My Favorite players that I don't collect: The New York Mets

 Since I started this journey of getting one playing days card of my favorite players that I don't collect in New York with the Yankees, I thought I might as well do the Mets next and get out of New York! The Mets have had all kinds of great players come through their organization later on in their careers like the Great Willie Mays. Problem is I don't associate Willie Mays with the Mets. To me he will always be a Giant. That being said, there are players that I like that I do associate with the Mets. So, here are my favorite players that I don't collect who were New York Mets. 

My New York Mets list is pretty short comparatively to the Yankees. 

My first thoughts of Gary Carter will always be of an Expo, but if not Montreal, its the Mets. Since the Expos are no more, I'm going with the Mets. Now, I'm not going to say that I'm a big Gary Carter fan, but I did always seem to root for him. 

My favorite card of Gary is the 1980 Topps. As I've said before, you can't go wrong with a catcher's card depicting him making a play. One of the best to play the game.

Honestly, my first memories of Tom Terrific are with the Reds. As I got older and became more of a student of the game, that shifted. Kind of funny that my favorites off of the Mets so far actually come from other teams! Seaver was so dominant in '69 with a 25-7 record and a 2.21 ERA. I think he was even more so in '71. He was 20-10 and his ERA was 1.76. How in the world do you lose 10 games with an ERA that low?

       

'69 Topps or '71 Topps will be my choice to represent Seaver in my team collections. I'm leaning toward the '69, which I've already got, but I like the '71. I just don't know that I can find one in the condition that I would want. 

Being in an American League city and the fan of an American League team, I don't follow the NL as closely as I used to. I do keep up with the Braves, Cardinals and Dodgers more than the rest, but I always seemed to see David Wright on Sportscenter making a defensive play or coming up with a big hit. He always seemed to play the game with that characteristic of "whatever it takes for my team to be successful" attitude. You hear alot of players talk that way, but Wright seemed to walk the talk. 

I'm a sucker for the action shot, especially when you can see the ball that's being played, and the 2011 Topps card is a great one. 

That wraps up my favorite Mets players. Not near as many as the Yankees, but what do you do? Now, I'm sure that there are some that will ask about some other Mets, like Piazza, but for me, he's overrated. He's got a cool story and I appreciate the talent, but there's another catcher from that same time frame that will always rank ahead of him in my eyes.

Peace,

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Ramblings of an old collector

 Random thoughts about baseball, baseball cards, collecting and life. 

* Congratulations to the Dodgers for winning their 9th World Series and back to back since 2000. Back in the day when it was the Dodgers vs Yankees, I was always rooting for the Dodgers. Not gonna lie, I was kind of rooting for the Blue Jays this time. American League, its been awhile since they won and I'm not a fan of dynasties unless it's my team! LOL!

* I am a fan of Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts and glad that they picked up another ring. Probably a bigger fan of Ohtani than the other two, but they are in my playing days collection. 

     

* Speaking of Ohtani and Freeman, I am still trying to get a couple of their rookie cards. 

     

I see the Ohtani Debut card all the time, it just hasn't been the right time or price. As far as the Freeman card goes, I never see that one out and about. I'm sure that one day I'll run across both of them at the right price.

* League MVPs were announced and no surprise it was Ohtani for the National League. As far as the American League goes there was some competition between Raleigh and Judge and it didn't seem as clear cut as Ohtani. To be honest, I was in Cal Raleigh's corner until I actually looked at some stats. Judge was the right call. Better average (.331 to .247), only 7 behind in home runs (53 to 60), scored more runs (137 to 110) and only 11 behind in RBIs (114 to 125). Now there is an argument to made about who was the most important to their team and I can't answer that one. All I can do is base it on what I saw in the stats and much to my chagrin I'd have to vote for Judge. 

* Now its time for the  Rule 5 players, free agency, trades, 40 man rosters, etc... All fun stuff! I've been trying to follow what's going on, but it's getting harder and harder. There are more false stories generated by AI that make it difficult. It was already difficult to decide what information you could trust, now it's near impossible. People will post just about anything to get clicks. 

* Until recently, the only cards I had on my wantlist in TCDB were the cards I needed for sets. About a month ago, I put some of my player collection wants on the wantlist too. Ever since, the majority of trade offers that I've received have been on those player collection wants. I wonder if that's because it seems as if the majority of the hobby has gone away from set collections and to player collections? Who knows?

I guess that's all for now. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31