1980 New York Mets season

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, yielding a 5th place finish 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 ever 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 spend money to get winning players and to make the club competitive,^[1] but it would take years before the new partners were able to tear down their club and rebuild a contender.

Hired as architect of this rebuilding was 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, who would be a big part of future Mets teams.

The team under Torre suffered their 4th straight losing season, 24 games out of first place. although the Mets moved up one place in the standings to fifth. They were right around .500 until losing 38 of their last 49 games, which may have led to attendance jumping nearly 400,000 to almost 1,200,000.

Season standings

Opening Day starters

• Doug Flynn
• Steve Henderson
• Mike Jorgensen
• Elliott Maddox
• Lee Mazzilli
• Jerry Morales
• John Stearns
• Craig Swan
• Frank Taveras

Notable transactions

• June 3, 1980: 1980 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Darryl Strawberry was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (1st pick). Player signed July 11, 1980.^[3]
  • Billy Beane was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (23rd pick).^[4]
  • Ronn Reynolds was drafted by the Mets in the 5th round. Player signed June 7, 1980.^[5]
  • Rick Ownbey was drafted by the Mets in the 13th round.^[6]
  • Al Newman was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.^[7]
• June 17, 1980: Kevin Kobel was traded by the Mets to the Kansas City Royals for Randy McGilberry.^[8]
• July 1, 1980: Randy Johnson was traded by the Mets to the Atlanta Braves for Bill Haselrig (minors).^[9]

Roster

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

Other batters

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

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Other pitchers

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

Relief pitchers

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

Farm system

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1980 New York Mets
• 1980 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com