Technically, the New York Mets have seven retired “numbers,” although two are initials, specifically “RK” and “WS” on the docket for announcer Ralph Kiner and stadium namesake William Shea.
That leaves four actual retired numbers, plus the league-wide retirement of No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, in the pantheon of the Amazins’ elite. Mets fans, and maybe baseball fans alike, know that those are No. 14 (Gil Hodges), No. 31 (Mike Piazza), No. 37 (Casey Stengel), and No. 41 (Tom Seaver) – but do you remember others who wore them?
No one else wore 37 before it was retired for Stengel (it was taken out of circulation quickly in 1965), but the gentlemen below are the “next best” players to wear the Mets’ other retired numbers – or, in the case of No. 42, the most notable, as Robinson was not a Met – as well as a “bonus” entry.
No. 14: Ron Swoboda/Ken BoyerOnly two others wore 14 besides Hodges, so why choose between them? Hodges had it in the Mets’ first two seasons (his final two seasons as a player), and after it was blank in ’64, Swoboda wore it when he smacked 19 homers in his rookie season of 1965. Swoboda switched to No. 4 in 1966 and yielded 14 to Boyer, a former NL MVP who hit .258 in 192 games for the Mets in ’66 and part of ’67. He was dealt to White Sox in July of ’67, Hodges took 14 back as Mets skipper from 1968-71, and then it was retired for Gil in 1973.
No. 31: John FrancoThere were 14 other players besides Piazza to don No. 31, but the most notable is easily Franco, who was the Mets’ closer from 1990-98 as No. 31 (and well beyond as No. 45) and is still a beloved New York icon. Franco actually had the longest tenure in the number – eight full seasons plus part of ’98 before ceding to Piazza just beats Mike’s seven-plus seasons – and while wearing it, he notched more than half of his 424 career saves. Franco switched to 45 when Piazza came aboard and rocked that until leaving in 2004, and that number has been worn since by the likes of Pedro Martinez and Zack Wheeler.
No. 41: Gordie RichardsonFive players wore No. 41 in the five years before Seaver took it in ’67 and ran with it. The first four were cups of coffee, so almost by default, the winner here is Richardson, who came over from the defending World Champion Cardinals in the 1964-65 offseason and spent two seasons in Queens, posting a 5.20 ERA in 71 total innings pitched in Queens.
No. 42: Roger McDowellTen Mets have worn Jackie Robinson’s number, and the most successful in it is arguably McDowell. Ron Hodges wore it the longest (1973-84 in two stints), Butch Huskey (1995-98) had four good seasons in it, and Mo Vaughn had one in 2002 as the last to wear it, but McDowell was a Rookie of the Year candidate, an MVP vote getter, a World Champion, and a key piece of the Mets’ bullpen of the late-1980s as No. 42.
No. 36 (Bonus): Ed LynchThe Mets were set to retire No. 36 for Jerry Koosman this summer before COVID-19 had other plans – and given that 34 other players have worn it, none for more than five years and few with more than middling success, it deserves to be Koosman’s. Because of the lack of greatness outside the lefty, the default winner is Lynch, who wore four other numbers (including 31 in 1981) before taking 36 as a starter and swingman from 1982-85. And, technically, he’s the “other” 36 in championship lore, as he wore it for one game on the 1986 Mets before being dealt to the Cubs.
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