At Opening Day, the Mets announced that Shea would go up as an official "retired" entity, along with the #s 41, 14, 37, and 42. To date, Tom Seaver is the only Mets player to get his number retired. We speculated on who else might get the honor. I felt confident that Gary Carter was the next to be bestowed the honor, because he's now a Hall Of Famer, like Seaver, led the Mets to a World Series, like Seaver, and his number has not been used by the Mets since he was elected. My friend said that Mike Piazza deserved to have his number retired much more than Gary Carter, because he felt that Piazza spent more of the best years of his career with the Mets than did The Kid. Additionally, he felt Piazza was more of a "Franchise Player" like Seaver, as compared to Carter, who was more of a cast of stars on the 1986 squad. My friend went so far as to say that Strawberry, Hernandez or Gooden deserved to have their number retired than Carter. So, he challenged me to take a look at it.
I still don't think that the Mets will retire anyone's number who is not in the Hall Of Fame, but after looking at this, I have to agree that Piazza is more deserving of having his number retired by the Mets than Gary Carter is of the honor.
To calculate % of career as a Met I used games played as a Met / Games in players career.
I compared Carter's offensive stats with Piazza, even though I don't think it's fair since they played in different eras. When you look at their careers side by side keeping that in mind, they are pretty similar, But after looking at their Mets careers in context of their total careers, Piazza was more of the franchise player than Carter was, and Piazza played more of his best years with the Mets than Carter did. And actually, Ed Kranepool arguably deserves the honor more than anyone.
What do you think?
2 comments:
I definitely agree that Piazza deserves to have his number retired more than Carter does. As for the 86 team, I'd say that Hernandez number is the most deserving of being retired, far more than Carter. Keith coming to the Mets had the same impact that Mike did - it gave the Mets credibility again. His contribution went far beyond his glove and bat as well, moreso than Carter, he guided the pitching staff. Some of the players that have worn #17 over the years is really insulting.
I like the fact the Mets are more selective than the Yankees who will soon be handing out football numbers at the rate they're going. That said, I don't think a player needs to be in the HOF to get that honor. There's a distinction between the HOF and the Mets HOF. Players who had success and gave the franchise an identity should be remembered. I'd like to see Tug's #45 up there.
Mike is a HOFer but he's not a "Met."
Would you put a Seaver statue by Citifield? Yes.
Would you put a Piazza statue? No.
Great players both, but let's be picky about the numbers. Hopefully they can hang a 5 on the fence some day.
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