Saturday Night Five: Meet the Mets

The New York Mets have always been my favorite New York baseball team.  Now you won't find me wearing their memorabilia, but every now and then I'll pick up cards featuring players I've enjoyed watching over the years.

Tonight... I'll be showing off five Mets I've actively cheered for at some point in their New York careers.  

#1 Dwight Gooden

1985 Topps #620

Clemens vs. Gooden = The Great Debate.  Clemens might have had the hall of fame career, but back in the 80's... I was always in Doc's corner.

#2 Ron Darling

1984 Donruss #30

I have close ties to Hawaii.  Both of my parents were born and raised there, and most of my family still resides there.  So there's always a strong following for certain players who come from the Hawaiian Islands.  Darling was one of those guys.

#3 David Wright

2005 UD Origins Signatures #DW1

His nickname says it all.  David Wright is a class act and a true baseball player.  He'd easily be number one on my list if I wasn't such a nostalgia nut.

#4 Darryl Strawberry

2009 Topps Tribute #TDAR-DST

During the 80's, Darryl was pretty much a permanent member of the hobby's hotlist.  I looked forward to seeing Sports Center highlights of him... pretty much on a regular basis.

#5 Lenny Dykstra

2005 UD Artifacts Auto Facts #LD

Off the field... this guy was a train wreck.  But I remember holding onto every single 1986 Topps rookie card of his... thinking he was going to become the next big superstar.  He had a solid career... but those Topps rookie cards are now dime box fodder.

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #TS

I really wanted to add Tom Seaver to this list, because I enjoyed watching him play as a kid.  Unfortunately most of those memories took place during his Cincinnati years.

Now you're probably wondering... why the random New York Mets post?  Well... last month I entered a contest over at Home Run Apple's blog and was one of the winners.  I figured I'd thank Keith by honoring his favorite team.

Plus... the way the Oakland A's and San Diego Padres have been playing... it's been hard to write a positive post about my two favorite teams.

So let's check out the prize package Keith sent:

2014 Topps Tek Autograph #HT-YS

There were three winners in Keith's contest.  I was the 2nd winner, which meant I was the 2nd person to pick a prize.  Jedi Jeff chose the Carlos Quentin autograph, which suited me just fine, because I really wanted this beautiful autograph of Solarte.  He was acquired from the Yankees last season by my beloved Padres and started off the year really well.  However... he's really struggled the past three weeks.

Keith also threw in a nice stack of cards, highlighted by the following:

2014 Topps Chrome X-Fractor #197

Cashner might be the greatest 1-7 pitcher in the league.  Speaking of greatest... here's the greatest San Diego Padre of all-time...

2014 Stadium Club #161

I was excited to add this Gwynn to my binder.  I was fortunate to pull two of them out of my boxes, but both were part of complete sets.  I'm so glad Topps decided to bring back Stadium Club.  Here are two more Stadium Club cards:

1995 Stadium Club #415 and 2014 Stadium Club #95

I'll wrap things up with this Ichiro insert that I needed for my Ichiro binder:

2008 UD Starquest #SQ46

Thanks Keith for the generous prize package.  I'll get some Mets cards out to you as soon as I wrap up the school year.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!