1990 would turn out to be the end of a magical 7 year run for the Mets. From 1984-1990 the Amazin's owned New York. 1990 was supposed to be the year that they returned to the pinnacle of baseball. Unfortunately for them they got out of the gate slow with a 20-22 start under manager Davey Johnson, who was subsequently fired. Fan favorite Buddy Harrelson replaced Davey and the team responded by going 71-49 the rest of the way, but they still finished 4 games behind the NL East Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Miraculously the team rallied to catch the Pirates and even held a 1/2 game lead on September 3rd. After a bit of a swoon they again rallied back to 1/2 game out on September 18th, but played .500 ball the rest of the way and lost out. Met fans figured that the team would pick up its winning ways in 1991, but star slugger Darryl Strawberry left for free agency and their famed pitching staff began to crumble.
1990 had some real highlights for the Amazin's. Straw hit 37 homers and knocked in 108 runs. HoJo missed out on one of his 30/30 years, but he did hit 23 homers and he stoe 34 bases. Quiet and consistent Kevin McReynolds defensively played the best left field in the league and hit 24 homers with 82 RBI's. The bench was a bit thin, but Mark Carreon and Tim Teufel both chipped in with 10 homers and hit around .250. Keith Miller was a utility man who filled in at almost every position. The catching spot was a carousel. Mackey Sasser had the best bat (.307), but he had the yipps when it came to throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Fans at Shea tortured him unmercifully. Orlando Mercado, Charlie O'Brien, Barry Lyons and Todd Hundley were all better defensively behind the plate, but not one of the 4 could hit over .230. It got so bad the had to pick up retread Alex Tevino.
Frank "Sweet Music" Viola had his best year in Flushing going 20-12 (2.67). Doc Gooden missed out on the 20 win plateau by 1 game (19-7, 3.83). Met fans and management were concerned with his bloated ERA. David Cone (14-10, 3.23) couldn't get anyone to score for him. El Sid and Ron Darling both had sub. 500 seasons and were not their usual to notch selves. Johnny Franco, who arrived in the off season in a trade with the Reds for Randy Myers, saved 33 games and was the Rolaids reliever of the year. This would be the first of 14 seasons in Flushing for the Brooklyn born star. Alejandro Pena, Wally Whitehurst and Bobby Ojeda saw a lot of action out of the pen in relief for those tired arms in the rotation. Manager Eric Stouber returns for his second season managing in Flushing after 4 campaigns in Beantown. Stouber, a life long Met fans, will have to keep the burning embers of a dying would be dynasty alive if he hopes to capture the NL East Flag.
To complete this set I had to add 11 new cards. 1990 saw Topps once again resurrect their Bowman label of cards, which is what I used for the template. Some cards of note: The Kevin Baez card was created by superimposing Kevin's studio portrait picture on a background of Shea. Keith Hughes' card started out originally as a B&W wire photo of him taken in a Phillies uniform. I had to colorized the photo as well as add the orange piping on his shoulders, plus the "NY" Mets logo on his cap.
1990 had some real highlights for the Amazin's. Straw hit 37 homers and knocked in 108 runs. HoJo missed out on one of his 30/30 years, but he did hit 23 homers and he stoe 34 bases. Quiet and consistent Kevin McReynolds defensively played the best left field in the league and hit 24 homers with 82 RBI's. The bench was a bit thin, but Mark Carreon and Tim Teufel both chipped in with 10 homers and hit around .250. Keith Miller was a utility man who filled in at almost every position. The catching spot was a carousel. Mackey Sasser had the best bat (.307), but he had the yipps when it came to throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Fans at Shea tortured him unmercifully. Orlando Mercado, Charlie O'Brien, Barry Lyons and Todd Hundley were all better defensively behind the plate, but not one of the 4 could hit over .230. It got so bad the had to pick up retread Alex Tevino.
Frank "Sweet Music" Viola had his best year in Flushing going 20-12 (2.67). Doc Gooden missed out on the 20 win plateau by 1 game (19-7, 3.83). Met fans and management were concerned with his bloated ERA. David Cone (14-10, 3.23) couldn't get anyone to score for him. El Sid and Ron Darling both had sub. 500 seasons and were not their usual to notch selves. Johnny Franco, who arrived in the off season in a trade with the Reds for Randy Myers, saved 33 games and was the Rolaids reliever of the year. This would be the first of 14 seasons in Flushing for the Brooklyn born star. Alejandro Pena, Wally Whitehurst and Bobby Ojeda saw a lot of action out of the pen in relief for those tired arms in the rotation. Manager Eric Stouber returns for his second season managing in Flushing after 4 campaigns in Beantown. Stouber, a life long Met fans, will have to keep the burning embers of a dying would be dynasty alive if he hopes to capture the NL East Flag.
To complete this set I had to add 11 new cards. 1990 saw Topps once again resurrect their Bowman label of cards, which is what I used for the template. Some cards of note: The Kevin Baez card was created by superimposing Kevin's studio portrait picture on a background of Shea. Keith Hughes' card started out originally as a B&W wire photo of him taken in a Phillies uniform. I had to colorized the photo as well as add the orange piping on his shoulders, plus the "NY" Mets logo on his cap.
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