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NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME MEMBERS
Though the Mets have won five pennants and two World Championships, they are not heavily represented in baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Only three players, Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza,and, to a lesser extent, Gary Carter, established their credentials for the game's highest honor while playing a significant portion of their careers with the Mets. Seven other Hall-of-Famers, who had their glory years with other clubs, spent a portion of their careers as players with the Mets. (See below.) Other Cooperstown immortals who served in a Met uniform, though not as a player, are manager Casey Stengel, and coaches Rogers Hornsby and Bob Gibson.

METS PLAYERS IN THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

Berra
1972 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
YOGI BERRA
Yogi Berra played 18 seasons with the Yankees, and four games with the Mets, but those four games in 1965 qualify him for a spot on this list of Mets players in the Hall of Fame. During his Yankee career, Berra hit 358 home runs, won three MVP awards, and played in 75 World Series games. He retired as a player and became the Yankees' manager for the 1964 season, in which he led his team to the American League pennant, only to be fired after a World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets coaxed him out of retirement for the 1965 season, but Berra's comeback was limited, as mentioned above, to a mere four games.

He spent eleven years in a Mets uniform, however, first as a coach, and then, after the 1972 death of Gil Hodges, as the team's fifth manager. Yogi became the first manager to win pennants in each league when the Mets found their way to the 1973 World Series. Yogi's ties with the Mets organization ended when he was fired as manager during the 1975 season. He has gone on since then to become one of baseball's most colorful figures, known perhaps more for his many memorable quotes (many of which he never actually uttered) than for his distinguished career on the field and in the dugout.


Spahn
1973 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
WARREN SPAHN
Warren Spahn joined the Mets in 1965 after 20 seasons with the Boston and Milwaukee Braves. During that time he established himself as one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in the history of the game. He had thirteen 20-win seasons, and pitched in three World Series, including the Milwaukee Braves' World Championship season of 1957. When he put on a Mets uniform for the first time, however, he was nearly 44 years old. He posted an unimpressive 4-12 record in 19 starts with the Mets before finishing 1965, and his career, with the San Francisco Giants.

Spahn's 363 career victories represent the fifth highest win total of all time, behind only immortals Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and Christy Mathewson. Spahn also has the somewhat less impressive distinction of being the first Met player ever to draw a breath on the planet Earth. His April 23, 1921 birth preceded his nearest competitor, Gene Woodling by over a year.


Mays
1979 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
WILLIE MAYS
During over two decades with the New York and San Francisco Giants, Willie Mays was, arguably, the greatest player of his time. When he retired in 1973, he ranked third on the all-time home run list with 660, behind only Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron. He collected 3,283 base hits, drove in 1,903 runs, and had a career batting average of .302. He was a Rookie of the Year in 1951, and won two Most Valuable Player awards. In 1954 he led the Giants to their final World Championship in New York, and, during the World Series that year, he made a spectacular catch and throw on a long centerfield drive by Cleveland's Vic Wertz that's still talked about to this day. Mays was a five-tool player who dominated at virtually every phase of the game. Mays continued to excel after the Giants moved to California in 1958. He received one of baseball's most exclusive honors when he was named the Player of the Decade for the 1960's.

When Willie reached the age of 41, with his skills in considerable decline, the San Francisco Giants sent Mays back to the city where he started his career, trading him to the Mets on May 11, 1972. Although he hit a game-winning home run in his Mets debut, beating the Giants 5-4, Willie Mays had few moments of glory with the Mets. He finished out the 1972 season and returned in 1973 for the Mets' "You Gotta Believe" season, which allowed him to close his remarkable career with a World Series appearance against the Oakland Athletics. After his retirement, Mays remained with the Mets as a coach until 1979, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned him (and Mickey Mantle) from any involvement with baseball because of a business affiliation with an Atlantic City casino. When the ban was eventually lifted, Mays returned to the employ of the Giants, and has had no further involvement with the Mets.


Snider
1980 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
DUKE SNIDER
Duke Snider was one of the more beloved members of the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950's. New York fans endlessly debated the merits of the city's three great center fielders of the time, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Snider, immortalized in song as "Willie, Mickey and the Duke." The Dodgers won six pennants during Snider's eleven seasons with the team in Brooklyn, and one more during his five years in Los Angeles. Snider slugged 40 or more home runs in each of his last five seasons in Brooklyn. His production immediately tailed off with the switch from the cozy Ebbets Field to the spacious Los Angeles Coliseum.

As with Mays, Yogi Berra, and Warren Spahn, Duke Snider's best days were behind him when he finally put on a Mets uniform. Snider, however, was a little bit younger than the above mentioned players, as he was a tender 36 years of age when the Mets acquired him for the 1963 season. In his only season with the Mets, Snider played in 129 games and hit .243 with 14 home runs, including the 400th of his career. He would finish his career in 1964 with the San Francisco Giants.


Seaver
1992 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
TOM SEAVER
And then, of course, there's Tom Seaver.

Seaver was the first Met to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met, with a Mets cap on his plaque and an impressive list of accomplishments in a Mets uniform on his resume: four seasons with 20 or more wins, nine consecutive seasons with 200 or more strikeouts, three Cy Young awards, a Rookie of the Year award, and three ERA titles, including a 1.76 in 1971. He won 198 games as a Met, out of a total of 311 in his career. But Seaver's impact on the Mets transcends a mere listing of his impressive accomplishments.

Seaver, along with manager Gil Hodges, was primarily responsible for changing the attitude and personality of the team, as well as its position in the standings. When Seaver arrived as a 22-year-old rookie in 1967, the Mets had never enjoyed a winning season, and in fact had rarely managed to escape the National League cellar. They had had a reputation as lovable losers, but that was starting to wear thin. During the 1969 season, when the Mets reached the .500 mark for the first time in their history, Seaver refused to see that as anything noteworthy. His focus was on loftier goals. The Miracle Mets World Championship of 1969 simply would not have happened without Tom Seaver on the ballclub.

After 1969, and through the much of the 1970's, Tom Seaver was the player around whom the Mets revolved. He was called "The Franchise," a nickname which irked Mets management but was nonetheless accurate. Tom Seaver put the Mets on the baseball map, and he should have spent his entire career pitching at Shea Stadium.

It wasn't meant to be, however. Following the death of owner Joan Payson in 1975, her heirs went into penny-pinching mode, under the direction of the despised M. Donald Grant. Grant openly feuded with Seaver and, ultimately, ran him out of town, trading him to the Cincinnati Reds on June 15, 1977 for four moderately talented young players. With Seaver gone, the Mets immediately lapsed into the most dismal stretch of their history. Seaver returned for one season in 1983, and then was lost to the Chicago White Sox when the Mets left him unprotected in the free agent compensation draft.

After pitching for the Red Sox in 1986, Seaver attempted a 1987 comeback with the Mets, but called it off when he felt he was no longer capable of pitching up to his standards. When he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, he had the highest percentage of votes in history, breaking a record set by Ty Cobb.


Ashburn
1995 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
RICHIE ASHBURN
Richie Ashburn followed a similar path as most of his fellow Mets in the Hall of Fame. After a successful and productive career elsewhere, he came to New York in his twilight, and didn't stay long.

Ashburn spent the first eleven years of his career as a slick-fielding center fielder with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was one of the famous "Whiz Kids" when the Phils won the 1950 National League Championship. He was a lifetime .308 hitter who amassed 2,574 hits in a 14-year career in which he won two N.L. batting titles. After leaving the Phillies, he spent two years with the Chicago Cubs before joining the Mets for their inaugural season in 1962.

Ashburn performed well for the Mets, hitting .306 with 60 runs scored in 135 games. He was named the team's MVP, which was a somewhat dubious honor, considering that the Mets lost a record 120 games in 1962. By the end of the season, Richie had decided that he had had enough, and retired rather than return for another year with the Mets. His year playing for Casey Stengel provided Ashburn with a number of colorful anecdotes, which served him well during his many years as a beloved Phillies broadcaster. Ashburn died in a New York hotel in 1997, shortly after broadcasting a Mets-Phillies game at Shea Stadium.


Ryan
1999 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
NOLAN RYAN
Nolan Ryan was the second Hall-of-Famer produced by the Mets farm system. Unlike Tom Seaver, though, Ryan had the vast majority of his success after leaving the Mets.

Ryan was a baby-faced 19-year-old when he made his major league debut with the Mets in 1966. He stayed with the Mets through 1971, pitching both as a starter and as a reliever. By 1971 he was a member of the starting rotation, and he won 10 games. Nolan Ryan, at the age of 24, was a hard thrower who was prone to wildness. He struck out 137 batters in 1971, while walking 116. Since the Mets had pitching depth, with Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Gary Gentry, the Mets felt Ryan was expendable, and traded him to the California Angels for veteran All-Star shortstop Jim Fregosi, who they planned to convert to a third baseman.

The trade may have seemed reasonable when it was made, but it did not take long for it to become apparent that the Mets made a terrible mistake, probably the worst trade in their entire history. Fregosi hit .232, with 5 home runs and 32 runs batted in for the Mets in 1972. And meanwhile, Nolan Ryan was an immediate sensation with the Angels. He won 19 games in 1972, and struck out an astounding 329 batters. In 1973, Fregosi was shipped off to the Texas Rangers, and Ryan won 21 games and struck out 383. As the years went by, Ryan kept going strong. Over the course of his career, he would strike out the record total of 5,714 batters. He pitched a record seven no-hitters. He won 324 games. He didn't retire until the age of 46, in 1993, after a record 27 seasons.

Surprisingly, though, with all the success Ryan had, and all the longevity, he only pitched in one World Series. And that was early in his career, when he was with the 1969 Mets.


Carter
2003 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
GARY CARTER
Forever known as "The Kid," Gary Carter played with a level of youthful exuberance that made fans in New York and the world over fall in love with his infectious level of play. Already establishing himself as the National League's top catcher while playing his first 11 Major League seasons with the Expos, Carter found himself bound for the Big Apple during the winter after the 1984 season, the centerpiece of a trade that sent Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans to Montreal. His acquisition paid immediate dividends, as he hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning off former Met Neil Allen to lift the Amazins to a 6-5 win on Opening Day 1985. The following year he placed third in the MVP vote and led the Mets with 105 RBI. In the postseason, he delivered a walk-off RBI single in Game 5 of the NLCS against Houston, then led New York with 9 RBI in the World Series vs. Boston. It was his 2-out single that ignited the famous ninth-inning rally in Game 6, a hit that ultimately propelled the Mets to championship glory.

Carter would play a total of five seasons in Flushing, getting named an All-Star in four of them. He then played a season each with the Giants and Dodgers before returning to Montreal for one final season in 1992. He gained entry into the Hall of Fame on his sixth time on the ballot, but was far from finished with baseball. He was named skipper of the Gulf Coast Mets in 2005, winning the league's Manager of the Year honors that season. He was promoted to Class A St. Lucie's manager the following year and guided that team to a Florida State League championship, again getting named Manager of the Year in the process. He continued coaching until his tragic passing due to brain cancer in 2012, and that year the Mets paid tribute to him by wearing a patch with his number 8 and the word "KID" on it. Though his number isn't officially retired with the Mets, no player has ever worn it since he was enshrined in Cooperstown in 2003.


Murray
2003 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
EDDIE MURRAY
One of the best hitters the game has ever seen, Eddie Murray is one of only seven all-time -- and the only switch-hitter -- to tally 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. After playing the bulk of his career with the Orioles and Dodgers, the first baseman joined the Mets in 1992 as the team attempted to spend its way back to the prominence it enjoyed during the late 1980s. However, things did not go as planned, and the Mets would later adopt the moniker of "the worst team money could buy."

Still, "Steady Eddie" continued to put up good numbers during his two seasons in New York, leading the team in RBI both years while playing pretty much every day despite being in his upper-30s at the time. Notably, his second home run as a member of the club on May 3, 1992, marked the 400th of his career, part of a 7-0 Mets win at Atlanta. He finished his career playing for the Indians and Angels, as well as for the Orioles and Dodgers one more time, and became a member of the Hall of Fame on his first year on the ballot.


Henderson
2009 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
RICKEY HENDERSON
Thanks to his incredible longevity and consistency as the premier lead-off hitter in the game, Rickey Henderson arguably holds two records that will never be broken: most runs scored (2,295) and most stolen bases (1,406). In fact, the outfielder had already been a mainstay in the big leagues for two decades before he signed with the Mets for the 1999 season, having captured 10 All-Star selections, two World Series rings, and an MVP crown over that span. And yet, he still showed plenty of signs of remaining life at the age of 40 in his first season in blue and orange, hitting .315 with 12 home runs and 37 stolen bases to win Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. Henderson only hit .174 during the Mets' crushing loss to the Braves in that year's NLCS, and he was infamously caught playing cards with Bobby Bonilla in the clubhouse while their team battled into extra innings of Game 6 in an eventual 10-9 loss that ended the Mets' season. In 2000, sour because the Mets didn't renegotiate his contract and give him a raise, Henderson sulked and hit only .219 over his first 31 games before getting waived on May 13, a day after he failed to run out a flyball and then shouted at a reporter. Unofficially retired in 2006, Henderson mended fences with the team and rejoined the Mets as a special instructor, helping mentor Jose Reyes. He was promoted to first base coach the following year before he and the Mets parted ways one last time.


Alomar
2011 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
ROBERTO ALOMAR
One of the best players of the 1990s, Roberto Alomar was named to the All-Star team every year during the decade while playing for the Padres, Blue Jays, Orioles and Indians. He continued the streak in 2000 and 2001, so when the Mets traded for him ahead of the 2002 season, they thought they were getting one of the best second basemen in the game. What they got, however, was a player who quickly freefalled into mediocrity, perhaps because of age (he was 34 when the 2002 season started), mounting nagging injuries, or the immense pressures that come with playing in New York. Whatever the case, Alomar managed to hit just .265 with 13 home runs in a season and a half before the Mets salvaged any remaining trade value for him and sent him to the White Sox for three minor leaguers. He retired just two years later with a career .300 batting average, 10 Gold Glove awards and a pair of championship rings.

Glavine
2014 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
TOM GLAVINE
One of the key components of the Braves' dynasty during the 1990s, Tom Glavine was a five-time 20-game winner and a two-time Cy Young Award recipient during his time in Atlanta, as well as the MVP of the 1995 World Series. On top of that, the left-hander always pitched his best against the Mets. Over 36 career starts vs. New York, he held a 2.82 ERA -- his lowest figure against any National League team. So when he became a free agent following the 2002 season, it only made sense that the Mets outbid everyone for his services, securing him to a four year, $42.5 million dollar deal.

While he never captured the same success in New York as he did down south, Glavine still put up consistent numbers. From 2003-07, he started at least 32 games and pitched at least 183 innings each season, and was named the team's Opening Day starter four times. He made the All-Star team in 2004 and 2006, the latter year his best with the Mets as he went 15-7 with a 3.82 ERA. He continued pitching well into the postseason, tossing six shutout innings in the NLDS vs. the Dodgers and seven shutout innings in Game 1 of the NLCS vs. the Cardinals. However, he lost Game 5 and the Mets eventually fell short of the World Series by losing in seven.

Re-signing with the team for 2007, Glavine won his 300th career game on August 5, pitching 6.1 innings of two-run ball at Chicago. He's the only pitcher to accomplish this feat wearing a Mets uniform, although the fourth to have played for the team to do so, joining Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan. However, his season ended on a terrible down note, as he lasted just a third of an inning while giving up seven runs in the season finale against the Marlins, essentially costing the Mets a chance at returning to the playoffs. That put an exclamation point on an epic collapse that saw the team lose six of its last seven games and go from seven games up on the Phillies as of September 12, to a game out when the season concluded. He declined an option to stay with the Mets and instead spent one last season back with the Braves before calling it quits with a career record of 305-203.


Torre
2014 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
JOE TORRE
Though Joe Torre may be more well known in New York for his accomplishments with the Yankees, it was actually with the Mets that the Hall of Famer first was introduced to the Big Apple. After racking up nine All-Star selections with the Braves and Cardinals, as well as an MVP award with St. Louis in 1971, Torre joined the Mets via trade from the Redbirds just after the 1974 season, dealt in exchange for pitchers Tommy Moore and Ray Sadecki . He hit .247 mostly playing third base in 1975, then .306 mostly playing first base in 1976. In 1977, the Mets fired Joe Frazier as manager after 45 games and opted to replace him with Torre, making him the only player/manager in team history, as well as the youngest manager (36) in team history. However, he only lasted as player/manager for two months before he decided to concentrate solely on his responsibilities as skipper.

In six seasons as Mets manager, Torre never led the team to a winning record. His overall record stood at 286-420 when he was relieved of his duties after the 1981 campaign. However, he does hold the distinction of being ejected more times than any manager in Mets history at 24. He would go on to manage the Braves from 1982-84 and the Cardinals from 1990-95 before joining the Yankees in 1996, replacing Buck Showalter. He headed up the Bronx dynasty for 12 years, winning six pennants and four World Series while never finishing a season with fewer than 87 wins. Torre managed three final seasons for the Dodgers from 2008-10, then joined the commissioner's office in 2011 and was selected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 2014.


Martinez
2015 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
PEDRO MARTINEZ
After three consecutive losing seasons, the Mets wanted to make a statement in 2005. Starting with naming Omar Minaya as new general manager and Willie Randolph manager, the team then opened up its pocketbook and acquired arguably the two biggest free agents on the market: Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez. The pitcher rewarded New York with a typically spectacular first season on the club, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA, an All-Star selection, and a big-league-best 0.949 WHIP. He began 2006 in similarly dominating fashion, going 5-0 over his first 9 starts.

The turning point during his Mets tenure, however, came on May 26. Pitching on the road against the Marlins, Martinez was instructed to change his undershirt by the umpires and consequently slipped and fell in the clubhouse, injuring his hip. To his detriment, he continued to pitch through the pain, altering his delivery in the process and ultimately leading to him tearing his left calf muscle, as well as his right rotator cuff. He was never the same after that, as he finished 2006 with a 4.48 ERA and missed the postseason completely. He then made just five starts in 2007, although he did manage to record his 3,000th career strikeout in his season debut at Cincinnati on September 3. Martinez finished out his contract with the Mets in 2008, holding a disappointing 5.61 ERA over 20 starts, and then concluded his career spending one season with the Phillies before retiring as a five-time ERA champion and three-time Cy Young Award winner.


Piazza
2016 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
MIKE PIAZZA

Hodges
2022 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
GIL HODGES





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