New York Mets' Ten Greatest Catching Seasons

In their 49 years of existence, the Mets have had trouble filling some positions: They never really boasted an outstanding shortstop before Jose Reyes, and David Wright became the best third baseman in team history the moment he eclipsed Howard Johnson-- which, truthfully, wasn't that hard.

One thing the Mets have rarely lacked, however, is a quality man behind the plate.  They've been unusually blessed in that regard, in fact.  Starting with Jerry Grote in the 1960's, they've had at least one solid performer behind the plate in every decade, and some of those have been among the all-time greats.  In this article, we'll look back at the ten most outstanding catching seasons in New York Mets history.

(The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.  Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at www.retrosheet.org.)

1. Mike Piazza, 2000 Season

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25 Oct 2000: Catcher Mike Piazza of the New York Mets walks back to the dugout after striking out in the first inning against the New York Yankees during Game 4 of the World Series at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Yankees won 3-2 to take a thre

One of the top hitting catchers in the history of the game blistered NL pitching to the tune of .324 with 38 homers and 113 RBI, then added 5 extra-base hits in as many games in the NLCS.  Oh, he also led the Mets to the World Series for the fourth time in their history, setting up the first Subway Series since 1956.  You probably remember the Series itself didn't go so well for him, but that can't take the luster off one of the great catching seasons of all time.

Best Game: April 14th in Pittsburgh.  Piazza stroked five hits, including two home runs, to seal an extra-inning win.

2. Todd Hundley, 1996 Season

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24 Aug 1996: Catcher Todd Hundley of the New York Mets falls on the field during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won the game, 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport

One thing Piazza doesn't hold is the record for home runs in a single season by a catcher; that record was held until 2003 by his predecessor, Todd Hundley, thanks to a ground-breaking 1996 season featuring a .259 average, 41 homers, and 112 RBI.

1996 was a great year for fluke seasons, including three on the Mets: Hundley, Bernard Gilkey, and Lance Johnson all surpassed expectations.  Hundley particularly shone in midsummer, hitting 18 homers and driving in 46 runs in June and July.  The fly in the ointment?  He really couldn't hit lefties; his average that year was just .196 against southpaws, with mediocre power.

Best Game: May 18th in San Francisco.  Hundley hit two homers and drove in a career-high seven in a blowout win.

3. Gary Carter, 1985 Season

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FLUSHING, NY - 1985: Catcher Gary Carter #8 of the New York Mets at bat during a 1985 season game at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Added to 1984's surprise contender to be the missing piece of the puzzle, former Expo Gary Carter made an immediate impact, with a game-winning homer on Opening Day.  Known as a player who loved the limelight, Carter also starred during the September pennant race against the Cardinals, ripping the ball to the tune of .343 with 13 homers for the month.

Overall, he finished at .281-32-100.  One of the best players in the league at the time of the trade, Carter was pretty much in decline from the moment he got to the Mets, but he was a legitimate MVP candidate during his first and greatest season at Shea Stadium.

Best Game: September 3rd in San Diego.  Carter produced one of two 3 home run games in his career as the Mets kept pace with St. Louis.

4. Mike Piazza, 2001 Season

Al Bello/Getty Images

23 Sep 2001: Catcher Mike Piazza #31 of the New York Mets follows through his swing while catcher Javy Lopez #9 of the Atlanta Braves looks on during the MLB game at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Braves edged the Mets 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Al

If the Mets' memorable late-season charge hadn't fallen short, I could be persuaded this was the greatest Piazza season.  He certainly did his part, hitting .368 with 14 extra-base hits during the month, for a slugging percentage of .711.  He also hit .365 for the season against the hated Braves.  On the other hand, he failed to drive in 100 runs for the first time in his Mets tenure, and his final line of .300-36-94 with a 957 OPS was just middling by his own standards.

Best Game: September 21 against the Braves.  Piazza's homer and two doubles provided the power behind a 3-2 win, as the Mets tried to sneak back into the playoff picture.  He also hit two homers in an April 9th win over Atlanta.

5. Mike Piazza, 1999 Season

Al Bello/Getty Images

17 Oct 1999: Mike Piazza #31 of the New York Mets moves on the field during the National League Championship Series game four against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Mets defeated the Braves 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Al Bello

In his first full season in New York, Piazza was nearly as good, posting a .303 average, 40 homers, and 124 RBI (but with a lower OPS).  He also led the team into the playoffs after two seasons of near-misses.  Unfortunately he didn't play well in the post-season, batting just .222 (in 2 games) in the Division Series and .167 in the NLCS loss to the Braves.  He also hit significantly better on the road than he did at Shea: doubling his road numbers for the season produces a line of .323-44-136, which might have been the best hitting performance of any catcher in history.

Best Game: April 9th in Montreal.  Piazza's first-inning bomb led to 5 RBI and a blowout of the Expos.  Amazingly, he put up those season numbers without a single multi-homer game, and the 5 RBI was a season-best.

6. Todd Hundley, 1997 Season

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6 Apr 1997: Catcher Todd Hundley of the New York Mets takes his turn at bat during a game against the San Francisco Giants at 3Com Park in San Francisco, California. The Mets won the game 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Otto Greule /Allsport

After half a dozen aimless years, the Mets rekindled their spark in 1997.  Although outclassed by the Braves and Marlins, they hung around the Wild Card race for most of the year, setting the stage for the bona fide contenders to come.

Although he missed time to injures, playing 20 fewer games than in '96, Todd Hundley was the team's main power source and a big reason for the resurgence.  He even got his average against lefties up to .219-- without power, but with an excellent .391 on-base percentage, turning a gaping hole in his game into a mere weakness.  He finished at .273-30-86, a season in some ways as impressive as his breakout the previous year.

Best Game: April 23rd and July 20th, both two-homer, 5-RBI games at home against Cincinnati.  Hundley popped 6 of his homers in just 10 games against the Reds in 1997.

7. Gary Carter, 1986 Season

T.G. Higgins/Getty Images

27 Oct 1986: Catcher Gary Carter of the New York Mets celebrates after the Mets 8-5 win over the Boston Red Sox in game 7 of the World Series at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Mets won the series 4 games to 3. Mandatory Credit: T. G. Higgins

In all candor, I'm not certain this season deserves to be here.  Although it was Gary Carter's second-best year with the Mets and he was a fringe MVP candidate, his on-base and slugging of .337 and .439, respectively, were rather pedestrian, even for the 1980's.  He also missed a big chunk of time to injury, leaving the catching to the likes of Ed Hearn and John Gibbons.

On the other hand, they both filled in well, Carter's 105 RBI paced the Mets and finished third in the National League, and his hit in Game Six of the World Series set the table for the greatest single moment in Mets history.  Sometimes you do have to look at context beyond the stats, and the value of Gary Carter's 1986 season can't be distilled to OPS.

Best Game: July 11th against Atlanta; 2 home runs and 7 RBI in the first two innings, crushing Dale Murphy's Braves.  He also popped two home runs in Game Four of the World Series, which seems rather significant.

8. Mike Piazza, 2002 Season

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

FLUSHING, NY - AUGUST 5: Catcher Mike Piazza #31 of the New York Mets blows a bubble during the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 5, 2002 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Diamondbacks won 2-0. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Don't worry, there are a couple of other names on this list, but I had to include one more year of Piazza in his prime.  If you prefer 1998, when his mid-season arrival nearly propelled the Mets to the Wild Card (and they fell even shorter than the previous year), I won't disagree.  I chose to keep out the half-season, which leaves us with 2002.

Although the Mets bombed that year and Piazza himself was beginning to slow down, he still had a .280-33-98 season left in his bat, a great year by the standards of mortals.  He also hit .321 with 5 homers against the Braves, so don't blame him for the fall from contention.  On the other hand, he was streakier than in past years; a .250 May with middling power and especially a .177 August hurt his final numbers.

Best Game: April 30 in Arizona.  Two homers and 6 RBI crushed the Diamondacks.  Piazza later matched those numbers on July 3rd in Philadelphia, but in a losing cause.

9. Jerry Grote, 1968 Season

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NEW YORK - AUGUST 22: Jerry Grote walks to throw the first pitch during the presentation commemorating the New York Mets 40th anniversary of the 1969 World Championship team on August 22, 2009 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens boro

You have to adjust your expectations to an earlier era to see the beauty in this season.  Although Grote's .282-3-31 season for a ninth-place team looks like an anemic couple of months 40 years later, 1968 was the greatest pitching year of all time, and Grote's stats-- buoyed by an excellent-in-context .357 OBP-- made him one of the better catchers in the National League that season. 

Then you add in his defense, his work with young pitchers named Seaver and Koosman, and the fact that the Mets in '68 were finally showing signs of a pulse after their abysmal beginning, and Grote's value becomes clear.  If you weigh defense more heavily than I do, you could argue this as a top-5 season.

Best Game: July 12th against the Cubs.  A homer and 3 RBI provided most of the offense in Koosman's shutout win.

10. John Stearns, 1978 Season

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

2 Mar 2000: Coach John Stearns #12 of the New York Mets poses for a studio portrait during Spring Training Photo Day in Port St. Lucie , Florida. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Stockman /Allsport

John Stearns is nearly a forgotten man in Mets catching history.  Tucked between the successes of the Grote and Carter years, his seasons toiling for an awful late-70's club are mostly forgotten.  He was one of the top players on that club, however (along with Lee Mazzilli), and 1978 was his best year.

Stearns posted a .264 average with a career-high 15 homers and 73 RBI, strong numbers for a catcher at that time.  He also displayed his atypical speed by stealing 25 bases, another career best.  For a couple of months in midsummer, he was Piazza-lite: 9 homers and 30 RBI in June and July, slugging .494 and .495 for the two months.  He didn't make the All-Star team, but he did in three other years, and should have in '78.

Best Game: September 15th.  Stearns had four hits in an extra-inning win against the division-winning Phillies, stalling their pennant drive.  One of his hits keyed the run-scoring rally in the 10th.

Honorable Mentions

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NEW YORK - APRIL 05: Mr. Met interacts with the crowd in the game between the Florida Marlins and the New York Mets during their Opening Day game at Citi Field on April 5, 2010 in the Flushing neighbourhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo

By my rough reckoning, the next ten best years posted by Mets catchers were:

Mike Piazza 1998 (.348-23-76 in 109 games after the trade.)

Paul Lo Duca 2006 (.318-5-49, 39 doubles.  Resembled a duck.)

Jerry Grote 1975 (.295-2-39.  Without adjusting for context, his best offensive season.)

John Stearns 1977 (.251-12-55.  Similar to '78 but less flashy.)

Gary Carter 1987 (.235-20-83.  Or substitute 1988, when he slumped but hit his 300th home run.)

Jesse Gonder 1964 (.270-7-35 in a low-offense era.  The first good catching season by a Met.)

John Stearns 1982 (.293-4-28, 17 stolen bases.  His last good season.)

Todd Hundley 1995 (.280-15-51 in 90 games.  Healthier but not quite as good in 1994.)

Jerry Grote 1971 (.270-2-35.  Seaver had one of his best seasons.)

Mackey Sasser 1990 (.307-6-41.  He did have promise before he forgot how to throw.)

As we conclude our rundown of the greatest performances by Mets catchers, let us pause to recall the words of the great sage, Casey Stengel: "You've got to have a catcher, because if you don't, you're likely to have a lot of passed balls."

This is also true if you let Oliver Perez pitch.