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Another thing that irks me about Mets fans...they are way too sentimental about numbers. New Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi decided he'll wear #18...probably either the number he wore in Japan or a tribute to Dice-K.
But Mets fans bitch that it's Strawberry's number. They also do the same thing with Gooden's #16. Yes, they were key pieces to the '86 team...and two of the best talents to come out of the Met system, but they could have been legendary. Their personal lives really derailed their Met careers. I'd be all for letting them into the Mets' Hall of Fame, but retire their numbers? Nah. People wanna see Gary Carter's #8 retired, but he only spent 5 years with the team. IMO, nobody should have their number retired after just 5 years unless they were to put up absolute MONSTER numbers.
I DO think somebody from the '86 team should see his number hanging in left field, and that's #17 Keith Hernandez. The trade for him marked the Mets beginning to turn the corner, and he was the leader. Nobody's been issued it so far this year, so my hope is they've finally taken it out of circulation. Maybe they are waiting til 2011 to see if the Vet's Committee lets him into the HOF (which I don't think will happen unfortunately...1B is not a position where they really look at defense. Take his career and move it to SS and he'd be in already). But yeah, his number should go up.
And Piazza's #31 probably should have been retired in 2008 before Shea closed, but I'm guessing they're waiting for his eventual HOF induction. They've not issued it since he left so I'd be shocked if it wasn't hung up eventually. The fact that they've had him stand side-by-side alone with Seaver in on-field ceremonies speaks volumes.
I think it's just another case of Mets fans looking cross town, seeing the Yanks have retired like 50 numbers...and wanting to be the same. Fuck that.
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