson & Tug McGraw. Today, I’d pick Koosman & HoJo, but I might go a different way if you asked me again tomorrow.
Fonzi is not only on a lot of Met leaderboards, he got some BIG hits and may have been our most clutch player there for a few years. I’d put him on. Also have to put on Johnny Franco. How quickly we forget but guy is far and away our leader in saves almost 300 I think and played with the Mets for a lot of years even taking a demotion to setup guy.
so for me it’s Seaver, Piazza, Straw, Gooden, Keith, Wright, Reyes, Koosman, Fonzi & Franco.
Carter was a great player but not a great Met. He had 2 good years and 3 really not good years. He was just a key figure on the 85 and 86 teams but so were Sid, Wally, Mookie, Lenny, Darling, Orosco and McDowell and there’s no real cry for most of those guys on a Mets top 10 list. Longevity matters for a Top 10 Mets List of all time.