The 1980 New York Mets season was the 19th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 67–95 record and finished in fifth place in the National League East, twenty-four games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies.
Offseason
The beginnings of the 1986 team On January 24, 1980, ownership of the team changed hands. The group that bought the Mets for an estimated $22 million (the largest amount paid for a ball club to that point) was headed by Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon. Doubleday was head of the old and distinguished publishing company that bore his name, while Wilpon was a highly successful real-estate developer. The new owners promised to invest money to acquire winning players and develop a competitive club, though it took a few years before the new partners were able to rebuild a solid contender.
In February, the new owners hired Frank Cashen, who had spent ten years in the front office of the Baltimore Orioles from 1966 to 1976, during which time the Orioles went to four World Series, winning two. During his tenure, the Mets would see what some called a "resuscitation", eventually leading to the team's first World Championship in 17 years. After leaving the Orioles, Cashen worked outside of baseball for three years before joining commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office as administrator of baseball. It was from this job that the Mets wooed him and installed him as executive vice president and general manager.
Regular season
On the field Due to their last-place finish in 1979, the Mets had the first pick in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. They used it to select an 18-year-old outfielder from Los Angeles, Darryl Strawberry, a key figure of future Mets teams. With the twenty-third pick, they selected Billy Beane, later the protagonist in Moneyball.
Under Torre, the team suffered their 4th consecutive losing season, 24 games out of first place, although the Mets moved up one place in the standings to fifth. They even flirted with .500 (until losing 38 of their last 49 games), which may have led to attendance jumping nearly 400,000 to almost 1,200,000. The team had the motto "The Magic is Back" during the 1980 season. Notable highlights from the season included three come-from-behind wins in five days: 5–4 and 6–5 over the Dodgers June 10 and 12 (after trailing 4–0 and 5–0), and 7–6 over the Giants on the 14th after trailing 6–0. The Mets fell to earth in a five-game sweep at Shea by the eventual champion Phillies in mid-August, before which they were 56–57. Their final home series against the Pirates drew just over 5,900 fans for three games combined.
The construction of the then-state-of-the-art DiamondVision electronic scoreboard in center field for 1981 resulted in a sharp increase in ticket prices following this season, e.g., with General Admission seating rising from $1.50 to $4.00.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day starters Doug Flynn Steve Henderson Mike Jorgensen Elliott Maddox Lee Mazzilli Jerry Morales John Stearns Craig Swan Frank Taveras
Notable transactions June 3, 1980: 1980 Major League Baseball draft Darryl Strawberry was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (1st pick). Player signed July 11, 1980.Darryl Strawberry page at Baseball Reference Billy Beane was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (23rd pick).Billy Beane page at Baseball Reference Ronn Reynolds was drafted by the Mets in the 5th round. Player signed June 7, 1980. Rick Ownbey was drafted by the Mets in the 13th round.Rick Ownbey page at Baseball Reference Al Newman was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.Al Newman page at Baseball Reference June 17, 1980: Kevin Kobel was traded by the Mets to the Kansas City Royals for Randy McGilberry.Kevin Kobel page at Baseball Reference July 1, 1980: Randy Johnson was traded by the Mets to the Atlanta Braves for Bill Haselrig (minors).Randy Johnson page at Baseball Reference
Roster 1980 New York Mets Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Alex Treviño 106 355 91 .256 0 37 1B 152 578 162 .280 16 76 2B 128 443 113 .255 0 24 SS Frank Taveras 141 562 157 .279 0 25 3B 130 411 101 .246 4 34 LF 143 513 149 .290 8 58 CF 94 193 49 .254 3 30 RF Joel Youngblood 146 514 142 .276 8 69
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 119 321 82 .255 7 43 John Stearns 91 319 91 .285 0 45 Claudell Washington 79 284 78 .275 10 42 Bill Almon 48 112 19 .170 0 4 Mookie Wilson 27 105 26 .248 0 4 Wally Backman 27 93 30 .323 0 9 Dan Norman 69 92 17 .185 2 9 Hubie Brooks 24 81 25 .309 1 10 37 46 9 .196 2 9 Ron Hodges 36 42 10 .238 0 5 José Cardenal 26 42 7 .167 0 4 18 24 5 .208 0 0 Butch Benton 12 21 1 .048 0 0 Phil Mankowski 8 12 2 .167 0 1 Luis Rosado 4 4 0 .000 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Ray Burris 29 170.1 7 13 4.02 83 Pat Zachry 28 164.2 6 10 3.01 88 Craig Swan 21 128.1 5 9 3.58 79 Mike Scott 6 29.1 1 1 4.30 13
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Mark Bomback 36 162.2 10 8 4.09 68 Pete Falcone 37 157.1 7 10 4.52 109 John Pacella 32 84.0 3 4 5.14 68 Roy Lee Jackson 24 70.2 1 7 4.20 58 Ed Lynch 5 19.1 1 1 5.12 9
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 59 7 10 22 3.70 79 Jeff Reardon 61 8 7 6 2.61 101 Tom Hausman 55 6 5 1 3.98 53 Ed Glynn 38 3 3 1 4.13 32 Dyar Miller 31 1 2 1 1.93 28 14 1 4 0 7.03 8 6 0 1 0 5.79 7 4 0 0 0 1.29 3
Farm system
Notes
References
1980 New York Mets at Baseball Reference 1980 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com