If this year weren't gruesome enough, our local sports teams added toxins to this acid rain we call 2020. With the Giants and Jets keeping in brutal lockstep, we thought it apropos to list the worst single seasons from our nine pro sports teams.
1993 New York Mets: 59-103, 7th in NL East
You've never heard so many big names on such a brutal ball club, but a roll call of luminaries such as Eddie Murray, Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonilla, and Howard Johnson played for the most forgettable team in Mets history. A pricey rotation with Dwight Gooden, Frank Tanana, Bret Saberhagen, and Sid Fernandez didn't produce one pitcher with a record over .500, and naturally, they got rid of the one future star on the squad - Jeff Kent - who would later post monster stats in San Francisco.
Managed deftly by Jeff Torborg (13-25) and Dallas Green (46-78), these Mets were so bad they spawned a book named after their dubious handle: "Worst Team Money Could Buy." These Mets ranked last out of 14 NL teams in hits, RBI, and on-base percentage, and ranked 13th in runs, doubles, OPS, and batting average.
Plus, their pitchers were last in wins and saves. And for this they spent nearly $40 million on payroll, fifth in MLB, which included the highest salary in the sport, that of Bobby Bonilla, and the worst record in either league.
1990 New York Yankees: 67-95, 7th in AL East
Ah, the Stump Merrill squads. Though Bucky Dent (18-31) managed about a third of the season, the former shortstop had some collateral as a former player.
Merrill, however, was just the meandering symbol of this briefly moribund franchise. The Yankees never stunk for long, and this team did produce one history-changing move: hiring Gene "Stick" Michael as GM near the end of that sad summer.
But there's no sugar coating this bunch of bums. Like the Mets in '93, these Yanks had some big-ticket players; Don Mattingly, Jesse Barfield, Roberto Kelly, and Steve Sax sound like the pillars of a pretty good team, but even Donnie Baseball hit just .256 in only 102 games, beguiled by so many injuries. Dave Winfield, a future Hall of Famer, was 38, and they even dipped into the NFL for some Prime Time, but Deion Sanders batted just .158 over 57 games. This lineup was so gruesome that they were dead-last in the AL in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS. But they were a cool 13th out of 14 AL clubs in total bases.
No need to dissect the rotation, as there wasn't one. Tim Leary "led" the staff with a 9-19 mark. Dave Lapoint was the next ace, at 7-10. They did have one future stud named Al Leiter, who would find a home in Queens, and Jose Rijo, who could've been a fixture in the rotation but was traded years earlier, went on to win the World Series with the Reds that season - and just happened to be named MVP.
1996 New York Jets: 1-15, 5th in AFC East
If you're too young to remember the Rich Kotite years, consider yourself blessed.
Kotite was so good in 1995 (3-13) that they brought him back for 1996, just in time to win one game. While Frank Reich started seven games and Glenn Foley started three, it was the third starter who truly represented this gangrenous form of Gang Green: Neil O'Donnell, who had just taken the Steelers - or let the Steelers take him - to Super Bowl XXX and a woeful loss to the Cowboys. The best part was they can thank O'Donnell for the loss, as his two inexplicable interceptions - particularly the last one right after they recovered an onside kick and were just trailing by 20-17 - made the Cowboys champions and made Larry Brown a ton of money he didn't earn.
Like some fires that clear the way for fine new flora, this NFL blaze made way for Bill Parcells, who would take over in 1997. But it took this historically bad squad, and the desperation of the aging owner Leon Hess, to finally find the right guy for the gig. Sadly, Mr. Hess didn't see his Super Bowl dream come true, but at least they got close. Unlike this baleful bunch, which is easily the worst Jets club ever…until this year, at least.
1966 New York Giants: 1-12-1, 8th in NFL East Division
At the end of the 1950s, the Giants had two promising assistant coaches named Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi…so, naturally, the Giants picked Allie Sherman to be head coach. The move seemed to work at first, as the Giants won big in 1961, '62, and '63, though they lost twice in the NFL title game to Lombardi's Packers. After '63, however, the bottom fell out, and they won ten total games over the next three years, including this proud bunch. Y. A. Title was gone, so they went with the unholy trinity of Gary Wood, Earl Morrall, and Gary Kennedy under center. They had one seemingly serious player, Homer Jones, who grabbed 48 passes and actually galloped past 1,000 receiving yards (1,048). And...that's about it. It would take another dozen years before they would hire GM George Young, draft Phil Simms, another 15 years before they would draft Lawrence Taylor, and 17 years before they named Bill Parcells the head coach.
2014-15 New York Knicks: 17-65, 5th in the Atlantic Division
Sure, the Knicks doubled-down on this record a few years later, finishing 17-65 in 2019. But this monster squad was built by the Zen Master, Phil Jackson. Despite never having any experience crafting clubs from the front office, the Knicks hired Jackson based entirely on his rep as a coach, if not his time as a Knicks role player in the '70s. And this trip back to the future failed in biblical ways, led by overwhelmed coach Derek Fisher.
This roster included all-world players, from Quincy Acy to Shane Larkin to Cole Aldrich – as in literally, some of these guys have had to move all around the world to keep playing. They had one bona fide star, Carmelo Anthony, though two local writers, Peter Vecsey and yours truly, promised you that the All-Star gunner would do nothing to nudge the championship needle – and we were right.
You'd love to say these Knicks stunk in order to carve out cap space and cut fat for the future, but all they did was stink for the sake of stinking.
1988-89 New Jersey Nets: 17-65, 6th in Atlantic Division
The New Jersey Nets won 17 games just one other time: when they played on Long Island, in 1969, as a member of the ABA. But they only lost 61 games, giving this .207 winning percentage the nod. These lousy Nets, playing in the Meadowlands swamp, back in the days of SportsChannel (remember them?) and early cable TV, head one real star (Buck Williams) and one aging pseudo-star (Joe Barry Carroll) to build on. They should have with two great players from college, St. John's great Walter Berry and fellow first-team All-American Keith Lee, who took Memphis State to the Final Four, but no such prosperity in the pros.
They averaged 103.7 points per game, which ranked 23rd out of 25 teams, and they had a lot of youth but no talent for coach Willis Reed, another in the sprawling line of Hall of Fame players who just couldn't find his voice from the bench. Reed would pick up Derrick Coleman the following year, helping the Nets qualify for the playoffs in three straight seasons (1991-1993), but the Nets still largely stunk and would not win a playoff series until Rod Thorn took over and stole Jason Kidd. That duo reached the NBA Finals in 2002 and again in 2003, kickstarting the only real good time in Nets history since they migrated to the NBA.
1959-60 New York Rangers: 17-38-15, 6th place
Nobody cares about hockey, Boomer! And nobody cared about this group of bad Blueshirts, despite the fact that they had some well-remembered Rangers like Gump Worsley, Andy Bathgate, and Harry Howell on the roster. They also had three coaches, and ranked last or next-to-last in every important category. The early-1960s were not the best era of Rangers hockey.
1972-73 New York Islanders: 12-60-6, 8th in the NHL East
Expansion teams usually stink, and, well, no exception here. Rookie Billy Harris, who was a Barn staple for most of the decade and finished third in the Calder Trophy race, was the star of this squad…but he was also the only one to tally 20+ goals and 50 points. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about this Isles squad, the first and the worst of the bunch. Much like the Diamondbacks and Marlins, though, titles were soon to come.
1983-84 New Jersey Devils: 17-56-7, 5th Patrick Division
Can you believe this bunch wasn't the worst team in the league? That would be the Penguins, who finished one game worse, but the '83-'84 Devils were the tenth straight iteration of this franchise to be bad. It was just their second year in Jersey after two in Kansas City and six in Denver, and the third location wasn't the charm for another decade. The seeds were being sown with a trio of 19-years olds named Daneyko, Verbeek, and MacLean in front of an aging goalie named Chico…who went 9-31 in net. Not the best year of Mr. Resch's career. But, were any of these?
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