New York Mets: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore: An impressive work of American stone craftsmanship and a colossal awe-inspiring tribute to the foundations of American democracy. The likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln look over the Black Hills National Forest with purpose and great wisdom. It’s quite the impressive sight and well worth the trip to western South Dakota. Unfortunately for me, my summer of 2015 visit to Mount Rushmore was preceded by a full morning spent about 75 miles east at the Badlands National Park, which could easily be labeled a Mount Rushmore of geological history here in the States. The point of my itinerary from a day about eight years ago is that not all Mount Rushmores are the same.

“Mount Rushmore” has become a creatively fun way to say “what are your favorites” of a particular thing. “Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models?”, “What’s your Mount Rushmore of pizza in Chicago?”, “What’s your Mount Rushmore of TV theme songs from the ’80s?”. Once a person replies with Elle MacPherson, Lou Malnati’s and Moonlighting, then continue down their lists the conversations really take off. Like I mentioned before, not all Rushmores are built the same. The Mount Rushmore of Yankees is going to be a tad bit more impressive than the Mount Rushmore of Mets, but we’re going to have some fun here and dig into the later.

The Mount Rushmore of New York Mets, the best Metropolitans of all time

I actually grew up watching a lot of Mets games in the suburbs of Boston. My parents are New Yorkers and when cable television came to town in 1978, my dad jumped on it because they carried two New York channels, WPIX which carried the Yankees games and WOR, which carried Mets games. My dad was a Mets fan so along with Yaz, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk and Roger Clemens, I also watched a fair share of Rusty Staub, Hubie Brooks and Lee Mazzilli. I was a huge Staub fan as a kid, so, although a Red Sox fan, I’m not exactly coming out of left field in putting together the Mount Rushmore of Mets. Let’s begin.

Tom Seaver, Pitcher 1967-77, 1983

Easily the most iconic pitcher in New York Mets history, Tom Seaver was a star in Queens from jump street. Although the Mets were still, well the Mets, a not-nearly-ready-for-primetime expansion team, Seaver’s rookie season of 1967 certainly put the “other New York team” on the baseball map. His 16-13 record in ’67 was accompanied by a 2.76 ERA and included 18 complete games. 18! Only future Hall-of-Famer Fergie Jenkins threw more complete games (20) that season. Over the past 10 seasons, the most complete games pitched in a season has been six. Seaver’s impressive rookie campaign earned him National League Rookie of the Year honors, the first of 12 All-Star selections and tied him with future Hall-of-Famers Jim Bunning and Bob Gibson for 22nd in NL MVP voting.

Fast-forward two All-Star appearances later and Tom Seaver leads the Mets to their first World Series title. In the magical ’69 season of the Amazin’ Mets championship run, Seaver led the majors in wins with 25 and the NL in hits per nine innings (6.7). Seaver did not win World Series MVP in ’69, but did rack up his first of three Cy Young Awards, all with the Mets, and finished second to Willie McCovey for the NL MVP. Seaver and the Mets returned to the World Series in 1973, eventually losing to the Oakland A’s in seven games. For Seaver’s part, he went 0-1 in two starts giving up four earned runs in 15.0 innings pitched and 18 Ks. “The Franchise,” as Seaver was known as to Mets fans, picked up his second Cy Young award in ’73 and led the entire league in ERA (2.08) and WHIP (0.976) and had another season of 18 complete games. Seaver had the best WAR on the team in eight of his first 10 seasons with the Mets. Miraculously, Seaver was traded to the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati during the ’77 season, a move that began a six-and-a-half-year nosedive for the Mets franchise.

Not only was Seaver a great Met, but during his tenure he was also the toast of the town in New York. Until the final season-and-a-half of his historic run with the Mets, the Yankees were in a bit of a rut between the Mantle World Series years of the late ’50s/early ’60s and the pennant runs of the late 1970s. For many of those years, Seaver was baseball. Many Mets fans of those days were left-behind Brooklyn Dodgers fans who needed a hometown team to root for and couldn’t bring themselves to root for the Yankees. Lines were drawn and never crossed. The Mets were a lifeline for sports fans in New York and Tom Seaver provided the first dose of strong blood and turned a joke into a championship ball club.

Seaver came back to the Mets in 1983 after a five-and-a-half season stint with the Reds. He was 38 years old, five seasons removed from pitching double-digit complete games and coming off the worst season of his career in ’82. In ’83, Seaver toughed it out to a 9-14 record and a respectable 3.55 ERA.

Dwight “Doc” Gooden, Pitcher 1984-1994

Just when baseballs fans thought there couldn’t be anything more “electric” on the mound than Fernando Valenzuela, in walked Dwight Gooden and, man, did he turn up the voltage.

Doc Gooden, as he became to be known as, was probably the perfect pitcher for the mid-80s. His performances on the mound from 1984-1990 were must-see-TV. Footage of his games between ’84-’86 would have easily broken today’s modern internet. Gooden was the brightest of shooting stars. Much like his predecessor Seaver, he alone outshone the team up in The Bronx that was between dynasties.

Gooden earned the win in his first start in the majors; a five-inning, five-strikeouts, one-earned run outing in Houston. A few weeks later in Montreal, Gooden exploded for 10 strikeouts in seven innings in Montreal and he and the Mets never looked back. The ’84 Mets went on to win 90 games for the first time since the summer of ’69 and Gooden won Rookie of the Year honors, made his first of three consecutive All-Star appearances and finished second to Rick Sutlcliffe in NL Cy Young voting. As a 19-year-old rookie, Gooden led the entire league in strikeouts with 276, hits per 9 innings (6.6), WHIP (1.073) and Ks/9 (11.4). Doc would lead the league in strikeouts (268) again the following season on his way to capturing the Cy Young award as the ace of the surging Mets. In his Cy Young season, Gooden also led the majors in wins (24) and ERA (1.53) while tossing eight shutouts over 16 complete games. Gooden’s World Series season of ’86 almost paled in comparison to his first two seasons in Queens as he “only” threw 12 complete games, going 17-6 with an ERA of 2.84 with 200 strikeouts.

Gooden continued to delight crowds at Shea Stadium through the ’94 season before leaving the game in ’95 and then returning as a Yankee in 1996. Gooden would never capture another Cy Young award, but was in the mix in ’86, ’87 and ’90. Doc did win a Silver Slugger award in 1992 when he batted .264 for the Mets. On the all-time Mets list, Gooden only trails Tom Seaver in strikeouts and wins.

Dwight Gooden was a kid lifting millions of Mets fans to new heights during truly unique times. When you think about sports in the 80s, you not only think of the Mets, but you vividly recall the excitement when Dwight Gooden was on the mound.

Darryl Strawberry, Right Field, 1983-1990

Filling the final face of the Mount Rushmore of Mets was a bit of a wrestling match in my mind. At one point, it was Cleon Jones who dominated the 1969 NLCS and had a solid 1973 postseason. Then I changed it to Keith Hernandez, but I just didn’t think he spent enough time with the team. Hernandez may not be on this Mount Rushmore but he’s definitely on the Seinfeld special guest Mount Rushmore. From Hernandez, I reached back in time to Jerry Koosman who, like Jones, had a great postseason career with the Mets. Yet, in the end, nobody had the combination of name recognition, longevity with the club and stats like Darryl Strawberry.

Strawberry was at the plate what Gooden was on the mound — electric. The tall string-bean from Los Angeles caught fire in July of ’83 and never looked back. With 26 home runs and a .512 slugging percentage, Strawberry was the runaway winner of Rookie of the Year honors. In ’84, his batting average, OBP, OPS and slugging percentage all dipped, but the New York sensation still hammered 26 home runs and piled up 97 RBI and added 27 stolen bases which earned him the first of eight consecutive All-Star appearances. The 86′ World Series season found Strawberry’s average dipping again from the previous year, but he again made up for it with 27 homers, 93 RBI and 28 stolen bases.

In 1988, “Straw” led the National League in slugging (.535), OPS (.911), OPS+ (165) and home runs (39), great numbers that helped him finish second to Kirk Gibson in the NL MVP race. In 1990, Strawberry’s career high 108 RBI helped him finish third in MVP voting behind Bobby Bonilla and winner Barry Bonds. Bonds was slim, trim and a Pirate and Bonilla was a year away from signing the contract that is now and will be a holiday on the sports calendar through 2035.

Like Wright, Strawberry is all over the Mets offensive record books. He has the most homers (252), the most intentional walks (108), he’s second in RBI (733) and walks (580), third in runs (662) and extra-base hits (469), fourth in total bases (2,028) and fifth in stolen bases (191). I think it’s safe to say the Mets made the right choice with the number one pick of the 1980 draft.

Strawberry entered free agency after the 1990 season and signed with the Dodgers that November. Straw shined his first season in L.A. and earned his last All-Star selection and the received the final MVP considerations of his career.

Others in consideration for the Mt. Rushmore of New York Mets

Gary Carter, Sid Fernandez, Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Cleon Jones, Jerry Koosman, Mike Piazza, Mookie Wilson and of course, Mr. Met.