Ranking the Mets' top 6 managers in history as Andy Green takes over
· Yahoo Sports
Despite attempts for continuity in the manager's seat, the New York Mets' inability to meet expectations has led the front office to hire six managers over the past nine seasons.
Over the last decade, the Mets have managed just two postseason appearances and back-to-back winning seasons once. Buck Showalter was named NL Manager of the Year in 2022 after leading the team to 101 wins, and Mendoza helped lead the Mets to the National League Championship Series, but encouraging results have come inconsistently.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
Andy Green is the latest as he was named the club's full-time manager Tuesday, shedding the interim tag that had been assumed after Carlos Mendoza was fired on June 26. Green is the club's 26th skipper in club history.
The Mets are hoping Green can parlay his strong early returns into sustained success. Very few have been able to achieve that while at the helm. But some have reached the pinnacle of success. Here are our top six Mets managers over the 64-year history of the club:
6. Yogi Berra
After taking the reins in the 1972 season, Yogi Berra collected 83 wins in his debut season leading the Mets. One season later, the Mets claimed the NL East crown, despite winning just 82 games, and reached the World Series. Berra was criticized for starting Tom Seaver on short rest, and the club lost to the Orioles in seven games.
During his tenure leading the club, Berra was 292-296, weighed down by a disappointing 71-91 season in 1974.
5. Willie Randolph
Despite leading the Mets to three straight winning seasons between 2005-07, Willie Randolph's tenure as Mets manager ended unceremoniously in 2008 after the club stumbled to a 34-35 record. The firing followed a collapse one season earlier that saw the club concede a seven-game division lead over the final 34 games of the season.
The firing was a bit shocking at the time, given Randolph had helped the Mets reach the NLCS in his second season. He continues to hold the second-best winning percentage (.544) in club history.
4. Terry Collins
An intense leader who managed for the majority of the last decade, Terry Collins is the only Mets manager to lead the club for seven full seasons. The Mets hovered around the .500 mark across Collins' first four seasons and did not post a winning record until 2015 when they made a surprising run to the NL pennant and World Series, where they fell to the Kansas City Royals.
Collins' team made a repeat run to the postseason in 2016, losing in the NL Wild Card game, but saw his tenure come to an end after they scuffled to 70 wins in 2017.
3. Bobby Valentine
The colorful skipper took the reins after Dallas Green was fired in the 1996 season and helped them improve by 17 wins in the next campaign. In 1999, three seasons into Bobby Valentine's tenure, the Mets won 97 games and reached the NLCS.
Valentine became the first manager to lead the Mets to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2000 when they won 94 games and the NL pennant before falling to the Yankees in the World Series. Valentine's club, however, took a step back in each of the next two seasons. Valentine is lauded for his presence leading the club to play an influential role in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
1B. Davey Johnson
The top two spots in the Mets' managerial history book are a matter of preference. Do you lean toward the idea of sustained winning or elevating a team to once-unfathomable heights?
Johnson was the winningest manager in Mets history with a record of 595-417 (.588) across his run of seven seasons between 1984-90. He led the 1986 club, which had the most dominant regular season in franchise history, to 108 victories and win the NL East title by 21.5 games along a magical run to the franchise's second World Series crown.
There were some painstaking close calls, like 1985 and 1987, when the club missed the playoffs despite winning 98 and 92 games, respectively. In a different era, those could have been playoff runs, as well, but Johnson still gets credit for the most sustained success in team history.
1A. Gil Hodges
The 1969 club was called the "Miracle Mets" for a reason. When Gil Hodges took over, the fledgling franchise had lost 100 games and finished in last place in five of its first six seasons. The only other season came with 95 losses and a second-to-last finish.
The Mets won 73 games under Hodges in his first season in 1968 before they secured 100 wins for the first time in franchise history on the way to their improbable 1969 World Series title.
Hodges, who had played on the Mets' original 1962 team, was respected for his structure and discipline, which helped him claim three straight winning seasons before his sudden death at the age of 47 in April 1972.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ranking the Mets' top 6 managers in history as Andy Green takes over