New York Mets

The New York Mets are a Major League Baseball team based in New York City.

Founded: 1962

Home ballpark: Shea Stadium

Uniform colors: Black, Blue, and Orange (the orange chosen to represent the New York Giants, the blue chosen to represent the Brooklyn Dodgers).

Logo design: Intertwined 'N' and 'Y' in orange, on blue field, (the NY logo is identical to that of the New York Giants, the blue field chosen because that was the color of the caps worn by the Brooklyn Dodgers).

League pennants won: 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000

World Series championships won: 1969, 1986

Franchise history

The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc (nicknamed "Mets" almost from the start) began their existence posting a 40-120 record, the worst record for any team in the 20th century. They ended the decade, though, as the 1969 "Miracle Mets", posting not only their first winning season, but their first NL pennant and World Series championship, upsetting the Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.

Beloved by New York fans despite their losing ways--or even because of them--the Mets of the early 1960s became famous for their ineptitude. Players like the ironically nicknamed "Marvelous Marv" Throneberry became watchwords for athletic incompetence. Thus, when the Mets stunned the sports world with their 1969 championship, the story was regarded as one of history's great turnarounds, giving hope to underdogs and also-rans everywhere.

The subsequent history of the franchise has been very checkered, with brief periods of success alternating with longer periods of mediocrity. During the mid to late 1980s, the Mets fielded one of the strongest teams in baseball, featuring fireballing right-handed pitcher Dwight Gooden, lanky power-hitting rightfielder Darryl Strawberry, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, and slick-fielding first baseman Keith Hernandez. Some predicted a new baseball dynasty in the making. However, that Mets team managed to capture only one world's championship (1986), defeating the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game series that featured one of the most remarkable comebacks in baseball history. The Mets came back from two runs down with two outs in the tenth inning of game six to defeat Boston 6-5, the last run scoring on a ground ball off the bat of Mookie Wilson that trickled through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner.

Since 1986, the Mets have enjoyed only one World Series appearance. They were soundly defeated by their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees in 2000, four games to one.

Players of note

Baseball Hall of Famers:

• Richie Ashburn
• Yogi Berra
• Willie Mays
• Nolan Ryan
• Tom Seaver[?]
• Duke Snider[?]
• Warren Spahn[?]

Current stars:

• Mike Piazza
• John Franco[?]

Not to be forgotten:

• David Cone[?]
• Keith Hernandez[?]
• Howard Johnson[?]
• Darryl Strawberry
• Frank Viola[?]
• Todd Hundley[?]

Retired numbers:

• 14 Gil Hodges
• 37 Casey Stengel
• 41 Tom Seaver[?]
• 42 Jackie Robinson

New York Mets official web site (http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nym/homepage/nym_homepage.jsp)