The 50 Biggest Fails in New York Mets History

As the Metropolitans begin their 50th season, we look back at their checkered past.

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Complex Original

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The Cubs haven't won a World Series in over 100 years, the Indians haven't hoisted the trophy in more than 60 seasons. The Mets have a relatively healthy two titles in their 49 years, but it's still a franchise that has had a first-hand relationship with failure. They started out as lovable losers in the sixties, became the team everyone else loved to hate in the eighties, and are now the team even their staunchest fans love to laugh at.

With the Mets set to start their 50th season tonight in Miami, we take a look back at the franchise's 50 Biggest Fails, from Midnight Massacres to middle of the night massacres, from bad signings and bad trades to really, really bad signings and really, really bad trades. A quick disclaimer: no Yankees, Phillies, Braves, or even Montgomery Biscuits fans were consulted in the making of this list, this one was kept strictly in the Flushing family. And, we have to say, it was a little cathartic, and we exorcised some demons. Now if we could only exorcise Luis Castillo's contract. And Oliver Perez's contract. And Bobby Bonilla's contract...

By Russ Bengtson, Andrew Cavagnaro, Jack Erwin, and Jose Martinez

#50. Doc Gooden's 1994 Drug Suspension(s)

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#49. Mets Trade Kevin Mitchell for Kevin McReynolds

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#48. Citi Field DNA Is More Dodger Than Met

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#47. Mets Re-Acquire Dave Kingman...On Purpose

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#46. Jimmy Piersall Rounds the Bases Backwards

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#45. Carlos Beltran Goes Under Knife, Bus

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#44. Todd Hundley Forced to Play Left Field

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#43. Marv Throneberry Hits a Triple, Called Out for Missing First AND Second

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#42. Mets Trade for Luis Ayala

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#41. Ryan Church Doesn't Touch 3rd

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#40. Benny Agbayani Forgets How Many Outs There Are

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#39. Three Phillies Jerseys Buried in Citi Field

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#38. David Cone Traded to Blue Jays for Jeff Kent

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#37. Tony Bernazard Takes Off His Shirt

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#36. Rickey Henderson-Bobby Bonilla Card Game

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#35. Clubhouse Attendant Charged with Gambling

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#34. Rey Ordonez and Luis Lopez Fight on Team Bus

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#33. Rey Sanchez Gets Haircut During a Game

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#32. Bret Saberhagen Squirts Bleach at Reporters

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#31. Doc and Coney Toss No-Nos for the Yanks

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#30. Generation K

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#29. Bases Loaded, No Outs...No Runs

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#28. Ever Blown a Lead...On Weed?!?

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#27. Finish 60.5 Games Out of First

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#26. Joe Torre's Mets Managerial Stint

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#25. Keith Hernandez Takes a Nap

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#24. Omar Minaya Calls Out Adam Rubin

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#23. Fire Manager Davey Johnson

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#22. Seaver Left Off Protected List

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#21. Team Schedules Shea Farewell After Final Game

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#20. Steve Phillips' Sexcapades

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#19. Anthony Young Loses 27 Consecutive Games

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#18. The Vince Coleman Disasters

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#17. Shawn Estes Throws Behind Roger Clemens

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#16. Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron Knock Heads

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#15. Nolan Ryan (and Others) Traded to Angels for Jim Fregosi

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#14. Pick Steve Chilcott Before Reggie Jackson

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#13. Scott Kazmir Traded for Victor Zambrano

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#12. Timo Perez Goes for a World Series Jog

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#11. Bobby Bonilla Hits the Jackpot

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#10. Luis Castillo Signed for 4 Years, $25M

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#9. K-Rod KO's Pops, Self

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#8. Wilpons’ Invest with Bernie Madoff

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#7. Kenny Rogers Walks In Winning Run

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#6. Carlos Beltran Looks at Strike Three

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#5. Oliver Perez Signed for 3 Years, $36M

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#4. Willie Randolph Fired at 3:15 a.m. ET

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#3. "The Midnight Massacre"

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#2. Luis Castillo Drops Pop-up

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#1. Tom Glavine Implodes

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