New York Mets

New York Mets is a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. During the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets' home ballpark was Shea Stadium. In 2009, they moved into a new stadium, Citi Field.

In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the worst regular season record since Major League Baseball went to a 162-game season (two games from their inaugural season were never made up). The team never finished better than second to last until the 1969 "Miracle Mets" beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. Since, they have played in three additional World Series, including a dramatic run in 1973 that ended in a seven game loss to the Oakland Athletics, a second championship in 1986 against the Boston Red Sox that was cited in the Curse of the Bambino, and a Subway Series against their cross-town rivals the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series which they lost in five games.
Recent years have again seen the team face struggles, including elimination from postseason contention on the last game of the season in both 2007 (regarded as one of the worst regular season collapses in baseball history) and again in 2008, followed by three losing seasons plagued by injuries and financial difficulties in the wake of the Madoff investment scandal.


Retired numbers by the Mets at Citi Field
Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson's number 42 on April 15, 1997, when the Mets played the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. Butch Huskey wore the number throughout the rest of his Mets career due to a grandfather clause placed on the retired number by MLB. Mo Vaughn also wore number 42 during his stint with the Mets, due to the same clause.
On the final Opening Day at Shea Stadium, April 8, 2008, the Mets unveiled a sign bearing the name "Shea" next to the team's retired numbers honoring William Shea and his contributions to the franchise.
[edit]Numbers out of circulation but not retired
#8: Not issued since Gary Carter was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003. When the Mets honored Carter, they did not retire number 8, but instead gave him a replica of his Hall of Fame plaque depicting him as a Met instead of an Expo. Desi Relaford was the last Met to wear No. 8 as a player; Matt Galante was the last to wear it as a coach. After Carter's death, the Mets honored him in a ceremony on opening day, April 5, 2012. On that occasion the Mets unveiled the "Kid 8" memorial logo (the same one worn on the uniform sleeve) on the outfield fence. However, number 8 is still not officially retired.
#24: Issued to two players since the retirement of Willie Mays. Then-team owner Joan Whitney Payson had promised Mays it wouldn't be issued again. The first time was to first baseman-outfielder Kelvin Torve in 1990, by mistake. The second was to Rickey Henderson in 1999–2000 as a player and again in 2007 as a coach.
#31: Not issued since Mike Piazza left after the 2005 season. This number belonged to John Franco from the time he joined the Mets in 1990 until the team acquired Piazza in 1998.


Rivalries Braves–Mets rivalry
The Braves–Mets rivalry is a rivalry between two teams in the National League East, featuring the Atlanta Braves and the Mets.
Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the 1969 National League Championship Series, en route to their first World Series championship, the first playoff series won by an expansion team (also the first playoff appearance by an expansion team), the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1990s, when division realignment put the Mets and the Braves in the same division, and the Braves became one of the most dominant baseball teams in professional baseball.

Mets–Phillies rivalry
The rivalry between the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies from 2006 to 2008 was said to be among the "hottest" rivalries in the National League along with the Cardinals–Cubs and the Dodgers–Giants rivalries. The two National League East divisional rivals have met each other recently in playoff, division, and Wild Card races.
Aside from several brawls in the 1980s, the rivalry remained low-key before the 2006 season, as the teams had seldom been equally good at the same time. Since 2006, the teams have battled for playoff position. The Mets won the division in 2006 and contended in 2007 and 2008, while the Phillies won five consecutive division titles from 2007 to 2011. The Phillies' 2007 Eastern Division Title was won on the last day of the season as the Mets lost a seven-game lead with seventeen games remaining.