The 20 Greatest Under-the-Radar Met Seasons

All hail Matlack, Staub and Floyd! Enough already with Gooden, Seaver and Piazza. What follows are some surprising seasons from less celebrated ballplayers.

The criteria: First, the player needed to have at least one outstanding full season as a Met. And, with some exceptions, I stayed away from any player having a great season on one of the celebrated teams. I chose no one from ‘68-‘73, ‘86-‘88 or '99-'00, only a few players I felt had extenuating circumstances regarding their capacity to fly under-the-radar (UTR).

Mostly, the recipients were either secondary players, under-appreciated players, or players no one expected anything from. That's how they earned their wings.

Howard Johnson: 1991

I think it’s fair to say that Howard Johnson was never much beloved as a New York Met. He played for the team for nine seasons and was a solid but unspectacular player.

But now is the time to bow down to the magnitude of HoJo’s UTR ’91 season: .259 BA, 38 HR, 117 RBI, while stealing 30 bases. He also scored 108 runs, was an all-star, and placed fifth in MVP voting.

A monster year for a mostly incognito player.

Jesse Orosco: 1983

On a team that finished 68-94, the young Orosco had an incredible year in ‘83: 13-7, 1.47 ERA in 110 innings pitched. He also saved 17 and finished third in the voting for the Cy Young award.

As this was on a lousy team that no one watched, the magnitude of Orosco’s achievement that year has never been fully appreciated. 

Jon Matlack: 1976

Matlack went 17-10 with a 2.95 ERA, won 3 more games than Tom Seaver, and led the league with six shutouts.

The Mets finished third in their division in ’76 but were about to begin a stretch of seven miserable years.

Matlack’s performance was the last quality year a Mets pitcher had before the bad streak—a shoddy run of seasons where the team averaged 97 losses a year.

Dave Magadan: 1990

1990 was the changing of the guard for the Mets. Of the 23 players to appear in the 1988 NLCS, 11 were gone by the end of the following year.

One of the mainstays of 1990 was the sweet-hitting Magadan, who had a terrific, if very quiet year: .328 BA, .417 OBP, 6 HR, 77 RBI while playing a superior first base.

Joe Christopher: 1964

This speedy kid from the Virgin Islands was dubbed “Hurryin' Joe”  when he played in Pittsburgh early in his career. An original member of the NY Mets, Christopher had a terrific season in ’64.

He batted .300, with 16 HR, 76 RBI and 78 runs scored. All but the home run mark established team records.

A monster year, by Mets standards, but completely under-the-radar since the team was still considered a joke. 

Eddie Murray: 1993

Well after the stardust of the late 80’s championship teams had washed away, Mets fans were saddled in ’93 with a wretched outfit that was both unlikable and lost 103 games.

Eddie Murray was an aging slugger in his twilight years, and he posted an almost-great year: .285, 27 HR and 100 RBI amidst the wasteland of this last-place team.

Randy Myers: 1988

The volatile, hard-throwing Myers took over as the team’s closer in ’88 and had a lights-out year: 1.72 ERA—lowest for any Mets reliever since Orosco in ’83 with 26 saves, a WHIP of .912 and actually placed 12th in the voting for MVP.

Bookended in Mets history by the more famous and (somewhat) beloved duo of Orosco and John Franco, Myers never got the love, and these factors relegate Myers’ season to UTR status. 

John Olerud: 1998

If your general impression of Olerud’s years in New York were of a solid hitter with no punch who’d seen better days in Toronto, you would not be alone.

But it happens that the first baseman’s 1998 year was one of his best ever.

He hit .354, a Mets record, with 22 home runs in 93 RBI. His on-base pct. was .447 and his OPS was an eye-popping .998.

This was a noisy year for a quiet player. 

Rusty Staub: 1975

“Le Grande Orange”—for his red hair—was beloved by Mets across two different eras—the early 70’s and early 80’s.  The second time around he was a part-time player most famous for pinch hitting.

But in '75, Staub put together his best year: .282 BA with 19 HR and  105 RBI. He also walked 77 times, batting ninth, and placed 14th in the MVP voting.

Bon Travail, Monsieur Orange!

Bob Ojeda: 1986

Ojeda’s first year with the Mets was outstanding. He went 18-5, with a 2.47 ERA, led the league in win pct., and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting.

How can you call this championship year performance under-the-radar?

Well, he was in the shadow of Gooden at his most dominant, as well as Ron Darling and Sid Fernandez, all of whom had great years in ’86, and who had been with the team for many years.

Meanwhile, Ojeda quietly killed the competition, won more games than the others, and sealed the deal by winning Game 7 of the World Series to close out Boston.

Robin Ventura: 1999

Ventura’s first year with the Mets was a standout in many respects. He had a huge offensive year: .301 BA, 32 HRs and 120 RBIs. He was also a great fielder and contributed the hit of the decade in the 15th inning of Game 5 of the NLCS against Atanta—a famous grand slam single in the rain.

Easily the best all-around season by a Mets third baseman until David Wright showed up. This season qualifies as UTR, due to the fact that Ventura may well have been the fourth-best hitter on that team, behind Edgardo Alfonzo, Piazza and Olerud.

Bret Saberhagen: 1994

The Saberhagen Era of the Mets was generally a bust. He was often injured and averaged only 19 starts over four years.

In the strike-shortened season of ’94, however, Saberhagen was stellar: 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.026 WHIP.

He quite possibly would have won 20 games that year, as Saberhagen finished third in the running for the CY Award. People didn’t much celebrate his performance that year because the season got cut short, and because the team sucked rocks.

Tommy Davis: 1967

This Brooklyn native played one year for the Mets, and he made the most of it.

The left fielder led the team in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs and batting average (.302). His 174 hits and 32 doubles set single season franchise records at the time. Davis was like the Mets' version of Ted Williams.

This trailblazing UTR player never got time to gain accolades in New York. He was gone the next year, and by the time the championship came together in ’69, Cleon Jones was in left field, and Mets fans were like, "Tommy who?"

Bernard Gilkey: 1996

This graceful left fielder had a career year in ’96: .317 BA, 30 HR, .393 OBP and 117 RBI. He set a team record with 44 doubles, and he holds the all-time Mets WAR record at 8.1.

What made this a slightly covert season was the overshadowing from teammates Lance Johnson and Todd Hundley, who both had breakout seasons: Hundley set a new team home run mark, and Johnson set records for most hits and triples.

Gilkey also seemed like a quiet guy who kept his head down—classic under-the-radar behavior. 

Sid Fernandez: 1989

Fernandez was a very good pitcher who was tantalizingly almost-great over the course of his Mets career. In 1989, he put it all together, finishing at 14-5 with a .283 ERA.

He led the league in win pct. while allowing a minuscule 157 hits in 219 innings, and his WHIP was 1.058—fourth in the league—all while pitching in the shadow of rotation-mates Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling.

Rickey Henderson: 1999

No one had any reason to expect much from Rickey Henderson when he arrived in New York at age 40. The legendary outfielder had averaged .242 over the previous three years while bouncing from team to team.

Although it appeared his career was effectively over, he came to life on this resurgent Mets club, hitting .315, with 30 doubles, 37 stolen bases and a .423 OBP.  

As a bonus, he was superb in the NLDS against Arizona, batting .400 while stealing six bases and scoring five runs in four games.  

Cliff Floyd: 2005

The Mets were putting together a decent line-up at this point, with Piazza, Wright, Beltran, and Reyes. The next year’s team would go to the verge of playing in the World Series.

Floyd was part of the mix too, especially in ’05, when he hit .283, with 34HR and 98 RBI. A most solid, most stealthy UTR special.

Armando Benitez: 1999-2000

A case could be made that Benitez was one of the most dominant relief pitchers in the game over this two-year period. In ’99, he took over closer duty from an injured John Franco.

Over the next two years, he struck out 230 in 154 innings, while allowing 79 hits. He also appeared in almost half of the Mets games over this stretch (153) as he fashioned a fairly unique role of closer who would also pitch the eighth inning and in non-save situations.

Despite all this, Benitez has been generally well-hated by Mets fans, much less recognized as the tremendous reliever he was during these years. 

Rick Reed & Bobby Jones: 1997

The ‘97 Mets were the beneficiaries of a two-headed journeyman pitching combo of Reed and Jones. The two pitchers had career years simultaneously: 15-9, 3.63 for Jones, and 13-9, 2.89 for Reed.

Both were unsung, unappreciated players during their tenures, and by joining forces, Reed-Jones came close to a resembling one great pitcher for a year.

Skip Lockwood: 1976

You’re like, "who?"

One of the few bright spots of the putrid late-70’s Mets, Lockwood had a string of productive years and hit a high spot in ’76 as the team’s closer.

He went 10-7, had a 2.67 ERA, struck out 108, and gave up only 62 hits in 94 innings. Lockwood saved 19, which was actually second-most in the NL. Opposing batters hit a minuscule .186 against him.

Lockwood’s entire career was one of UTR greatness: over five years, he averaged an ERA of 2.52 along with a remarkable .208 BA against.