The Last Mets Player To Wear 18 (And Other Numbers)

You may have heard that the Mets recently retired Darryl Strawberry’s #18, the latest of owner Steve Cohen’s attempt to right some wrongs in terms of uniform numbers that many feel should’ve already been retired by the Mets.

The thing is, when you retire a number well after the fact, you’re likely going to have other players wearing that number in the meantime.  The Mets are not alone in this, but since they’re my team and they inspired this post, I’ll pick on them anyway.  It’s not like the Mets don’t get picked on otherwise.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the numbers the Mets have retired and make note of the last player to actually wear that number.

From the most recent to the first…

#18 – Retired for Darryl Strawberry on June 1, 2024

Last player to wear the number:  Nick Plummer (With the Mets in 2022)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: 19, including Bret Saberhagen and Travis d’Arnaud

#16 – Retired for Dwight Gooden on April 16, 2024

Last player to wear the number:  Travis Jankowski (2022)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: appropriately 16, including Hideo Nomo, David Cone, Paul LoDuca and Daisuke Matsuzaka

#24 – Retired for Willie Mays on August 27, 2022

When the Mets obtained Mays from the Giants, Joan Payson, who was the Mets owner at the time, promised him that nobody would wear #24 with the Mets afterwards.  The number was held out of circulation for years (although briefly given to Kevin Torve by mistake in 1990), and was “unretired” for Rickey Henderson in 1999 and 2000, and finally was given to…

Last player to wear the number:  Robinson Canó (2019-2022;  released on May 8, 2022)

(BTW, this is a custom card, not a real one)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: 3 (Torve, Henderson and Canó)

#17 – Retired for Keith Hernandez on July 9, 2022

Last player to wear the number:  Fernando Tatis (2008 – 2010)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: 15, including David Cone, Bret Saberhagen and Mike Bordick

#36 – Retired for Jerry Koosman on August 28, 2021

Last player to wear the number:  Sean Gilmartin (2015 – 2017)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: 29, including Ray Burris and Ed Lynch

#31 – Retired for Mike Piazza on July 30, 2016
Last player to wear the number:  Mike Piazza (1998 – 2005)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: None

Side note:  I remain disappointed that the Mets didn’t retire #31 for Piazza *and* John Franco

#42 – Retired by Major League Baseball for Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1997
Last player to wear the number:  Mo Vaughn, who was grandfathered in (2002 – 2003)

#41 – Retired for Tom Seaver on July 24, 1988
Last player to wear the number:  Tom Seaver (1967 – 1977, 1983)

Number of players to wear the number after the honoree: You better believe there wasn’t anybody

#14 – Retired for Gil Hodges on June 9, 1973

Last player to wear the number:  Ken Boyer (1966 – 1967)

OK, so this needs some explanation… Hodges was the first Met to wear #14(as a player in 1962 and 1963)  and he was also the last when he served as the team’s manager from 1968 until he died of a heart attack on April 2, 1972. However, Ken Boyer was the last player to wear #14.

Additional trivia: Miracle Met Ron Swoboda wore #14 between Hodges and Boyer and is shown wearing that number on his 1966 card, meaning that the 1966 Topps Mets team set shows two players wearing #14.

#37 – Retired for Casey Stengel on September 2, 1965
Stengel was the Mets manager in their first season and continued in that position until he broke his hip in July 1965 and subsequently retired.

Last player to wear the number:  Trick question – nobody other than Stengel ever wore #37 for the Mets