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Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Brent Gaff — the Indiana right-hander who quietly became a dependable arm in the early ’80s Mets bullpen and now builds some of the finest fishing rods this side of the Midwest. This week, we stay closer to home — a

The Mets began 1996 with great anticipation. They ended it with another year of disappointment.                In-between saw one of their players hit for the cycle, another break the record for home runs by a catcher and a managerial change that probably came too late.                “We expect to be there,” general manager Joe McIlvaine said when asked about the postseason, just as spring training was about to begin.                “I’d be disappointed if we didn’t do well,

The Mets announced today that three of the franchise’s most memorable figures Carlos Beltrán, Lee Mazzilli, and Bobby Valentine will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 2026. That brings the total to 38 Mets immortals and three new plaques for the wall at Citi Field, which, at the pace we’re adding them, may need its own renovation soon. Maybe not quite East Wing-of-the-White-House territory, but close enough that an architect should probably start warming up. When t

Let the record show, I’ve been driving the Max Kranick bandwagon since Day One. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and check the KinersKorner.com Facebook group archives. As the kids say, I’ve got the receipts. And why not? The guy’s got that mix every Mets fan dreams of: lifelong Mets fan ,he even attended a baseball clinic run by Al Leiter as a kid and fifteen years later caught the ceremonial first pitch from Leiter on Opening Day in 2025 — hometown roots, bulldog mentality, and a

The annual General Manager Meetings are sort of the appetizer before baseball’s offseason buffet.The Winter Meetings get all the glory, the signings, the trades, the Scott Boras monologues that go longer than a game-winning home run given up by Ryan Helsley, but the GM Meetings? That’s where everyone starts slow-cooking the rumors. And this week, the baseball world descended on Las Vegas, which feels appropriate, because nothing says baseball wants to distance itself from a g

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Brian Cole, the five-tool comet who blazed through the Mets’ system before tragedy cut his story short. This week, we go back to the early ’80s before Doc, before Darryl, before the Home Run Apple even knew how to

The 1995 baseball season began with a hangover from 1994: the labor dispute that cut short that season and carried over into the next, prompting major league owners to begin spring training with replacement players – a move the owners hoped would bring the “real” major leaguers back to the bargaining table and result in a settlement.                It only made things messier. The players’ union said it wouldn’t settle the strike if replacement players were used in regular se

The Mets off season could be defined by ADS. That’s not a syndrome but an acronym for Alonso, Diaz and Skubal. Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and Tarik Skubal are the prominent names that will be tied to the Mets this off season. Alonso and Diaz have opted out of their current deals, and the Mets are in the market for an ace pitcher. With free agency looming for Skubal after next season, he and the Tigers are reportedly far apart in any negotiations for a new contract. The Mets are

If you’ve been a loyal reader of Kiner’s Korner over the years, you probably know I’m usually all in on most things the Mets do. I take a wait-and-see approach to most moves, rarely critical, because let’s face it anyone sitting in that chair at Citi Field making Major League hires has more baseball smarts in their pinky fingernail than I do in my entire body. That being said, this is one of the first moves in a long, long time that has me scratching my head. Time will tell,

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we dust off the bubble-gum cards and game-used jerseys of the guys who made you squint and go, “Wait… didn’t he play for us?” Last week, we looked back at Chuck Hiller and Harvey Haddix , two men who helped shape a young franchise with fundamentals, grit, and good humor. This week, we shift gears to someone who never made it to Shea but whose name still makes longtime

If the 1994 Mets were a metaphor, they’d be a white Ford Bronco lumbering down the Long Island Expressway with the hazards on. Everyone in New York knew it wasn’t going to end well — but we couldn’t stop watching. While O.J. Simpson’s real-life slow-speed chase captivated the country that summer, the Mets were running their own version in Queens: a low-drama, low-speed pursuit of competence that ended in surrender long before the season did. You could almost hear the crowd at

If you’ve followed the first nine installments of our Kollectors Hall of Fame series, you already know this is where we celebrate the diehards , the fans whose devotion to the orange and blue doesn’t stop at the final out. These are the people who live Mets baseball, preserve its history, and build their lives around the memories the team has given them. This month, we induct a collector whose precision and passion are matched only by his loyalty. Meet David Svach, an Enginee

Not hitting much lately? Grab a Snitker. You’re not you when you’re slumping and Mets fans know that better than anyone. After too many nights of runners stranded and warning-track fly balls, this lineup has been hungry for something or someone to finally satisfy. Enter Troy Snitker, the new Mets hitting coach, here to feed an offense that’s been living off empty calories. He’s not a candy bar, though his last name sounds like one. He’s a data-loving, launch-angle-tracking

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where the dust smells like pine tar and nostalgia, and where we occasionally stumble across treasures we thought we’d forgotten. Last week, we focused on Ron Herbel, a sturdy right-hander whose brief but reliable stint with the Mets in 1970 made him the kind of pitcher every team needs: steady, uncomplaining, and quietly effective. This week, we return to the 1960s, to a Me

If 1992 was “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” then 1993 was the Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice. a straight-to-video disaster that made Toe Blake spin in his grave and the Hanson Brothers beg for a line change. This was supposed to be a bounce-back year, the baseball version of a redemption tour. A new shortstop (Tony Fernández), a few veteran arms, and the faint hope that all that expensive talent might actually act like, well, talent. Instead, what we got was 59 wins, 103 los

Inspiration for a story can come from just about anywhere. Sometimes it’s a stat that jumps off the page. Sometimes it’s a random YouTube clip of Ralph Kiner interviewing Ed Kranepool in glorious 1970s color, the kind that makes you miss both of them and Shea Stadium all over again. And sometimes, it’s a text from my good friend Ken Ricken. After reading yesterday’s piece about Rusty Staub and George Steinbrenner appearing together on Face the Nation during the 1981 baseball

On July 5, 1981 , as Major League Baseball sat still in silence, the diamond’s disputes found their way to the Sunday morning airwaves. On Face the Nation, one of television’s most respected public affairs programs, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and New York Mets first baseman Rusty Staub joined CBS News to publicly discuss the game’s crippling labor strike — a rare and fascinating crossover between America’s pastime and America’s political discourse. For fans ac

I just completed by 27th year as a Major League Baseball accredited Official Scorer. During that time, I’ve been fortunate to have scored over 1500 regular season games and 41 post season games. Included among that list is 11 Mets post season games. I was hoping to add to that list but it wasn’t meant to be in 2025 so I thought, thanks to a suggestion from Mark Rosenman, I reflected on those Mets post season games that I have had the privilege to score. October 22nd, 2000: Wo

Yesterday marked Keith Hernandez’s 72nd birthday ,and if that doesn’t make you feel old, consider this: when Keith sat down on David Brenner’s Nightlife on December 1, 1986, over 38 years ago it had only been 35 days since the Mets won the World Series. Just over a month removed from Mookie’s grounder rolling through Buckner’s legs, and New York was still floating somewhere between disbelief and euphoria. And there was Keith, the mustachioed captain of the newly crowned worl

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where the dust smells like pine tar and nostalgia, and where we occasionally find something we forgot we ever owned. Last week, we wandered off the basepaths entirely and into the barnyard, revisiting Homer the Beagle and Mettle the Mule , the two mascots who barked, brayed, and did their best to distract us from box scores that sometimes made you want to cover your eyes. T