Former Mets players from the 1962 team take the high road when asked about the White Sox

Steve Gelbs spoke to both living members from the 1962 New York Mets, Jay Hook and Craig Anderson. One of the most infamous teams in MLB history, their 120 losses stands as the highest in the modern history of the game. Only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders with 134 losses is worse. It was only natural for Gelbs to get in contact with the pair with the Mets playing the Chicago White Sox this weekend. He asked them the question a lot of people are wondering, do they want their record broken?

The 1962 Mets had a .250 winning percentage. The White Sox are at .228. They’re at 105 losses with a month to go. Can they pull off history? Hook and Anderson would prefer they don’t.

Ex-Mets Jay Hook and Craig Anderson showed class with this answer

Many of us weren’t around for the 1962 Mets. We don’t have much, if any, attachment to the record-setting year. Howie Rose is a familiar name, face, and voice who was a fan in the inaugural season. He has been vocal about the Mets keeping the record and believes others who recall 1962 feel the same way.

Hook and Anderson don’t hold the record dear the same way as a fan. Instead, they are thinking of the individuals on the White Sox. The misery that comes with being a member of such a dubious record can’t be easy to take.

Times are different, though. Players are paid more in a game than Hook and Anderson probably received in their careers. Free agency, interleague play, and more have disconnected particular players from certain teams. How many of this year’s White Sox will be able to easily erase their representation on the 2024 team if they do set the record? Probably most of them.

Younger Mets fans, or even the middle-aged ones at this point, might prefer to see the White Sox break the record merely for the sake of seeing history. It didn’t matter to me in the 1990s who broke Roger Maris’ record. I just wanted to be alive to see someone do it.

The most losses in a season is a much less romantic achievement and the White Sox look bound to accomplish this. The most wins they have in any month this year is 9. If they win only 9 more, they’ll tie the 40 wins from the 1962 Mets. They’ll also have 122 losses.

Somewhat under the radar, the White Sox have one of the more miserable histories in baseball. Sharing a city with the equally as cold Chicago Cubs will help divert some of the attention away. The White Sox have been around since 1901. They’ve won a single World Series in the last 100 years. Multiple owners with bad reputations throughout, there probably isn’t a more perfect team to take the record from the Mets.