World Series champion and beloved SNY analyst Keith Hernandez will have his No. 17 retired by the Mets on Saturday, becoming just the fourth player, plus managers Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges, in the history of the franchise to be bestowed that honor. This is the eighth of a 10-part daily countdown of Hernandez’s greatest moments and accomplishments following his 1983 arrival in Flushing.
No. 3: Oh captain, my captain
The Mets never officially named a captain during their first 25 years of existence, but following their sudden ascension, which culminated in the 1986 World Series championship, it was clear who the first captain in franchise history should be.
Keith Hernandez, the 1979 co-MVP in the National League and a World Series champion with St. Louis in 1982, soon emerged as the unquestioned leader of the brash and mostly young Mets during his first full seasons in Flushing, following a midseason trade from the Cardinals in 1983.
Keith Hernandez was named the Mets’ captain in 1987. AP“Keith taught us how to win” Darryl Strawberry said earlier this year when it was announced that Hernandez’s No. 17 rightly would be retired at Citi Field before the Mets’ game Saturday against the Marlins.
Hernandez claims he was “totally shocked” when Mets manager Davey Johnson announced the decision to make him captain during a team meeting in the spring of 1987.
“Davey was talking about us as a team and what we needed to do after winning [the World Series] the year before, and all of a sudden, it’s ‘Oh, Keith, I’m naming you captain.’ Just like that, and that was the end of the meeting,” Hernandez told The Post. “I was stunned.
“But it meant a lot to me. Captains of a team in baseball aren’t like in hockey, it’s a different dynamic, but it definitely did mean something. It’s a designation that’s an honor. Obviously, Davey felt that way about me, but I was surprised because Gary Carter was still on the team, too.”
Indeed, Carter, the 11-time All-Star catcher who’d arrived from Montreal in 1985, was added as a co-captain alongside Hernandez in 1988. John Franco (2001-04) and David Wright (2013-18) are the only other players in team annals to be so designated.
As Hernandez told The Post’s Steve Serby about his leadership role last week in an in-depth Sunday Q & A, he tried to “set an example” for the Mets the way Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock and others had done for him early in his career in St. Louis.
Hernandez has said that his lone regret was having a ‘C’ stitched on his uniform during that first season — as captains do in hockey — but the letter was removed the following season when Carter joined him as co-captain.
