New York Mets

The New York Mets are a professional baseball club based in Flushing, Queens, in New York City, New York. The Mets are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1964 to the present, the Mets have played in Shea Stadium. In 2009, they will move into their new home, Citi Field.
The "Mets" name originates from the New York Metropolitans, an 1880s baseball club. They are nicknamed the "Amazin' Mets", or simply the "Amazin's" or "Metropolitans".
An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Manhattan in 1962. Then based in the historic Polo Grounds, the Mets shared the venue with the New York Jets for two years, until Shea was completed.
1996-2004: Piazza, Bobby V, Who Let the Mets Out, and the Subway Series
The Mets did not play well in 1996, but the season was highlighted by the play of three young stars. Switch hitting catcher Todd Hundley broke the Major League Baseball single season record for home runs hit by catcher with 41. Center fielder Lance Johnson set single-season franchise records in hits (227), triples (21), at-bats (682), runs scored (117), & total bases (327). And, Left fielder Bernard Gilkey set franchise single-season records in doubles (44), and RBI (117). But things started looking up in 1997, as they missed the playoffs by only four games, and improved by 17 games over 1996. One highlight happened June 16, when the Mets beat the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the first ever regular-season game played between the crosstown rivals. In 1997 Hundley was also having another great season, but he went down with a devastating elbow injury and needed Tommy John surgery midway through the season. For a time, it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers were going to be shopping their superstar catcher, Mike Piazza, in a trade rather than pay the exorbitant salary that 1997s MVP runner-up was going to demand at the end of the 1998 season. In a puzzling move, on May 14, 1998, the Dodgers sent Piazza to the Florida Marlins, who were purging themselves of high salaries to alleviate their claimed financial problems. The Marlins' move made more sense when, just a week later, they re-traded Piazza to the Mets for Preston Wilson and two prospects. The Dodgers had no free agency problem, the Marlins had young players with small salaries and the Mets had their new lineup-anchoring catcher. When Hundley returned from his injury later in the 1998 season the Mets experimented with playing him in left field. The experiment was short lived, Hundley was in a Dodgers uniform in the 1999 season.
After the 1998 trade, the Mets played well, but missed the 1998 postseason by only one game. With only five games left in the 1998 season, the Mets could not win a single game against both the Montreal Expos at home and the Atlanta Braves on the road, the Mets could have forced a three-way wild card tie by winning their last game. Although it seemed like a terrible ending to a good season, Met fans felt confident that the team was moving in the right direction. After signing Mike Piazza to a seven-year, $91 million contract, the Mets traded Todd Hundley and minor league P Arnold Gooch to the Los Angeles Dodgers for C Charles Johnson and OF Roger Cedeno. They then sent Johnson to the Baltimore Orioles for P Armando Benitez. #REDIRECT The Mets then signed Robin Ventura, Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla to fill out the needs for the start of the 1999 season. John Olerud anchored the heart of the Mets' order.
The Mets started the 1999 season well, going 17-9, but after an eight-game losing streak, including the last two to the New York Yankees, on June 6 the Mets fired their entire coaching staff except for manager Bobby Valentine. On that day, the Mets, in front of a national audience on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, beat the New York Yankees 7-2 and they never looked back. Both Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura started to have MVP-type seasons and Benny Agbayani began to have an important role on the team. Also this was the breakout year for Mets second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, as he had 108 RBI, and Roger Cedeño, who broke the single season steals record for the Mets. After the regular season ended, the Mets played a one game playoff against the Cincinnati Reds to see which team would advance to the playoffs. In that game, Mets ace Al Leiter pitched the best game of his Met career as he hurled a two hit complete game shutout, a 5-0 victory to advance to the playoffs. In the NLDS, the Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3 games to 1, their series-clinching victory coming on an unlikely home run hit by backup catcher Todd Pratt, playing due to a thumb injury to Piazza. The Mets would advance to the 1999 National League Championship Series, their first NLCS since 1988, only to lose to their archrivals, the Atlanta Braves, in six exciting games which included the famous grand slam single by Robin Ventura to win game 5 for the Mets.
In the offseason, the Mets traded Roger Cedeño and Octavio Dotel to the Houston Astros for Derek Bell and Mike Hampton. Todd Zeile was signed to play first base, replacing departing free agent Olerud. The Mets were heading to the 2000 season as a powerhouse in the National League.
2000 began well for the Mets as Derek Bell became the best hitter on the team for the first month. The Mets enjoyed good play the whole year. The highlight of the season came on June 30, when the Mets beat the rival Atlanta Braves in a memorable game at Shea Stadium on Fireworks Night. With the Mets losing 8-1 to begin the bottom of the eighth, they rallied back with two outs to tie the game, capping the 10-run inning with Mike Piazza's three run home run to put the Mets up 11-8, giving them the lead and eventually the win. The Mets easily made the playoffs winning the National League wild card. In the playoffs, the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants in the first round and the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2000 National League Championship Series to win their fourth NL pennant. Mike Hampton was named the NLCS MVP for his two scoreless starts in the series as the Mets headed to the 2000 World Series to face their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. Unfortunately for the Mets, they were defeated in the much-hyped "Subway Series". Even though they lost 4 games to 1, each game was close, as they scored only three fewer total runs than the Yankees. This was the first all-New York World Series since 1956, when the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The most memorable moment of the 2000 World Series occurred during the first inning of Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. Piazza fouled off a pitch which shattered his bat, sending a piece of the barrel toward the pitcher's mound. Pitcher Roger Clemens seized the piece and hurled it in the direction of Piazza as the catcher trotted to first base. A brief melee ensued with no punches thrown and Clemens remaining in the game. In July of 2000, Clemens had knocked Piazza unconscious with a fastball to the catcher's head.
In the seasons following the 2000 World Series, the Mets struggled mightily as the result of several poor player acquisitions, including Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Roger Cedeño (again) and Jeromy Burnitz. These acquisitions were made by then-general manager Steve Phillips, who was fired during the 2003 season. Phillips was credited with building the 2000 World Series team, but also blamed for the demise of the Mets' farm system and the poor play of the acquired players. The Mets did have a few bright spots in 2002. Al Leiter became the first major league pitcher to defeat all thirty major league teams with a victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. David Weathers had a career year with a 2.91 era coming out of the bullpen, making him one of the better middle relievers of that season in the league. The Mets though posted a 75-86 record, last in the NL East, in 2002. The Mets' record in 2003 (66-95) was the fourth worst in baseball, and Piazza had missed two-thirds of the season with a torn groin muscle. His steady decline around that time mirrored the Mets' fortunes for the first half of the decade.
In 2004, the Mets made more player additions that turned out to be poor. They signed Japanese shortstop Kazuo Matsui, who never lived up to his potential in two-and-a-half years with the Mets, and Mike Cameron to play center field. General manager Jim Duquette acquired pitcher Kris Benson for third baseman Ty Wigginton at the trade deadline just before sending highly-touted pitching prospect Scott Kazmer to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the disappointing Victor Zambrano. However, the Mets brought up two young infielders with bright futures, David Wrigto and José Reyes, and they have become the best products from the farm system since Strawberry and Gooden. The Mets finished 71-91 in 2004.

2005-present: King of Queens, The Team.The Time.The Mets of 2006, "Your Season has gone" and The Last Season at Shea
After the 2004 season, Mets ownership made significant changes to their management strategy. With their television contract with the MSG Network expiring by the end of 2005, they announced plans to establish their own cable network to broadcast Mets games, rivaling the Yankee-owned YES Network. This investment in what became known as SportsNet New York was coupled with an aggressive plan to upgrade the performance of the team on the field. Jim Duquette was replaced as general manager by former Expos GM Omar Minaya. Minaya, an ex-Mets assistant GM, achieved notable success in Montreal by making bold player moves on a limited budget. With the Mets, Minaya was given substantial financial resources to develop a winning team by the time the new network launched in 2006.
Minaya began by hiring Yankee bench coach Willie Randolph as manager, then signed two of that year's most sought-after free agents — Pedro Martínez and Carlos Beltrán — to large multi-year deals. Though Beltrán underperformed, Martínez and a rejuvenated Tom Glavine led the pitching staff while Cliff Floyd's power, José Reyes's speed and David Wright's hitting sparked the offense. Despite an 0-5 start to the season, the team finished 83-79, finishing above the .500 mark for the first time since 2001.
After 2005, the departure of Mike Piazza gave Minaya enough financial flexibility to take full advantage of a payroll-reduction effort by the Florida Marlins. All-star first baseman Carlos Delgado and all-star catcher Paul Lo Duca were acquired from Florida in exchange for five prospects. Minaya also improved the bullpen by signing star free agent closer Billy Wagner.
Minaya's offseason moves and his organization of the team during the season paid off in 2006, as the team, led by a franchise record six All-Stars (Beltran, Lo Duca, Reyes, Wright, Glavine, and Martínez), won the division title, their first in 18 years. In a runaway similar to 1986, the Mets led the division from April 6 on, and only spent one day out of first the whole season. They built a lead as high as 16 1/2 games before clinching the division on September 18, becoming the first team in the major leagues to clinch a 2006 playoff berth. The Mets finished the season 12 games ahead of the Phillies, and with the best record in the National League. The Mets achieved this success despite a slew of injuries which included losing Martínez for a month, and starting fifteen different pitchers in games. A 9-1 June road trip through Los Angeles, Arizona and Philadelphia was a turning point for the season.
The Mets 2006 division title ended the Atlanta Braves' streak of 14 straight division titles, and they became the first team besides Atlanta to win the National League East title since the 1994 division realignment. 2006 was also the first time ever that the Mets and Yankees each won their respective divisions in the same year. Both New York teams also had the best records in their respective leagues, 97 wins and 65 losses.
Despite losing Pedro Martínez and Orlando Hernández from their starting rotation due to injury just before the start of the post-season, the Mets swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2006 National League Division Series, relying on their bullpen (with the lowest regular season ERA in the National League) and potent offense. However, in the 2006 National League Championship Series, the Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, the eventual 2006 World Series champions, in seven games, with the decisive blow coming on a ninth-inning home run by Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina off Mets reliever Aaron Heilman.
In the 2006 offseason, the Mets signed veteran outfielder Moises Alou to replace Cliff Floyd in left field and provide a right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup.
After their success in 2006, there were high expectations for the Mets in 2007, and they started the season strong, compiling a 34-18 record through May 31. And although they played basically .500 ball through the summer, the Mets still had a seven game lead in September, with 17 games to go. The Mets, however, would lose 11 of their next 16, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to tie them with three games left. The Mets lost to the Marlins 8-1 in the final game of the season, while the Phillies went on to win their final game 6-1 against the Nationals and clinch the NL East by one game. The Mets became first team in MLB history to blow a lead of seven or more games with only 17 games to play., and, by one analysis, it was the 2nd worst collapse overall in MLB regular season history. Despite the season ending debacle, Minaya announced that Randolph would remain as manager for the 2008 season.
On January 29, 2008, the Mets agreed to trade four minor league prospects, including outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitcher Philip Humber to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Johan Santana. He agreed on a six-year contract extension on February 1 worth $150.75 million, the highest amount ever for a pitcher on a long-term contract. The trade was finalized on February 2 when Santana passed his physical.

Citi Field
Main article: Citi Field
On June 12, 2005 a plan was announced for a new Mets ballpark to be built adjacent to Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens. Construction of the new stadium is being paid by the Mets, while "infrastructure improvement" costs at the site are to be paid by the city. The stadium was originally dubbed Mets Ballpark, before a corporate sponser was found. Many fans had hoped the park would be named in honor of Jackie Robinson. The naming rights of the stadium were sold to Citigroup and the name Citi Field was officially announced at the November groundbreaking. Citigroup reportedly agreed to pay $20 million a year for the rights, which would be the most lucrative naming rights deal ever in terms of revenue per year. The final mix of private and public funding has not been settled. As of 2005, Shea Stadium is the sixth oldest stadium among the 30 ballparks in major league baseball, and will be the fifth oldest by the end of the 2008 season as the Washington Nationals are scheduled to move into their new park -- Nationals Park -- before 2009. Shea Stadium is nearly as old as Ebbets Field was when the Dodgers abandoned it. The current site of Shea Stadium is to be a parking lot for Citi Field. Citi Field will be a "retro" park, following current architectural trends in stadium design. It will follow the brick and steel-truss trend begun by the Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992. The exterior facade will resemble Ebbets Field, former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The new stadium will be an open-air design, designed to give the fans a more personal experience. The stadium will only hold 45,000 fans, which is less than the current capacity of Shea Stadium. According to design notes the lesser capacity creates better sightlines and a more contoured seating configuration, allowing seating closer to the field.
The field, however, will not have a dome or retractable roof installed, as had been discussed for Shea Stadium in the late 1970s, and had been originally planned. This will not negate one of the main complaints with Shea Stadium; that the consistent jet noise from LaGuardia Airport makes it hard to hear well.
Construction of the new stadium began in 2006. Most of the current parking lot was closed off to begin preparing for the installation of the main support columns during the 2006 season, but the official groundbreaking did not take place until November 13, just beyond the left field bleachers of Shea Stadium. The stadium is scheduled to open for the 2009 season.

Uniform color and design
The Mets' colors are blue, orange, and white, symbolic of the return of National League baseball to New York after the Brooklyn Dodgers (blue) and New York Giants (orange) moved to California. Blue, orange and white are also the colors of the New York City flag. The NBA's New York Knicks were the first New York City-area team to use blue and orange as their team colors, and have been followed by the Mets and the NHL's New York Islanders.
Currently the Mets wear an assortment of uniforms. One variation includes solid gray road jerseys with blue piping on the sleeves, the jersey front, and down the side of the pant legs. "NEW YORK" is printed across the front of road jerseys in old english style font. Another uniform combination includes a white home jersey with blue pinstripes and "Mets" written across the front in script. Prior to the 1997 season the Mets introduced "snow white" home jerseys as an alternate home jersey. Like the road uniforms, they feature blue piping but are completely white, devoid of pinstripes, and features the cursive "Mets" written across the front. The standard cap is blue with an orange "NY" logo, which is currently only worn with the two white home jerseys. Before the 1998 season black was added as an official Mets color. Black drop-shadows were added to the blue and orange lettering on the white and gray jerseys. Solid black alternate home and road jerseys with blue piping and blue lettering trimmed in orange and white were introduced. Two alternate caps were also introdced - a black cap with a blue brim and a blue "NY" logo trimmed in orange (worn with the white and gray jerseys) and an all black cap with a blue "NY" logo trimmed in orange and white (worn with the black jerseys).
The Mets wear Coolflo batting helmets, made by Rawlings, with a metallic blue covering only the front and black over the rest.

Logo
The cap logo is identical to the logo used by the New York Giants in their final years, and is on a blue cap reminiscent of the caps worn by the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the primary logo, designed by sports cartoonist Ray Gatto, each part of the skyline has special meaning — at the left is a church spire, symbolic of Brooklyn, the borough of churches; the second building from the left is the Williamsburg Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn; next is the Woolworth Building; after a general skyline view of midtown comes the Empire State Building; at the far right is the United Nations Building. The bridge in the center symbolizes that the Mets, in bringing back the National League to New York, represent all five boroughs.

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