The Next Twenty Peeps in the Mets Hall of Fame

[Edgy MD]

Purely for speculation, fun, and, at least in the first case, wishful thinking.

2006) Rube Walker
2007) Dwight Gooden
2008) Darryl Strawberry
2009) Davey Johnson
2010) Frank Cashen
2011) John Franco
2012) Howard Johnson
2013) Tim McCarver
2014) Jack Lang
2015) Nelson Doubleday
2016) Mike Piazza
2017) Sid Fernandez
2018) Al Leiter
2019) Bobby Valentine
2020) Ron Darling
2021) Gary Cohen
2022) Kevin McReynolds (highly controversial)
2023) Marty Noble
2024) Yogi Berra
2025) David Cone

Below are others in the conversation, but vulnerable to getting eclipsed by subsequent figures (Wright, Reyes, etc.). Asterisks indicate stature likely to grow over time.

Jon Matlack
Fred Wilpon*
Karl Ehrhardt
Jesse Orosco
Lee Mazzilli
Joe Gergen
Edgardo Alfonzo*
Howie Rose
John Milner
Armando Benitez
Bobby J. Jones
Rick Reed
Dave Kingman
Todd Hundley
John Stearns
Ron Swoboda
John Olerud
Wayne Garrett
Bobby Ojeda
Bobby Bonilla
Hubie Brooks
Mel Stottlemyer
Craig Swan
Lenny Dykstra*
Stevie Henderson
Jeff Kent
George Foster
Roger McDowell*
Felix Millan

[MFS62]

If the Benitez plaque ever gets hung, I hope they coat it with spray paint repellent.

Later

[seawolf17]

Ditto the Bonilla.

[metirish]

Great list, hard to imagine Gooden getting in before Strawberry and Franco to name just two, Doc has no ties to the Mets right now, Piazza to get in before 2010, of course things can change.

[MFS62]

Is Al Jackson in the Mets HOF?
If not, he should be.

And I'd put him in before any other new inductee.

Later

[dgwphotography]

Great list:

2006) Rube Walker inspired choice - I like it, a lot.
2007) Dwight Gooden No. Sorry I can't get past it - I always felt like he was a bigger pr*ck than Darryl
2008) Darryl Strawberry Yes - I know that my bias is showing here, but Darryl is the best offensive player to ever come through the farm system he has to get in
2009) Davey Johnson Oh yeah
2010) Frank Cashen See coment for Davey Johnson
2011) John Franco I'd have to make this a grudging yes - I can't stand what he became at the end of his Mets career, but he belongs in
2012) Howard Johnson Um, yeah
2013) Tim McCarver Nope - I can't get past his continued use of pinstriped kneepads
2014) Jack Lang Acknowledged Mets historian, but was he ever an actual Mets employee?
2015) Nelson Doubleday Not as long as a Wilpon owns the team
2016) Mike Piazza This should happen much sooner than 2016
2017) Sid Fernandez No
2018) Al Leiter NO!
2019) Bobby Valentine Big Yes
2020) Ron Darling I'm on the fence with this one
2021) Gary Cohen Not yet
2022) Kevin McReynolds (highly controversial)Definitely not
2023) Marty Noble Like Lang - was he ever an actual Mets employee?
2024) Yogi Berra No
2025) David Cone ehhhhh - on the fence

[Edgy MD]

Weird stuff here. Keep in mind that this is mostly third-person speculative, with the fore-noted exception of Walker. Almost none of this is actually going to happen. Obviously, the list suggests Bonilla and Benitez are destined to remain forever outside the honor.

Reviving Benitez's legacy may be a lost cause. But taking hateful cheap shots at him now is egregious. After his performance against the Mets last year, the people who deserve the criticism are the ones who ran him out of town. That should be Mt. Rushmore obvious.

Darryl and Doc's history is what it is. Safe speculation says that the Mets would like to carefully --- as slowly and discretely as necessary --- rehabilitate both players' relationship with the team, it's fans, and decent society. Whether or not they succeed, rehabilitation is almost always the right thing to do.

Even rehabbing men from Yankee associations (and yuck to that McCarvermetaphor). It's altogether possible that this time next year Bobby Valentine or Davey Johnson is managing the Yankees.

I don't know that Mets employeeship should necessarily be a standard.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't think Bill Shea was ever an employee of the Mets and I believe he's in.

[dgwphotography]

Edgy DC wrote: I don't know that Mets employeeship should necessarily be a standard.

From Answers.com:

The New York Mets Hall of Fame was created in 1981 to recognize the careers of former New York Mets players, managers, broadcasters and executives.

So I think that employeeship is a standard.

[seawolf17]

It's not about employment by the Mets, it's about contribution to the club. (Of course, it's usually hard to do that if you're not employed by the club, but...)

Gary Cohen should be in, providing he doesn't jump ship in the next five or ten years. He's got fifteen years behind the microphone already. Along that lines, then, what about Fran Healy? He's been around since 1984.

edit: Seeing lubitul's post, maybe I'm wrong.

[Edgy MD]

Healy's in the conversation also. He's already in the confidence Hall of Fame.

Really, all that matters is the next person in. This got weird too fast.

[G-Fafif]

I've been trying to imagine Rube Walker in the Mets HOF for more than a decade. When that happens, I'll be able to think about inductees for the 19 years that follow. (Though I'm already on record as being immensely down with Cashen and D. Johnson.)

http://mets2005.myblogsite.com/blog/_archives/2005/8/2/1100101.html

Come to think of it, if we're inducting Rube, why not Piggy? He was here as long and he did plant the tomatoes, a crop I'd like to see tended in NuShea if and when that's ever built. He also has the added asset of being alive to enjoy it.

[G-Fafif]

Iubitul wrote: So I think that employeeship is a standard.

I think the Mets can be flexible about the rules. It's their Hall of Fame. I want to see them be expansive, not restrictive about it. Technically, Gammons and Jerry Coleman didn't go into the National Baseball HOF this past weekend, so do something similar for the writers who did so much to popularize and celebrate the Mets. Create the Jack Lang Award and give the first one to Jack, the second to Marty Noble and take it from there.

Don't give one to Dick Young.

[Edgy MD]

Now that I'm caught, I must acknowledge the obvious --- that this topic is a spinoff of Greg's essay and our subsequent exchange.

I've been arguing in a parallel world for Walker for at least as long. The suggestion of the deans of the Mets press corps as well as Karl Ehrhardt is all him though. While neither are high priorities in my book, I applaud his notion of expansive inclusion.

Piggy's got his argument, but it's obvious why his case is less than Walker's --- for the same reason a bullpen coach is a lesser role than a pitching coach. But, yeah, He certainly belongs ahead of some on that waiting list.

Please note that my list makes some deference for age. After ranking them purely on merit, if I saw that a guy was five years older than the man ahead of him on the list, he jumped, ten years older than the next guy, he jumped again.

In the spirit of rehab and reconciliation, I can't see why, if the case can be made for Nelson Doubleday, Wilpon would block it. Unless he believes that Doubleday really is/was virulently anti-Jewish, holding a grudge over a meatless honor for a dotty old man could only reflect poorly on him and the organization.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: Now that I'm caught, I must acknowledge the obvious --- that this topic is a spinoff of Greg's essay and our subsequent exchange.

And my essay was inspired by an entry in Mets Walkoffs...

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/08/tommie-terrific.html

...so don't sweat it on steamy afternoon.

I've wondered about Doubleday. He may be a difficult electee given his and Wilpon's emnity though one would like to believe differences can be put aside given their dual role in resuscitating the franchise. I've always considered Doubleday more dotty than venal. He's also been the one credited for yelling "swing!" on the Piazza trade.

Piggy's not a no-brainer but there is something to be said for essential Metsiness, especially in uniform. I honestly have no idea if bullpen coaches actually coach the bullpen or just answer the phone, tend the tomatoes and flick spit sunflower seeds off their personages, but Pignatano must've been considered somewhat essential to span Hodges, Berra, McMillan, Frazier and Torre.

M. Donald Grant played a key role in the building of the foundation of the franchise. But any attempt to induct him into anything but the 41st level of hell will be strongly opposed by all who are sentient.

[Edgy MD]

I think M. Donald gets in the year after Walter O'Malley makes the Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Fame.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: I think M. Donald gets in the year after Walter O'Malley makes the Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Fame.

Edgy, I'm not sure if that was funny or true.
Y'know what?
Both.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's certainly true.

The Mets don't have anyone in their history as evil as Walter O'Malley, but M. Donald Grant is probably as close as they get.

[G-Fafif]

Ten Who Get Inducted Into the Mets HOF Ahead of M. Donald Grant:

1) Roger Clemens
2) John Rocker
3) Chipper Jones
4) Mike Scioscia
5) Terry Pendleton
6) Luis Sojo
7) Luis Aguayo
8) Pete Rose
9) Leo Durocher
10) Genghis Khan

[MFS62]

Let's keep it to baseball. You can dump Ghengis (although I appreciate your senses of History and creativity) and add (and it pains me to type these words) Mel Rojas.

Later

[seawolf17]

[Benjamin Grimm]

How about opposing players who've done good deeds for the Mets?

Like Bill Buckner.

And, in the wild pitch category, Bob Stanley and Brad Clontz.

[G-Fafif]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: How about opposing players who've done good deeds for the Mets? Like Bill Buckner. And, in the wild pitch category, Bob Stanley and Brad Clontz.

Maybe Clontz would show. He was one of us.

[Valadius]

Does it have to be one a year? I think it's counter-intuitive- it creates way too big a backlog.

[Edgy MD]

It doesn't have to be any pace at all.

It's been 21 in 25 years, but it was 14 in the first ten years and only seven in the last 15. I think one per year is a nice pace and it keeps the meaning from getting watered down, and it also allows the day to become an expected and celebrated --- rather than ovelooked --- day in the annual schedule, perhaps keeping peeps dramatically anticipating this year's honoree, maybe waiting until a month before the game to announce the name.

Of course, early on, they inducted peeps with a shared legacy together, and they still could do that --- Johnson and Cashen, Rose and Cohen when their time comes, Piggy and Walker --- but I still like the power of one guy (or gal, Ms. Payson) getting the year to himself.

1981
Joan Whitney Payson (executive)
Casey Stengel (manager)

1982
Bud Harrelson
Gil Hodges (manager)
George Weiss (executive)

1983
Johnny Murphy (executive)
William A. Shea (executive)

1984
Ralph Kiner (broadcaster)
Bob Murphy (broadcaster)
Lindsey Nelson (broadcaster)

1986
Rusty Staub

1988
Tom Seaver

1989
Jerry Koosman

1990
Ed Kranepool

1991
Cleon Jones

1992
Jerry Grote

1993
Tug McGraw

1996
Mookie Wilson

1997
Keith Hernandez

2001
Gary Carter

2002
Tommie Agee

[dgwphotography]

MFS62 wrote: Let's keep it to baseball. You can dump Ghengis (although I appreciate your senses of History and creativity) and add (and it pains me to type these words) Mel Rojas. Later

I think Richie Hebner would be a better fit on that list.

[G-Fafif]

Iubitul wrote: I think Richie Hebner would be a better fit on that list.

I don't understand. All the other people on that list were enemies of the Mets who did terrible things to the Mets whereas Richie Hebner played for the Mets in 1979 and...OH, I GET IT!

Besides, I think the Yankees are planning a Ghengis Khan Day for 2006. You know how Steinbrenner loves "my warriors".

[MFS62]

G-Fafif wrote: Besides, I think the Yankees are planning a Ghengis Khan Day for 2006. You know how Steinbrenner loves "my warriors".

I wonder what they're planning as a give-away on that day, a human ear?

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

They already did that on Vincent Van Gogh Day.

[Edgy MD]

So, Walker it should be then?

Maybe Bill Webb should be on the list also...