NY Mets: 3 monster offensive seasons that flew under the radar

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CHICAGO – UNDATED 1981: Rusty Staub of the New York Mets bats during a MLB game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Staub was with the New York Mets from 1972 to 1975 & 1981-1985. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

The New York Mets are traditionally known for boasting many more outstanding pitching seasons than offensive seasons in their history. Since the Mets’ inaugural year in 1962, four different Mets pitchers (Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, R.A. Dickey, and Jacob deGrom) have won a Cy Young Award. No Mets player has ever won an MVP.

The Mets have also had their fair share of heavy-hitting seasons through the years; 21 Silver Sluggers have been doled out to the Amazins since the award was introduced in 1980. New York’s last Silver Slugger winner was Yoenis Céspedes in 2016; before that, the last Met to win the award was David Wright in 2008.

Clearly, in recent years, the Mets have had a relative dearth in standout offensive performances.

Still, sprinkled among 2019 Pete Alonso, 2006 Carlos Beltran, and 1986 Keith Hernandez/Gary Carter, there are many other impressive offensive seasons throughout Mets history that live just slightly out of the public eye. Let’s take a look at three of the biggest, most underrated offensive seasons in the Mets canon.

1975: Rusty Staub’s 105 RBIs lead Mets, vault him into a top 15 finish in NL MVP voting

In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Dave Kingman got most of the glory as the Mets’ most dangerous slugger and most potent RBI threat, but what sometimes gets lost among “King Kong’s” moonshots are the productive seasons that Rusty Staub had with the Mets. He played in Flushing from 1972-1975 and again from 1981-1985. In 1975, Staub was at his most prolific while in a Mets uniform. He socked 19 home runs and drove in 105 runs, accompanied by a .282 batting average, 30 doubles, 93 runs scored, and 77 walks to only 55 strikeouts.

Staub led the club that season in RBIs, walks, OPS, total bases, and runs scored. He finished second on the team in games played, hits, home runs, and doubles. The team itself did not reach October glory, finishing third in the NL East with an 82-80 record, but Staub’s achievements propelled him to finish 14th in NL MVP voting that year (Cincinnati Reds second baseman Joe Morgan took home the top prize, while Staub’s teammates Tom Seaver and Kingman finished ninth and 19th in the voting, respectively).

Staub received MVP votes several other times in his 22-year MLB career, finishing as high as fifth in the MVP voting with the Detroit Tigers in 1978 (he was bested by Jim Rice). His second go-around with the Mets in the ’80s was more as a bench player, but he still finished with a very respectable .276 average over his nine years with the orange and blue.

ANAHEIM, CA – JULY 11: Howard Johnson #20 of the New York Mets and National League All-Stars bats against the American League All-Stars during Major League Baseball All-Star game July 11, 1989 at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California. The American League won the game 5-3. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

1989: Howard Johnson finishes fifth in NL MVP voting, but Mets can’t quite crack playoffs

By the end of the 1980s, much of the core that helped the Amazins reach the promised land in 1986 had fractured, and they finished second in the NL East with an 87-75 record. Ray Knight and Kevin Mitchell were long gone. Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter were in the last years of their Flushing tenures. Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell were traded mid-season to the Philadelphia Phillies. The glory days were, mostly, in the rearview mirror. Except in the case of Howard Johnson.

The man affectionately nicknamed “HoJo” was an important role player in 1986, but his true offensive power did not shine until the following seasons. Starting in 1987, he played nearly every game for the Amazins through the 1991 season. In 1989, with others around him starting to fade, Johnson posted a .287 batting average and a .928 OPS alongside 41 doubles, 36 home runs, 101 RBIs, 41 (!) stolen bases, and an NL-leading 104 runs scored. HoJo led the Mets that season in nearly every conceivable category, including games played, runs scored, hits, doubles, RBIs, home runs, stolen bases, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

For his Herculean efforts, Johnson finished fifth in the NL MVP voting, losing out to Mitchell, his former teammate. Still, that season vaulted Johnson into team record books; his 8.0 offensive WAR, as calculated by Baseball Reference, is the highest single-season offensive WAR in Mets history. Though he didn’t win the MVP in ’89, HoJo did win his first of two Silver Slugger awards and was named to his first of two All-Star teams — both of the others came in 1991, in which he also finished fifth in NL MVP voting.

24 Aug 1996: Bernard Gilkey of the Los Angeles Dodgers watches the ball fly during a game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won the game, 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport /

1996: Bernard Gilkey has an outstanding year at the plate, while Todd Hundley and Lance Johnson also break Mets records

Bernard Gilkey’s most iconic Mets moment might be his Men In Black cameo, but his greatest moment was the entire 1996 season. He had come to New York the prior offseason via a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals, and spent parts of just three years in Flushing. However, in 1996, he had one of the best offensive seasons in franchise history, partially overshadowed by two of his teammates.

The 1996 Mets were, to put it kindly, fairly dreadful. They finished 71-91, and trudged to a fourth-place finish in the NL East. Amidst the losing, Todd Hundley set a new club record with 41 home runs, which is still the most for any catcher in a single season in team history. Center fielder Lance Johnson set two franchise records that still stand, notching 227 hits and 21 triples. Johnson also hit .333 that season, which is the fourth-highest single-season batting average in Mets history.

Not to be totally outdone, Gilkey mashed 44 doubles, which is still the Mets’ single-season record. He accompanied that mark with 181 hits, 108 runs scored, 30 home runs, 117 RBIs, a .317 batting average, and a .955 OPS, all of which were career highs. In 1996, while other Mets history was made around him, Gilkey led the Amazins in doubles, RBIs, OBP, and slugging. Gilkey also accumulated 8.1 position player bWAR in ’96, which is the third-highest single-season total in franchise history. He finished 14th in that year’s NL MVP voting, while Hundley and Johnson tied for 18th in the voting.

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These three standout offensive performances all occurred in years where the Mets did not make the playoffs, and none resulted in an MVP award, so they’re not quite as revered as they might otherwise be. Still, they all deserve to be recognized as impressive hitting achievements that rise near the top of the pitching-heavy Mets canon.

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