METS HISTORY

The New York Mets is a Major League Baseball team, founded in 1962. Based in the borough of Queens in New York City, the Mets have their home stadium as Shea Stadium. The former ballpark for the New York Mets was Polo Grounds between 1962-1963. The uniform colors for the New York Mets are, black, blue and orange. The logo design for the Mets is 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 won by the Brooklyn Dodgers. The New York Mets have won two Wild Card titles in, 1999 and 2000. The Mets have also won four Division titles in, 1969, 1973, 1986 and 1988. The National League Pennants won by the New York Mets were four, in 1969, 1973, 1986 and 2000. The Mets' mascot is Mr. Met. The New York Mets have won two World Series championships in, 1969 and 1986. When the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers left for California, a new team was proposed for New York. The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc (nicknamed "Mets" almost from the start, as had been the earlier Metropolitans) 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. In 1973, the Mets won an extremely weak NL East, finishing only three games above .500. Despite this, they beat the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series to become the worst regular-season team to ever play in the World Series. The Mets would lose that Series to the Oakland A's. 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. However, that Mets team managed to capture only one world's championship (1986), defeating the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series that featured one of the most remarkable comebacks in baseball history. Since 1986, the Mets have enjoyed only one World Series appearance, in 2000. They were defeated in the so-called "Subway Series" by their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. On October 1st, 2002, Bobby Valentine is relieved of his duties as manager after more then six years with the New York Mets. Art Howe was hired on the 28th of that month as the 17th manager in franchise history. Mike Piazza cracks his 350th home run against the Houston Astros on April 22. Jose Reyes becomes the second player in Mets history to have his first Major League home run be a grand slam and becomes the youngest player (20 years, 4 days) in the league to hit a grand slam since Tony Conigliaro in 1964.