1980 New York Mets season

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1980 New York Mets
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkShea Stadium
CityNew York
OwnersNelson Doubleday, Jr.
General managersFrank Cashen
ManagersJoe Torre
TelevisionWOR-TV
RadioWMCA
(Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Steve Albert)
← 1979 Seasons 1981 →

The 1980 New York Mets season was the 19th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 67–95 record and finished in fifth place in the National League East.

Offseason

The beginnings of the 1986 team

On January 24, 1980, ownership of the team changed hands. The group that bought the Mets for an estimated $22 million (the largest amount paid for a ball club to that point) was headed by Nelson Doubleday, Jr. and Fred Wilpon. Doubleday was head of the old and distinguished publishing company that bore his name, while Wilpon was a highly successful real-estate developer. The new owners promised to invest money to acquire winning players and develop a competitive club,[1] though it took a few years before the new partners were able to rebuild a solid contender.

In February, the new owners hired Frank Cashen, who had spent ten years in the front office of the Baltimore Orioles from 1966 to 1976, during which time the Orioles went to four World Series, winning two. During his tenure, the Mets would see what some called a "resuscitation",[2] eventually leading to the team's first World Championship in 17 years. After leaving the Orioles, Cashen worked outside of baseball for three years before joining commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office as administrator of baseball. It was from this job that the Mets wooed him and installed him as executive vice president and general manager.

Regular season

On the field

Due to their last-place finish in 1979, the Mets had the first pick in the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft. They used it to select an 18-year-old outfielder from Los Angeles, Darryl Strawberry, a key figure of future Mets teams. With the twenty-third pick, they selected Billy Beane, later the protagonist in Moneyball.

Under Torre, the team suffered their 4th consecutive losing season, 24 games out of first place, although the Mets moved up one place in the standings to fifth. They even flirted with .500 (until losing 38 of their last 49 games), which may have led to attendance jumping nearly 400,000 to almost 1,200,000. The team had the motto "The Magic is Back" during the 1980 season. Notable highlights from the season included three come-from-behind wins in five days: 5-4 and 6-5 over the Dodgers June 10 and 12 (after trailing 4-0 and 5-0), and 7-6 over the Giants on the 14th after trailing 6-0. The Mets fell to earth in a five-game sweep at Shea by the eventual champion Phillies in mid-August, before which they were 56-57. Their final home series against the Pirates drew just over 5,000 fans for three games combined.

The construction of the then-state-of-the-art DiamondVision electronic scoreboard in center field for 1981 resulted in a sharp increase in ticket prices following this season, e.g., with General Admission seating rising from $1.50 to $4.00.

Season standings

NL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 91 71 0.562 — 49–32 42–39
Montreal Expos 90 72 0.556 1 51–29 39–43
Pittsburgh Pirates 83 79 0.512 8 47–34 36–45
St. Louis Cardinals 74 88 0.457 17 41–40 33–48
New York Mets 67 95 0.414 24 38–44 29–51
Chicago Cubs 64 98 0.395 27 37–44 27–54

Record vs. opponents

1980 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 8–4 2–16 7–11 11–7 5–7 3–9 5–7 11–1 12–6 11–6 6–6
Chicago 4–8 — 7–5 1–11 5–7 6–12 10–8 5–13 8–10 4–8 5–7 9–9
Cincinnati 16–2 5–7 — 8–10 9–9 3–9 8–4 7–5 6–6 15–3–1 7–11 5–7
Houston 11–7 11–1 10–8 — 9–10 5–7 8–4 3–9 7–5 11–7 11–7 7–5
Los Angeles 7–11 7–5 9–9 10–9 — 11–1 7–5 6–6 6–6 9–9 13–5 7–5
Montreal 7–5 12–6 9–3 7–5 1–11 — 10–8 9–9 6–12 10–2 7–5 12–6
New York 9–3 8–10 4–8 4–8 5–7 8–10 — 6–12 10–8 1–11 3–9 9–9
Philadelphia 7-5 13–5 5–7 9–3 6–6 9–9 12–6 — 7–11 8–4 6–6 9–9
Pittsburgh 1–11 10–8 6–6 5–7 6–6 12–6 8–10 11–7 — 6–6 8–4 10–8
San Diego 6–12 8–4 3–15–1 7–11 9–9 2–10 11–1 4–8 6–6 — 10–8 7–5
San Francisco 6–11 7–5 11–7 7–11 5–13 5–7 9–3 6–6 4–8 8–10 — 7–5
St. Louis 6–6 9–9 7–5 5–7 5–7 6–12 9–9 9–9 8–10 5–7 5–7 —


Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster

1980 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Alex Treviño 106 355 91 .256 0 37
1B Lee Mazzilli 152 578 162 .280 16 76
2B Doug Flynn 128 443 113 .255 0 24
SS Frank Taveras 141 562 157 .279 0 25
3B Elliott Maddox 130 411 101 .246 4 34
LF Steve Henderson 143 513 149 .290 8 58
CF Jerry Morales 94 193 49 .254 3 30
RF Joel Youngblood 146 514 142 .276 8 69

Other batters

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
Mike Jorgensen 119 321 82 .255 7 43
John Stearns 91 319 91 .285 0 45
Claudell Washington 79 284 78 .275 10 42
Bill Almon 48 112 19 .170 0 4
Mookie Wilson 27 105 26 .248 0 4
Wally Backman 27 93 30 .323 0 9
Dan Norman 69 92 17 .185 2 9
Hubie Brooks 24 81 25 .309 1 10
José Moreno 37 46 9 .196 2 9
Ron Hodges 36 42 10 .238 0 5
José Cardenal 26 42 7 .167 0 4
Mario Ramírez 18 24 5 .208 0 0
Butch Benton 12 21 1 .048 0 0
Phil Mankowski 8 12 2 .167 0 1
Luis Rosado 4 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ray Burris 29 170.1 7 13 4.02 83
Pat Zachry 28 164.2 6 10 3.01 88
Craig Swan 21 128.1 5 9 3.58 79
Mike Scott 6 29.1 1 1 4.30 13

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mark Bomback 36 162.2 10 8 4.09 68
Pete Falcone 37 157.1 7 10 4.52 109
John Pacella 32 84.0 3 4 5.14 68
Roy Lee Jackson 24 70.2 1 7 4.20 58
Ed Lynch 5 19.1 1 1 5.12 9

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Neil Allen 59 7 10 22 3.70 79
Jeff Reardon 61 8 7 6 2.61 101
Tom Hausman 55 6 5 1 3.98 53
Ed Glynn 38 3 3 1 4.13 32
Dyar Miller 31 1 2 1 1.93 28
Kevin Kobel 14 1 4 0 7.03 8
Juan Berenguer 6 0 1 0 5.79 7
Scott Holman 4 0 0 0 1.29 3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Frank Verdi
AA Jackson Mets Texas League Bob Wellman
A Lynchburg Mets Carolina League Jack Aker
A-Short Season Little Falls Mets New York–Penn League Dan Monzon
Rookie Kingsport Mets Appalachian League Chuck Hiller

Notes

  1. ^ "Mets Are Now Rebuilding On Solid Financial Ground". The New York Times. January 25, 1980. p. B6.
  2. ^ Steadman, John (April 15, 1992). "With Tip of Cap to Hoffberger, Mets Turn Out to Thank Cashen". The Baltimore Sun.
  3. ^ Darryl Strawberry page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Billy Beane page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ "Ronn Reynolds Stats".
  6. ^ Rick Ownbey page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Al Newman page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Kevin Kobel page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Randy Johnson page at Baseball Reference

References

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