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Though significantly different in skills, catchers Jerry Grote and Mike Piazza were among the most vital acquisitions for the Mets.This is the fifth in a series of lists we will be generating related to the history of the New York Mets.
If you want to see the rest of the top 10 series (topics: home runs, pitching performances, defensive players, fastest Mets and singles), click here.
Since it's winter meetings week, we're covering the top 10 trades in Mets history. Part 1 of our series ran yesterday. The ones we rank in the top five are below.
5. Dec. 10, 1984 -- Mets trade Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans to Expos for Gary Carter
Statistically speaking, the Mets gave up a considerable sum to get Carter, who was nearing the end of the prime of his career. But it proved to be worth it. This was a statement as much as it was a trade, the kind of deal of which you could remember where you were when it was announced.
Carter was a difference-maker acquisition, one who turned the Mets from a hopeful young team into a legit World Series contender immediately.
This was a trade you could tell was going to be worth it on Opening Day 1985, when after the Mets blew a lead, Carter capped his first game with the Mets with a walk-off home run.
Carter only had two really good seasons as a Met, but that’s of no matter. He gave the Mets a presence behind and at the plate, a toughness and a cockiness that made him a perfect fit in New York.
It’s the kind of player the current club could use too.
4. Oct. 19, 1965 -- Mets trade Tom Parsons to Astros for Jerry Grote
Three of the top five trades in Mets history involved dealing for a catcher. The first of them was this one.
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This was the first great trade in Mets history and nearly 50 years later it still ranks as one of the best.
The Mets can thank scout Red Murff, who was instrumental in the Astros signing Grote, for the suggestion to pursue Grote that offseason (now that Murff was with the Mets).
Grote was not a star with the bat (oddly his best offensive season came in The Year of the Pitcher, 1968), but he was great with the glove, far better than anyone the Mets previously had, and more significantly he was well respected by the pitching staff.
Grote was the Mets primary catcher for more than a decade and was a favorite of staff ace Tom Seaver. He may not have overwhelmed you with his statistics, but he gave the Mets a sense of legitimacy at a position in which it was very needed.
3. April 1, 1982 -- Mets trade Lee Mazzilli to Rangers for Ron Darling and Walt Terrell
Sometimes you have to trade a popular player, and Frank Cashen was rued at the time by some for dealing Lee Mazzilli.
Mazzilli was squeezed out of a crowded outfield by the emergence of Mookie Wilson and the acquisitions of veterans Ellis Valentine and George Foster. But he had significant value to other teams. The Cubs came close to getting Mazzilli, but wouldn’t swap pitching prospect Lee Smith for him.
Instead the Mets got two young starters in Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. Darling became a perfect fit in the middle of the Mets rotation within three years. Terrell did as well and when the Mets dealt him, they were able to land a potent bat, Howard Johnson, from the Detroit Tigers.
Cashen is now highly regarded for his smarts in making this trade. But the management of the Rangers was still regretting the move a quarter-of-a-century later.
2. May 22, 1998 -- Mets trade Preston Wilson, Geoff Goetz and Ed Yarnall to Marlins for Mike Piazza
What we wrote about Carter’s status as a difference-maker acquisition could also be said about Piazza. The Mets were a good team headed in the right direction before they got Piazza. They became a great team once he came aboard.
Piazza was the team MVP and a league MVP candidate in each of his first four seasons (including the partial year of 1998). He is the club’s all-time leader in slugging percentage and ranks third in team history in home runs and RBIs.
But more than that, he was a presence. As Bobby Valentine put it in a quote that is on the back of Piazza’s autobiography: “It was easy to believe the National League was dead in New York. And then Michael showed up for work.”
1. June 15, 1983 -- Mets trade Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to Cardinals for Keith Hernandez
There are a lot of layers to the deal that got the Mets Keith Hernandez. The Cardinals then-star first baseman had issues both with manager Whitey Herzog and with cocaine usage. He didn’t want to be a Met, but the Mets were fortunate that Herzog was enamored with struggling Mets closer Neil Allen, which led to this stunning deal right at the midseason trade deadline.
The temptations of New York did not bother Hernandez who kicked the drug habit and embraced his time with the team and the city. He became a captain and was a fantastic player for the rest of 1983 and each of the next four seasons (he’d struggle after tearing a hamstring in 1988 and leave the team after the 1989 season).
If there was a point at which the Mets run of misfortune that began in 1977 (the year they traded Tom Seaver) ended, it was right here. Hernandez put the Mets on a winning path with All-Star caliber play and leadership.
