New York, NY (WFAN) -- As we approach the Ides of March the Mets have posted a respectable 9 and 5 record, tied for the 2nd best among National League teams in Grapefruit and Cactus League play but have Spring Training won-loss records meant all that much as far as how the regular seasons have gone for the Mets throughout their history? And what about some of the Mets who have had outstanding Springs, did those translate into good seasons or careers?
Casey Stengel’s 1962 club posted a 12-15 mark at the first of the Mets two spring training venues in team history, Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg (Lang was the mayor of St. Petersburg who lured the St. Louis Browns to St. Pete to train in the early 1900’s). Of course that 12-15 record translated into the dubious record of 40 and 120 in the Mets inaugural season. The Old Professor’s Amazin’s went 15-12 in the Spring of 1963 and then went 51-111 in the regular season. Those 15 victories were not topped by any Mets club in Florida until 1988, when they went 19-10 in first year at their present Spring Training home in Port St. Lucie.
Joe Frazier led the Mets to an 86-76 in his only full year as the team’s skipper in 1976 but that spring the Mets went just 4-11 due, for the most part, to a work stoppage that lasted from March 1st to March 17th. The four wins and the .267 winning percentage remain the worst figures by the club in any Spring Training in their history.
Gil Hodges’ 1969 Miracle Mets went 14-10 in St. Pete and with the exception of the 1988 team that went 19-10, none of the Mets teams that reached the post-season did anything special record-wise in the Grapefruit League. Yogi Berra’s 1973 squad went 11-13. Davey Johnson’s 1986 club was 13-13. Bobby Valentine’s 1999 and 2000 teams went 15-16 and 14-12 respectively and Willie Randolph’s 2006 Eastern Division champs finished the spring slate at 16-14-1.
As for individual performances by Mets in Spring Training, Butch Huskey's 1996 March was one of the best ever. Huskey belted a Mets record nine homers that month--one more than Dave Kingman's previous mark of eight set in 1975, Kong's first spring as a Met. Huskey went on to hit 15 home runs in the regular season and drove in 60 while hitting .278. Kingman set a new Mets single season home run record in ’75 with 36, drove in 88 runs and hit .231.
Since 1972, the Mets have presented the John J. Murphy award to the top Met rookie of the Spring. Murphy, who joined the front office under George Weiss in 1961, was the Mets General Manager from 1968 until his death in 1970. Some of the more notable Mets to win the award were: John Stearns (1975), Lee Mazzilli (1977), Darryl Strawberry (1983), Edgardo Alfonzo (1995) and Jose Reyes (2002). In 1972 and 1984, Jon Matlack and Dwight Gooden would each win National League Rookie of the Year honors but neither was deemed the best Mets rookie in Florida. John Milner won the Murphy Award in '72 while Ron Darling took the honors in '84. Some of the less notable Murphy Award winners include: Mike Bruhert (1978), Mario Ramirez (1980), Ron Gardenhire and Charlie Puleo (who both shared the honor in 1982), Steve Bieser (1997) and Dae-Sung Koo (2005). Country-Western recording artist Garth Brooks was given the award in 2000 after spending the Spring with the Mets raising money for his Touch 'Em All Foundation.
The Mets have also had a number of players throughout their history who appeared in Spring Training games but never in the regular season. Former Yankees World Series winners Johnny Kucks and Bob Cerv (both in 1963), pitchers Bill Hands of the ’69 Cubs (1976), Nellie Briles, a World Series winner with the ’67 Cardinals and ’71 Pirates (1979) and Jim Bibby, who came up thru the Mets farm system before being dealt to St. Louis in 1971. Some other position players include: a pair of 1986 Astros: Terry Puhl (1991) and Glenn Davis (1994). 1996 Yankee Charlie Hayes (2000) and his 1993 teammate from the N.L. Champion Phillies, Kevin Stocker (2001) and a pair from the 1999 N.L. Champion Atlanta Braves: Andres Galarraga (2005) and Bret Boone (2006).
