World Sequence champion and beloved SNY analyst Keith Hernandez can have his No. 17 retired by the Mets on Saturday, changing into simply the fourth participant, plus managers Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges, within the historical past of the franchise to be bestowed that honor. That is the eighth of a 10-part each day countdown of Hernandez’s best moments and accomplishments following his 1983 arrival in Flushing.
No. 3: Oh captain, my captain
The Mets by no means formally named a captain throughout their first 25 years of existence, however following their sudden ascension, which culminated within the 1986 World Sequence championship, it was clear who the primary captain in franchise historical past must be.
Keith Hernandez, the 1979 co-MVP within the Nationwide League and a World Sequence champion with St. Louis in 1982, quickly emerged because the unquestioned chief of the brash and largely younger Mets throughout his first full seasons in Flushing, following a midseason commerce from the Cardinals in 1983.
“Keith taught us the way to win” Darryl Strawberry mentioned earlier this 12 months when it was introduced that Hernandez’s No. 17 rightly could be retired at Citi Area earlier than the Mets’ sport Saturday in opposition to the Marlins.
Hernandez claims he was “completely shocked” when Mets supervisor Davey Johnson introduced the choice to make him captain throughout a staff assembly within the spring of 1987.
“Davey was speaking about us as a staff and what we would have liked to do after successful [the World Series] the 12 months earlier than, and unexpectedly, it’s ‘Oh, Keith, I’m naming you captain.’ Identical to that, and that was the tip of the assembly,” Hernandez instructed The Publish. “I used to be surprised.
“However it meant loads to me. Captains of a staff in baseball aren’t like in hockey, it’s a special dynamic, nevertheless it undoubtedly did imply one thing. It’s a designation that’s an honor. Clearly, Davey felt that approach about me, however I used to be stunned as a result of Gary Carter was nonetheless on the staff, too.”
Certainly, Carter, the 11-time All-Star catcher who’d arrived from Montreal in 1985, was added as a co-captain alongside Hernandez in 1988. John Franco (2001-04) and David Wright (2013-18) are the one different gamers in staff annals to be so designated.
As Hernandez instructed The Publish’s Steve Serby about his management position final week in an in-depth Sunday Q & A, he tried to “set an instance” for the Mets the way in which Corridor of Fame outfielder Lou Brock and others had performed for him early in his profession in St. Louis.
Hernandez has mentioned that his lone remorse was having a ‘C’ stitched on his uniform throughout that first season — as captains do in hockey — however the letter was eliminated the next season when Carter joined him as co-captain.
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