Ray Knight occupies a weird niche in NYM fandom. - came over in mid-'84 where he hit .280 but with almost no power for a corner position; 4 2Bs, 1 HR [isoP = .075] over 100 PAs - then proceeded to go .218/.252/.328 (OPS+ = 62) as a part-time player (290 PAs) in '85, much to the displeasure of more than a few fans - much better season in '86 (OPS+ = 115) but much of that was early (April was his best month, followed by May) and he finished 12th on the team in WAR. - then he was WS MVP although even that was more a case of being the best from a pack where none of the more likely suspects really distinguished themselves: 9 hits (7 singles) over 6 games isn't quite a case of being the tallest midget in the circus but it was more a good, not a great series, where there were no great ones. - at that point he was 34 y/o and, after the non-signing, went on to have two awful seasons for two awful teams before calling it a career. So he was a very good Met for like two months plus a week (out of nearly two seasons and a half) and yet a sizable portion of NYM fans feel that his non-retention was an obvious mistake and moaned about the loss of him well into the early '90s citing his (and Backman's) absences -- Years after both had retired!! -- as key reasons for the decline of the club and lack of more WS rings: y'know, the loss of grit and leadership and all that stuff (Backman wasn't any good at his future stops either). But none of that stopped the notion that both somehow would have remained the ballplayers they (briefly) were had only they stayed in Queens. HoJo, meanwhile, spent the net five seasons averaging a 135 OPS+ as a full-time player. (Knight as a NYM: OPS+ = 97) My recollection of the winter '86/'87 negotiations is that Knight wanted more than one year which Cashen (rightly IMO) wouldn't give him. Ray has since denied asking for more than one but that might be either convenient after-the-fact memory or maybe he wasn't all that up on what his agent was saying to the club. oe: cross-oosted on that final part with roger_that