All Time Mets Uniform Number Team

First the rules:
1) Each player on this list can only be used once. (withe one exception)
2) The Number I use does not have to be the players primary number that the player wore
3) Players only - no coaches or managers (or mascots - sorry Mr. Met)
4) Selections based only on the players performance as a Met (So no Willie Mays or Nolan Ryan)

Also -  I would like to point out that whenever i mention "MBTN" - I am referring to the excellent website - WWW.MBTN.NET. I thank them for their site as that is where i got the information on uniform numbers although i point out that all opinions mentioned here are my own. In addition i would like to thank "The ultimate Mets Database" - www.ultimatemets.com - for providing the Mets all time roster. I also should have thanked them for my previous post titled A B C .. in which i give my all time alphabet Mets roster.
As usual this is my opinion so feel free to critique and criticize as much as you like.
Please leave comments and maybe ill change my mind or explain my position better

                     

Uniform Number Player Name Comment 0 Rey Ordonez Only competition is Terry McDaniel OO Tony Clark With a nod to Mr. Met 1 Mookie Wilson 2 Kevin Elster A personal favorite of mine - silky smooth fielder 3 Bud Harrelson 4 Robin Ventura With a nod to Lenny "Nails" Dykstra 5 David Wright 6 Wally Backman MBTN - Most frequently issued jersey in Mets history! 7 Jose Reyes 8 Gary Carter 9 Todd Hundley 10 Rusty Staub 11 Tim Teufel 12 Lee Mazzilli Ron Darling gave me the most trouble.I put Ron Darling as number 44 so i could fit in Lee Mazzilli at 12. Darling also wore 15 but i couldnt bump Carlos Beltran. Of course then i had to bump David Cone from 44. Cone also wore 16 and 17 but i couldnt bump Dwight Gooden or Keith Hernandez. Mazzilli also wore 16 and 13 but i couldnt bump Dwight Gooden and didnt want to bump Edgardo Alfonzo either. This gives you an idea as to why i have my rules that i set out at the top of this post. So from David Cone, Dwight Gooden, Lee Mazzilli, Edgardo Alfonzo, Carlos Beltran, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling i left off David Cone. 13 Edgardo Alfonzo 14 Ron Swoboda Gil Hodges retired number - MBTN - The number was last issued to a player in 1967 (Ken Boyer) 15 Carlos Beltran 16 Dwight Gooden 17 Keith Hernandez Should be the next number retired by the Mets

18 Darryl Strawberry Glad i could get him in on an all time team as he was passed over for Tom Seaver in my all time Mets Alphabet team 19 Bobby Ojeda 20 Howard Johnson 21 Carlos Delgado 22 Al Leiter My most difficult decision. At one point or another I had Al Leiter, Don Clendenon and Kevin McReynolds 23 Bernard Gilkey Im not sure why but i thought i would be able to find someone better for 23 24 Art Shamsky Interestingly this number was not issued to a player from when Willie Mays wore it in 1973 until 1990 when they gave it to Kelvin Torve. Former owner Joan Payson made a promise to not issue this number again but apparently the Mets gave it to Torve by accident. When Rickey Henderson joined the team he first sought - and got permission from Willie Mays to wear the number. 25 Pedro Feliciano You can almost make an all-disappointment team with this number - Jay Payton,Bill Pulsipher, Bobby Bonilla, Kaz Matsui and Alex Escobar all wore 25 at some point 26 Dave Kingman 27 Craig Swan Scratched Todd Zeille at the last second. Largely due to seniority. Swan wore the number for the Mets from 1973 - 1984 28 Bobby Jones .568 winning percentage and one of the single great pitching performances in Mets history in the 2000 NLDS 29 Dave Magadan Ill also mention Steve Trachsel who made the all-decade Mets team of the 00s 30 Cliff Floyd I wish i could give it to Nolan Ryan 31 Mike Piazza If Keith Hernandez is not next then Mike Piazza certainly is 32 Jon Matlack A bit of an overshadowed pitcher but look it up - a pretty good pitcher that had an outstanding posteason in '73 33 Ron Hunt Heres to hoping we can give this spot to John Maine someday 34 Cleon Jones 35 Rick Reed 59 - 36 W-L with a 3.66 ERA - not bad 36 Jerry Koosman 37 No Met Player has ever wore this number Casey Stengel retired number

38 Rick Aguilera 39 Jeff Kent 40 Jeff Innis Pitched for the Mets for parts of seven seasons to the tune of a 3.05 ERA 41 Tom Seaver The Franchise - Tom Seaver retired number 42 Roger McDowell Retired throughout baseball 43 Terry Leach Mets career - W - L - 24 - 9 with a 3.11 ERA 44 Ron Darling 45 John Franco 46 Oliver Perez What can i say - slim pickings here although 29 - 24 W-L is not bad 47 Tom Glavine 48 Randy Myers 49 Armando Benitez He did put up some good numbers 50 Sid Frenandez MBTN - Number most associated with Hawaiians Sid Fernandez, the first and best player ever to wear it, and Benny Agbayani. 51 Lance Johnson Only played for the Mets for two seasons but 1996 was one for the ages. Established then Mets single-season records for at bats, runs, hits, triples and total bases. The records for hits and triples still stand. 52 Tony Clark An exception to the rule - I had to list him twice as he is the only Mets player to wear 00 and the only Mets player to wear 52 53 Chad Bradford 54 Mark Clark Only competition is Brad Lawrence 55 Orel Hershiser 56 Dyar Miller The first Mets player to be issued this number 57 Johan Santana

58 Louis Rosada No other Mets ever played a game wearing this number 59 Ed Lynch 60 Scott Schoeneweis Only player to ever wear this number 61 Jesse Orosco 62 Hubie Brooks 63 NONE 64 Elmer Dessens Only player to ever wear this number 65 - 72 NONE 73 Kenny Rogers wow - cant believe i had to put him on an all-anything-team but only competition is Ricardo Rincon 74 NONE 75 Frankie Rodriguez Only player to ever wear this number 76 - 98 NONE 99 Turk Wendell Only player to ever wear this number