1996 New York Mets season

1996 New York Mets
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
General manager(s) Joe McIlvaine
Manager(s) Dallas Green, Bobby Valentine
Local television WWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York
(Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Howie Rose, Gary Thorne)
Local radio WFAN
(Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Ed Coleman)
WXLX (spanish)
(Juan Alicea)
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The New York Mets' 1996 season was the 35th regular season for the Mets. They went 71-91 and finished 4th in the NL East. They were managed by Dallas Green and Bobby Valentine. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

  • December 14, 1995: Lance Johnson signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.[1]
  • December 19, 1995: Brent Mayne was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the New York Mets for Al Shirley (minors).[2]
  • March 31, 1996: Ryan Thompson was traded by the New York Mets with Reid Cornelius to the Cleveland Indians for Mark Clark.[3]

Regular season

After back to back finishes near the top of the National League East, the Mets returned to the losing ways that had plagued the team since 1991. Manager Dallas Green, like his three predecessors in the position, was fired before the season was completed. His replacement was former Texas Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, the manager of the Norfolk Tides.

The Mets did not put up great power numbers as they had in recent years but managed to have two players reach 30 or more home runs. One was catcher Todd Hundley, who broke Roy Campanella's major league record for home runs by a catcher by recording 41.[4] The other was outfielder Bernard Gilkey, who put up thirty home runs of his own. Lance Johnson, acquired in the off season after spending eight years with the Chicago White Sox, had a career year as well. The National League's All-Star center fielder, Johnson hit a career high .333, led the NL in hits with 227, stole 50 bases to set another career high, and recorded sixty extra base hits including a league leading 21 triples; no player since 1930 had that many in the National League.[5]

The Mets traded away infielders Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino to the Cleveland Indians during the season. The promotion of rookie Rey Ordoñez to be the team's everyday shortstop had both players playing out of position, with Vizcaino at second base and Kent at third. In return the Mets received Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza, neither of whom made much of an impact.

Mark Clark led the Mets starters with a 14-11 record. Bobby Jones' 12-8 mark was good enough for second best on the team. Jason Isringhausen made more than twenty starts for the only time in his career, finishing with a 6-14 mark.

Alex Ochoa hit for the cycle on July 3 in a 10-6 win in Philadelphia.[6] He was the sixth Met to hit for the cycle.[6]

The Mets and San Diego Padres traveled to Mexico in August, marking the first time a regular season MLB game was played in Mexico.

Opening Day Roster

[7]

Season standings

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 9666 0.593 — 56–25 40–41
Montreal Expos 8874 0.543 8 50–31 38–43
Florida Marlins 8082 0.494 16 52–29 28–53
New York Mets 7191 0.438 25 42–39 29–52
Philadelphia Phillies 6795 0.414 29 35–46 32–49

Record vs. opponents

1996 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —7–57–55–76–76–65–710–37–69–49–39–47–59–4
Chicago 5–7—5–85–76–65–88–56–67–57–64–96–67–55–8
Cincinnati 5–78–5—7–63–97–64–83–96–610–25–89–39–45–8
Colorado 7–57–56–7—5–88–56–73–97–56–67–58–55–88–4
Florida 7–66–69–38–5—7–56–75–87–66–75–73–95–76–6
Houston 6–68–56–75–85–7—6–64–98–410–28–56–68–42–11
Los Angeles 7–55–88–47–67–66–6—9–38–47–66–65–87–68–4
Montreal 3–106–69–39–38–59–43–9—7–66–77–54–89–48–4
New York 6–75–76–65–76–74–84–86–7—7–68–53–106–65–7
Philadelphia 4-96–72–106–67–62–106–77–66–7—7–54–86–64–8
Pittsburgh 3–99–48–55–77–55–86–65–75–85–7—4–98–43–10
San Diego 4–96–63–95–89–36–68–58–410–38–49–4—11–24–8
San Francisco 5–75–74–98–57–54–86–74–96–66–64–82–11—7–6
St. Louis 4–98–58–54–86–611-24–84–87–58–410–38–46–7—

Game log

1996 Game Log: 71–91 (Home: 42–39; Away: 29–52)
Legend:           = Win           = Loss
Bold = Mets team member

Detailed records

Roster

1996 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Carl Everett10119246.240116

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA
Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO

Awards and records

  • Lance Johnson, National League leader, Triples (21) [5]

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Norfolk Tides International League Bobby Valentine and Bruce Benedict
AA Binghamton Mets Eastern League John Tamargo
A St. Lucie Mets Florida State League John Gibbons
A Capital City Bombers South Atlantic League Howie Freiling
A-Short Season Pittsfield Mets New York–Penn League Doug Davis
Rookie Kingsport Mets Appalachian League John Stephenson
Rookie GCL Mets Gulf Coast League Mickey Brantley

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Lucie[8]

References

  1. ↑ Lance Johnson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. ↑ https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maynebr01.shtml
  3. ↑ Ryan Thompson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ↑ Willis, George (September 15, 1996). "Hundley's 41st Puts Him in Record Books". New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  5. 1 2 Nemec, David; Flatow, Scott. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures (2008 ed.). New York: Penguin Group. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0.
  6. 1 2 Diamos, Jason (July 4, 1996). "Ochoa Hits For the Cycle To Spark Mets". New York Times. p. B9.
  7. ↑ 1996 New York Mets Roster by Baseball Almanac
  8. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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