If there were ever two players to define an era of the Mets there are so many to choose from. From the early days of the baby boomers of Ed Kranepool and Frank Thomas paving the way to the Miracle Mets with Tom Seaver and Cleon Jones leading the charge to victory. From the burn of ’73 to the horror of 2000 led by Piazza and Olerud to the pain of Wright and Reyes ’06 through the anger of ’15 with Degrom and Cespedes. All the way to the modern blows of Mets baseball with Pete and Lindor. More misery than fun defines the core of the Mets history but that’s baseball and that’s the tradition of the Mets. With a spark in the air anything can happen and destinies can be broken. Through all the eras of this team none speaks louder than the era of ’86, the unbroken testament of young and reckless behavior and a title to prove for, all at the realm of two superstar fanatics; Doc and Darryl.

Two pristine players that helped shift the narrative of the Mets to claim their second World Series title. They were a dynamic duo, without their help the Mets would not have had such a powerful ending to their ’86 campaign. Both of these players had massive impacts on the team and the franchise. From Dwight historic debut season where he unleashed 276 strikeouts, the most ever by a rookie that still stands today. Dwight known by his nickname ‘Doc’ gave New York a reason to cheer every time he pitched. His untuned presence and electric stuff commanded the strike zone making the hitters look clueless at the plate. Striking out the side defined Dwight so much that that’s where Doc came into play. He was Doctor K every 5 games, and when the strikeouts would go up the ‘Ks would be hanging on the rafters. Triple crown, CY young and World Series was one of the greatest 3 year stretches in all of baseball.

Doc’s brilliance with the Mets gets overlooked at times because of his reckless behavior that took over his character through the halfway of the ’86 season. Young reckless fame and New York in the 80s was a recipe for any sort of disaster for anyone living in the big apple. Coke and girls roamed the streets and they were dying to meet the Mets.

Meet the Mets they did, as first to spiral was Keith Hernandez who had been busted many times for coke usage, and had to go through probation. But this isn’t about Keith, once news hit that the young black player on the Mets was dealing with a coke problem everyone pointed fingers at Darryl and no one thought it would ever be Doc. Doc was from Tampa while Darryl grew up in the dangerous LA scene and everyone thought with how his behavior was that coke was another part of his character. But it was mainly Doc that went down this spiral, but that doesn’t mean what Doc did for the Mets was not recognized. He was and still is a hero of excellence for this teams history and will be recognized as one of the best to ever wear the orange and blue as his number will be retired and finally where it belongs back on the rafters with the rest of the legends.

Darryl Strawberry, the best power hitter of the Mets history, the ruthless but most dedicated hitter of the 80s will now be glorified as a legend with his brother in crime, both serving as a staple of Mets history as number #18 will be mantled next to #16 at the top of the rafters with the rest of the heroes of the orange and blue. Strawberry was a ruthless winner and dominated the Mets in the glory of the 80s. The only Mets #1 overall pick to ever pan out in the majors, and oh boy did Strawberry do good for them. He debuted as a 21 year old and impressed in his 8 year career in Queens, he was a lefty specialist who had 252 homers at Shea, a number that still hasn’t been touched. An 8 time all star and a continual MVP candidate year in year out. He came especially close in 1988 but lost out to Kirk Gibson and the WS winning Dodgers. The Mets came super close that year but lost out (4-3) but Darryl unleashed a massive bomb in game 4 of the series after being taunted by the LA crowd.

They were a massive part of the Mets. They made the Mets the Mets. They made the Mets rowdy, they made the Mets spectacular, they brought the fans back into the bleachers, they brought meaningful baseball back to Queens and made it a year to remember. I was never alive to witness this majesty of a duo but stories of the wild crew lived long passed their prime and generations have passed where one day I will tell the stories my father passed to me to my children about the reckless love of this immaculate duo.

We’ve had a lot of horrible players and good luck tarnished quickly, but with 2024 looking brighter than ever I have a reason to hope for the best, as did Darryl and Doc. Even as games turn ugly or our stars hit the IL I’ll know the dynamic partnership of the 80s will always be there hidden in the right field rafters, glorified in the past and ready to bless the future and the next miracle Mets.

From the ‘K Korner’ to the ‘Strawberry Fields’ its been 33 long years since their final goodbye, and now they’re finally coming home where they belong for the rest of time. Welcome home fellas, you’ve been missed!