Top moments in Mets Opening Day history
The Mets’ success on Opening Day is as remarkable as it is inexplicable, with the best record in baseball.
With that history as a backdrop, here’s my list of the top Opening Day memorable moments for the Mets all time...
1) Gary Carter’s Debut: Mets 6, Cardinals 5, 10 innings, April 9, 1985, Shea Stadium
Acquired in a surprise trade from the Montreal Expos the previous December, Carter was viewed as the final piece of a team with championship potential. So when he sent a full house at Shea home happy with a game-winning home run off former Met Neil Allen in the bottom of the 10th, this Opening Day had a Hollywood feel to it.
It was also the first shot fired in a season-long battle with the Cardinals for NL East supremacy, and Carter went on to have a great year, hitting 32 home runs with 100 RBI. As it turned out, of course, the Mets finished three games behind the Cards in ’85 and so it wasn’t until the next year that Carter helped deliver the championship GM Frank Cashen envisioned when he made the trade to get the future Hall of Fame catcher.
2) The Franchise Returns: Mets 2, Phillies 0. April 5, 1983, Shea Stadium
Six years after the Mets infuriated their fan base by trading Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds, their star pitcher was back at age 38, having been acquired from the Reds the previous December after the worst season of his career.
Welcomed back with a standing ovation as he took the mound, Seaver pitched six scoreless innings in a duel with Steve Carlton and wound up getting a no-decision when the Mets scored two runs in the seventh.
It made for a feel-good story in an otherwise forgettable season as the Mets went 68-94, their seventh straight losing season, and then lost Seaver again when the Chicago White Sox surprised them by claiming him in a free agent compensation draft the following January.
3) Darryl Strawberry’s Roof Shot: Mets 10, Expos 6. April 4, 1988, at Montreal
Having been there for this Opening Day, I’d make the case that you had to see Strawberry’s mammoth home run off Randy St. Claire to truly appreciate it. It’s still the longest, highest shot I’ve ever seen, as it seemed to climb forever above the right field stands until it crashed into the rim of lights just below the roof of Olympic Stadium.
Long before the Statcast technology that now measures home runs, a physics professor from a local college in Montreal calculated that the ball would have traveled 525 feet had it not essentially hit the top of the dome. For Strawberry it was his second home run of the day and quite a start to a superb season that included 39 home runs and 101 RBI as he finished second in the NL MVP voting to the Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson.
4) First Opening Day Win: Mets 5, Pirates 3, 11 innings. April 7, 1970, at Pittsburgh
Nope, the Mets didn’t always win on Opening Day. In fact, they lost the first eight season openers before breaking through on this day at Forbes Field in their first game following their miracle championship ’69 season.
Seaver pitched eight strong innings but the game was tied until Donn Clendenon, fresh from winning the World Series MVP Award the previous October, delivered a pinch-hit, two run single in the 11th, and Tug McGraw then got the last three outs for the save.
5) Raising The Flag: Mets 3, Pirates 2, April 7, 1987, Shea Stadium
The 1986 world championship was the second in franchise history but because the Mets opened the season in Pittsburgh after their ’69 title, this was the first Opening Day they could celebrate by raising the championship flag.
Nevertheless, the day had a bittersweet feel to it for the Mets, coming only a week after they were stunned to learn that Dwight Gooden had tested positive for cocaine and entered a rehab facility in New York.
In what he said was a tribute to his teammate, Darryl Strawberry wore Gooden’s uniform pants in the opener and had the decisive hit, a three-run home run in the first inning that Bob Ojeda and Jesse Orosco made stand up for the win.
6) The Strangest Day: Mets 1, Braves 0, July 24, 2020, Citi Field
At 81 degrees it had to be the hottest Opening Day ever but that was hardly the strange part. Due to the pandemic, no fans were allowed in the ballpark, and while crowd noise was pumped in via the sound system, the quiet was eerie at times, especially when Yoenis Cespedes hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to provide the only run of the game.
Cespedes’ heroics seemed to be a good omen for the 60-game season, but within a month he was gone, opting out due to COVID-19 concerns, though reports surfaced of his unhappiness at potentially being benched at times. Meanwhile, the Mets would never climb above .500 the rest of the season, losing seven of their next nine games en route to a disappointing 26-34 record.
7) Johan Santana’s Debut: Mets 7, Marlins 2, March 31, 2008, at Miami
After their historic September collapse in 2007 the Mets were hoping that acquiring Santana from the Minnesota Twins in a blockbuster trade would be the boost they needed to get back to the postseason. And Opening Day, as usual, offered plenty of promise.
The two-time Cy Young winner pitched seven strong innings and David Wright, in what would be a spectacular 33-home run, 124-RBI season, had a pair of doubles and three RBI to lead the Mets to an easy win. Santana would go on to pay dividends on the trade all season, posting a record of 16-7 with a league-leading 2.53 ERA, but the Mets fell short of the postseason again, eliminated from wild card contention on the final day of the season in a loss to the Marlins, the last game played at Shea Stadium.
8) Extras In Atlanta: Mets 6, Braves 4, 10 innings, April 3, 2001, at Turner Field
Coming off their World Series season in 2000, the Mets had high expectations, all the more so after their Opening Day win against the team they could never seem to beat when it counted in those days.
Al Leiter pitched seven strong innings, then both teams blew late-inning leads before Robin Ventura’s two-run home run in the 10th off Kerry Lightenberg put the Mets ahead and Armando Benitez closed out the win.
However, with Mike Hampton gone via free agency the Mets couldn’t repeat their success of 2000, finishing 82-80, making for second-guessing that maybe they should have taken up free agent Alex Rodriguez on his desire to play in Queens.
9) Pedro Martinez’s Debut: Reds 7, Mets 6, April 4, 2005, at Cincinnati
It felt like a hugely important day as Martinez, freshly-signed after his 2004 championship season with the Boston Red Sox, signaled the start of a big-spending era under GM Omar Minaya, racking up 12 strikeouts in six solid innings.
However, closer Braden Looper gave up two home runs in the ninth to blow a 6-4 lead and the Mets would lose five straight games before new manager Willie Randolph got his first win.
Pedro delivered a strong season, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA, and though the Mets fell short of the postseason with 83 wins, their first winning season in four years set the stage for big things to come in 2006.
10) Meet The Mets: Cardinals 11, Mets 4, April 11, 1962 at St. Louis.
After four years without a National League team in New York, thanks to the Giants and Dodgers leaving for the west coast, the Mets began play as an expansion team on this Opening Day in St. Louis, and the ugly loss, which included three errors, turned out to be a sign of things to come.
Gil Hodges did make history in this game by hitting the first home run for the new franchise, and that proved to be a bit poetic when he later managed the Mets to their 1969 championship. But it was an awfully long inaugural season as the Mets stumbled to a record of 40-120, which included a 17-game losing streak in May and June, finishing a mere 60 ½ games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League.
