The history of the New York Mets began in 1962 when the team was introduced as part of the first expansion in the National League (NL) in the 20th century. The team has won two World Series championships and five NL pennants. The team's current owner is Steve Cohen, the president is David Stearns, and the manager is Carlos Mendoza.
Franchise history
Founding of the Mets In 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, respectively, leaving the largest city in the United States with no NL franchise (and only one team overall, the American League's New York Yankees).
Two years later, on July 27, 1959, New York-based attorney William Shea announced the formation of a third major baseball league, the Continental League. Shea tried to get several existing NL clubs to move, including the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, but no club was interested in doing so.
One of the Continental League's five charter members was to be a team in New York City. Majority interest in the club was held by Joan Whitney Payson and Charles Shipman Payson, former minority owners of the Giants. The second largest stake in the club was held by George Herbert Walker Jr. (uncle of the future President George H. W. Bush), who served as the vice president and treasurer until 1977. Former Giants director M. Donald Grant became chairman of the board. Grant had represented the Paysons' interests on the Giants' board; and had been the only board member to oppose the team's move west.
The NL and AL, each of which had considerably more autonomy from MLB at the time, responded with plans to add four new teams, two in each league. One of the new NL teams was to be placed in New York. The NL offered this new franchise to the Continental League's New York group, provided that they commit to building a new ballpark. Shea told New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. that he had to personally cable all of the NL team owners and guarantee that the city would build a new facility.
The new team required a new name, and many were suggested. Among the finalists were "Bees," "Burros," "Continentals," "Skyscrapers," "Skyliners," "Jets," "Empires" and "Islanders.". Although Payson had admitted a preference for "Meadowlarks", the owners ultimately selected "Mets", because it was closely related to the club's already-existing corporate name, "New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc." The name is also an ode to the New York Metropolitans, a late 19th century New York team in the American Association from 1880 to 1887. In addition, the brevity would naturally fit in newspaper headlines. The name was received with broad approval among fans and the press. Two of the finalists that were not selected would eventually be used by other New York sports teams. The American Football League's New York Titans would change their nickname to the "Jets" before the 1964 AFL season. In 1972 the National Hockey League expanded to Long Island with the new team calling itself the New York Islanders.
From the beginning, the Mets sought to appeal to the large contingent of former Giants and Dodgers fans. The Mets' team colors of orange (from the Giants) and blue (from the Dodgers) were chosen as a direct nod to the NL's past in New York. The Mets also paid homage to the Giants by adopting their interlocking "NY" cap insignia for their own. Orange and blue are also New York City's official colors, appearing on its city flag. Though the Giants and Dodgers had been bitter rivals since the 19th century, most of the despondent members of each clubs fan base joined in support of the Mets. The Mets have continued to honor the Giants and Dodgers legacy into the 21st century, most notably in their home ballpark Citi Field, whose outside and entry rotunda was inspired by the Dodgers home ball park Ebbets Field. In addition to that, in 2022 the Mets retired the number 24 of Willie Mays, thus fulfilling a promise made by Payson to Mays to retire his number. Mays, the long-time Giant, returned to New York to play with the Mets for the final two seasons of his career and also served as a team coach after his retirement from playing.
Ballparks The Mets began play in 1962 and played home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, which it shared with the American Football League's New York Titans, who had been playing there since 1960. The Polo Grounds, formerly the home of the NL's New York Giants, the AL's New York Yankees (in the early 20th century before the opening of the original Yankee Stadium across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds in 1923) and the National Football League's New York Giants, needed a heavy facelift (including a fresh paint job, and new Mets signage) before the Mets moved in as temporary tenants while Shea Stadium was being constructed in the Flushing Meadows neighborhood of Queens.
The Mets and Titans moved into Shea Stadium before the start of each teams' respective seasons in 1964. The Mets called Shea home until the opening of Citi Field in 2009. The Titans would rename themselves the Jets after the move to Shea and call it home until moving to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey before the start of the 1984 season. Citi Field is located adjacent to the former site of Shea Stadium, just beyond the former stadium's right field wall.
Team Championships and accolades During their history, the Mets have won the World Series twice, the first coming in 1969 against the Baltimore Orioles and the second in 1986 against the Boston Red Sox. In addition to their two World Series victories, the Mets have won the NL pennant five times (1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, and 2015), and NL East title six times (1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 2006, and 2015). The Mets have also qualified for the postseason as a NL Wild Card team five additional times (1999, 2000, 2016, 2022, and 2024).
The Mets are tied with the Houston Astros for the most pennants—five—won by an expansion team in Major League Baseball history. Their two championships equal the tally of the Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, and Astros for the most titles among expansion teams. The Mets are also the only expansion team to have clinched multiple World Series championships at home.
On June 1, 2012, Mets ace Johan Santana finally ended the Mets "no-hitter curse" in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. The franchise's hurlers had gone more than 7,800 games without pitching one—longer than any other MLB franchise. On several occasions, potential no-hitters by Mets pitchers were broken up in the late innings. Tom Seaver twice pitched innings without allowing a hit for the Mets. In one of those games, against the Chicago Cubs in 1969, Seaver only needed two more outs for a perfect game before Jim Qualls singled to end the perfect game and no-hitter.
Over the years multiple Mets pitchers, including Tom Glavine, Pedro Martínez, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, R. A. Dickey, Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, Steven Matz, and Noah Syndergaard all lost their no-hit bids in the 7th or 8th inning. In addition, Mets pitchers, such as Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, David Cone, Dwight Gooden Hideo Nomo, and Philip Humber would all throw no-hitters with other teams either before joining, or after leaving the Mets.
On April 29, 2022, the Mets would record the franchises second no-hitter, this time a combined effort by pitchers Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz; against the Philadelphia Phillies. After the Mets got their first no-hitter, the San Diego Padres were the only team in MLB without a no-hitter (a distinction they would hold until ).
Retired numbers The Mets have retired nine numbers over the course of the franchise's history. 14 Gil Hodges (June 9, 1973) 16 Dwight Gooden (April 14, 2024) 17 Keith Hernandez (July 9, 2022) 18 Darryl Strawberry (June 1, 2024) 24 Willie Mays (August 27, 2022) 31 Mike Piazza (July 30, 2016) 36 Jerry Koosman (August 28, 2021) 37 Casey Stengel (September 2, 1965) 41 Tom Seaver (July 24, 1988)
The club displays their retired numbers on the facade of the left field roof at Citi Field. In addition to the nine retired numbers the team has honored other significant figures in throughout their history with plaques on the Citi Field facade. Among them are longtime broadcasters Ralph Kiner (March 31, 2014) and Bob Murphy (April 5, 2023), along with team visionary William Shea.
Like every other team in MLB, the Mets have retired the number of Hall of Fame inductee and former Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson, in honor of Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier on April 15, 1947. Shea Stadium hosted the league wide number retirement ceremony for Robinson's #42 on April 15, 1997, and Jackie Robinson Day is now celebrated league wide annually. The Mets continue to have a large association with Robinson, as the entry rotunda at Citi Field is named after him.
Fan support The Mets held the New York City baseball attendance record for 29 years, after breaking the Yankees' 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million fans to Shea Stadium in 1970. The Mets broke their own record five times before the Yankees took it back in 1999. With the closing of Shea Stadium and the original Yankee Stadium after the 2008 season, both teams moved into considerably smaller ballparks, thus the attendance records set by each team will not be seriously challenged in the near future. During their time at Shea Stadium, the Mets outdrew the Yankees from 1964 to 1975, and again from 1984 to 1992.
1962–1968: The Amazin’s In October 1961, the National League held an expansion draft to stock the rosters of the Mets and their expansion cousins, the Houston Colt .45s. Twenty-two players were selected by the Mets, including some with notable previous success such as pitchers Roger Craig and Al Jackson, slugging outfielder Frank Thomas, and future Hall of Fame inductees Richie Ashburn and Gil Hodges. While the site of familiar faces such as Hodges and Craig would no doubt drum up interest and nostalgia for the team's fan base, the lack of young players with future potential would hurt the Mets in the long term, as they would struggle mightily throughout most of the 1960s. Legendary Yankees manager Casey Stengel was hired out of retirement to lead the team, but his managerial acumen was not enough to overcome the severe deficiency of talent among the players.
1962–1963 The Mets took the field for the first time on April 11, 1962, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was supposed to be played the day before, but was rained out by a storm that left the playing surface still drenched the next day. The very first batter in Mets history was centerfielder Richie Ashburn. He would be followed in the line up by shortstop Félix Mantilla, second baseman Charlie Neal, left fielder Frank Thomas, right fielder Gus Bell, first baseman Gil Hodges, third baseman Don Zimmer, catcher Hobie Landrith and starting pitcher Roger Craig.
Craig would give up the first run in Mets history thanks to a Stan Musial RBI single, scoring Julián Javier. One apocryphal legend has it that in this first game Craig would balk in the first run against the Mets in team history by dropping the ball during his windup with the Cardinals' Bill White on third. While Craig was charged with a balk in the game, it in fact moved White from second base to third base. Neal would drive in Ashburn for the first run in Mets history in the top of the third inning. Hodges would also hit the first home run in Mets history that evening, leading off the fourth inning with a long home run to left field. Despite the franchise firsts, Mets would go on to lose the game 11–4.