1986 New York Mets: Is It Time to Finally Let This Team Go?

Good thing 1986 doesn’t have the same ring to it as 1940. 

The New York Mets haven’t won a championship in 25 seasons barring a second half surge (which I’m now willing to bar) and are dangerously approaching having their last championship year become permanently etched into fans’ minds. 

For Mets fans of my generation who can’t remember the last World Series championship, 1986 is becoming a sort of mythical year along the lines of how 1940 used to taunt Ranger fans.

As you may recall, the pre-1994 New York Rangers were so frequently and unceremoniously serenaded with the “1940” chant that it became part of their identity.  

The year was constantly lurking over them until Sam Rosen was finally able to exclaim, after beating the Vancouver Canucks, “The waiting is over! The New York Rangers are Stanley Cup Champions!”

The Rangers had to wait 54 years for this championship and were constantly being reminded by opposing fans of their last triumphant year.  We could talk about longer droughts than the Mets—the Jets have been shut out since 1969 and the Knicks have not earned a ring since 1973.  

However, the Mets plight differs for one primary reason: The Mets organization hasn’t yet let 1986 go. 

The 1986 Mets were a great team made up of a number of notable characters, but it seems that the Mets organization has done a little too much to glorify this group. 

I’m not saying this team wasn’t the most talented and most interesting Mets team of all time—arguably, it was—but the Mets may be digging a hole 25 years deep that’s tough to get out of. 

After recently attending a Mets game, one can’t help but notice the shrines to 1986 all over Citi Field. This particular game also happened to be pyrotechnics night, the whole evening framed as a celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 team. 

To commemorate the occasion, Gooden and Strawberry were on hand.  Even away from the ballpark, the reminders of 1986 continue on SNY, with Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez in the booth. 

It’s one thing to celebrate the past, but the Mets have been known to go a little too far sometimes—see Citi Field having an admitted Ebbets Field-inspired design and the comical 1999 wild-card banner hanging in left field. 

If the Mets ever want to get over their little brother image, it starts with marketing.  The Mets need to stop focusing on the past, where they unfortunately have not enjoyed much success, and dedicate themselves to the present. 

The weight of 1986 will continue to be felt by current Mets teams until a new championship is won or the organization lets them forget. 

The 1986 shadow being cast over the Mets is a self-inflicted wound.  The Rangers at least had nothing to do with the weight that was placed on their shoulders for so long.   

With the current Mets regime in charge, if 1986 had the same ring to it as 1940, I’m afraid of what type of marketing campaign the Mets would come up with.