What You Don't Know About New York Mets' Hall of Famers

The New York Mets began play in 1962. Since then they have had just two Hall of Fame players who could say they spent considerable time with the club in Tom Seaver and Gary Carter, a Hall of Fame battery if there ever was one. The New York Mets had players such as Nolan Ryan, Willie Mays, Richie Ashburn and Duke Snider either begin or end their careers with the team, but none was there for any length of time. Here are some things you might not have known about the only two New York Mets' Hall of Famers that they can legitimately lay claim to.

1. Tom Seaver never had a 300 strikeout season!

The 311 game winner is 6th all-time with 3,640 strikeouts, but not once did he break the 300 whiff mark in a single season. Seaver's best year on his way to Cooperstown was in 1971 when he fanned 289 hitters. On 10 different occasions Tom struck out at least 200 batters in a season; 4 times he had 249 strikeouts or more.

2. Seaver had only 3 losing seasons-all towards the end of his career!

Breaking in with the Mets in 1967, Seaver won double-digit games every year through 1981. Then he went 5-13 with the Reds before returning to New York at the age of 38 in 1983 to go 9-14. Seaver finished his career with 2 very solid years with the White Sox before posting a combined 7-13 record with the White and Red Sox in 1986, his 20th in the major leagues. Had he called it a day after his 14-2 campaign in 1981 he would have retired with a 259-143 standard, but he went 52-62 in his last 5 years to wind up 311-205, still more than 100 games over .500.

3. Gary Carter never hit .300 in a full season!

If you were to discount his .407 average in 9 contests for the Expos in 1974, Carter never hit .300 in a season. He did manage to bat over .290 twice, both times with Montreal. With the Mets he hit .281 in 1985 and then never approached that number again in his other 4 years with the club. Gary wound up a .262 lifetime hitter in 7,971 at-bats, garnering almost 2,100 base hits, which for a catcher is always a remarkable feat.

4. In his 19 seasons, Carter led the National League only once in an important offensive category!