Thursday, October 1, 2026
Two weeks ago, the Mets honored their 1986 team on the 40th anniversary of its World Series championship season. That was the last time the Mets won it all, and unfortunately, it looks like it will be a while before they reach that pinnacle again. That 1986 team was one for the ages, replete with stars, superstars and gritty players who never quit.
It was also a team known for what might have been. No Mets squad before or since has had a better season, or such a complete unit with so much talent, ego, disparate personalities and a manager who could fit all the pieces together and make them work so remarkably close to perfection.
The team won 108 regular-season games, the ninth-highest in history, and finished 21½ games ahead of their closest NL East rival, the Phillies. The most spectacular superstar was Dwight Gooden, a boy wonder who at 21 had more pitching achievements than anyone ever at his age. Similarly, Darryl Strawberry, a young slugger with limitless ability, seemed to be headed to the Hall of Fame.
Gary Carter was baseball’s leading catcher, and a clutch power hitter who did have a Hall of Fame career. Team leader Keith Hernandez was a fierce competitor, and generally acknowledged to be the best defensive first basemen ever. Other players, though not quite superstars, were top-flight talent who knew how to win: pitchers Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda and Jesse Orosco and fielders Ray Knight, Howard Johnson, Mookie Wilson, Kevin Mitchell, Tim Teufel and Lee Mazzilli. There were also brawlers like Wally Backman and Lenny Dykstra, who would do virtually anything to win.
The ringmaster of this assemblage was Manager Davey Johnson, who was not only one of the first managers to use a computer, but also relied on gut instinct. Johnson was a unique old-school/analytics composite.
The playoff series against the Astros, highlighted by a sixth-game, 16-inning come-from-behind win, put the Mets in the Series against the Red Sox, which proved to be a classic. The Mets were one out away from losing the sixth game, and the Series, when they staged a miracle comeback to win, and then took Game Seven as well. They were on top of the baseball world, and looking like a dynasty for years to come.
But it wasn’t to be. The first sign of what was to come went largely unnoticed at the time. Gooden was missing from the ticker-tape parade up Fifth Avenue. Fans were told he had overslept after too much celebration, but the reality, as would become known the following year, was that Gooden was a drug addict and had missed the parade because he was on a cocaine binge. While he would have several more good seasons, he was never the same.
Strawberry had troubles of his own, and left the Mets for the Dodgers after the 1990 season. Like Gooden, Strawberry had serious drug problems, and never played again as a regular after 1991.
Several other key players in the ’86 soon left the Mets. After a contract squabble, Knight left for Baltimore. Mitchell was traded because he was considered a disruptive influence, and Dykstra was always a self-destructive wild man. He was traded to the Phillies in ’89. After he retired, Dykstra served in prison for crimes including bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, grand theft and making terrorist threats.
For a host of reasons, the Mets never again had the cohesion they had in 1986. I should add that Strawberry went on to overcome his drug problems, and cancer, and is now a true model citizen. I’ve met him a number of times and seen him interact with young kids. You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy. Gooden has had his ups and downs but is also, by all accounts, a good guy. Certainly he has been that way whenever I’ve seen him at events.
I’ve also had the chance to meet other 1986 Mets, including Hernandez, Darling, Teufel and Wilson, and they’re all a credit to the game. Gooden, Strawberry, Hernandez and Howard Johnson were elected to the Mets Hall of Fame, and Carter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Most of all, to Mets fans, the ’86 team will always bring back great memories. Let’s go, Mets!
Peter King is a former congressman, and a former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Comments? pking@ liherald.com.
