THE Rankings: Top 5 Mets First Basemen

This is the first installment of a new series in which I rank the top five players at each position in Mets history. This was a difficult process at times; the Mets are, let’s say “lean” at a few positions. There were times in which it was not easy to come up with five players. Anyway, let’s begin with first base.

1) Keith Hernandez (1983-1989)

Hernandez was the leader of the great Mets teams of the 1980s. He hit .297 in his six and a half years in Flushing, winning six Gold Glove awards. He finished second in the MVP voting in 1984.

2) John Olerud (1997-1999)

Olerud is the all-time Mets batting leader with a .315 average. He batted .354 in 1998, the single-season team record. He was also part of one of the greatest fielding infield of all-time in 1999, but he was robbed of the Gold Glove.

3) Carlos Delgado (2006-2009)

Delgado his 104 home runs in his four years with the Mets (three, really — he missed most of the last season with injury). He hit 38 homers twice and helped lead the team to the 2006 NLCS.

4) Dave Kingman (1975-1977, 1981-1983)

Kingman also spent time in the outfield, but he played more than half of his games at first. He slammed 154 monster shots in his time as a Met; the only exciting thing on some miserable teams.

5) Ed Kranepool (1962-1979)

The original Met, Kranepool spent his entire 18-year career in Flushing. An All-Star in 1965, Kranepool held virtually every Mets hitting record when he retired.

To see more rankings in this series, click here.

Mug Shots courtesy Ultimate Mets Database