3 most forgotten NY Mets players who won a Cy Young before coming to Queens

New York Mets history is full of Cy Young winners. Thanks to Tom Seaver, the franchise got an early head start on compiling those trophies. Several Mets players have left the organization only to go on and win the award elsewhere. Then there are those who came to New York on the downside of their career post-Cy Young victory.

If you’ve brushed up on your Mets history well, you probably know Warren Spahn, the 1957 winner before there was one in each league, spent time with the team albeit briefly and not at a Cy Young level. More recently, you’ll recall Rick Porcello on the 2020 team.

More easily forgotten are these three other former Cy Young winners who made their way to the Mets.

1) Randy Jones

Randy Jones is a fun baseball story lost in time. He lost 22 games in his sophomore season in 1974 as a member of the San Diego Padres. A year later, he won 20 games with a league-best 2.24 ERA. That year’s National League Cy Young runner-up, the next season included a league-high 22 victories along with 25 complete games, 315.1 innings, and maybe the most insane strikeout total you could imagine: only 93.

Jones was not your typical Cy Young winner nor was his peak a lengthy one. He’d spend 8 seasons with the San Diego Padres, never again matching the early success in 1975 and 1976 but being a good innings-eating arm. In 1981 and 1982, he finished off his MLB career as a member of the Mets.

Jones was no longer the premiere pitcher he was early on in his career. He was 1-8 with a 4.85 ERA in year one with New York. The following season, which would be his last, Jones went 7-10 with a 4.60 ERA.

His ties to the Mets may have begun much earlier when in 1976 he might have snubbed Jerry Koosman out of winning the Cy Young. It was a rare “down” season for Tom Seaver despite still having a 2.59 ERA and league-high 235 strikeouts. Koosman, with a 21-20 record and 2.69 ERA fell to second place as voters just couldn’t overlook Jones’ body of work.