Mount Rushmore of the New York Mets: The Best Players by Decade to Wear the Orange and Blue

by Brett Topel, Greg W. Prince (Foreword)

Mount Rushmore, located in the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota, is one of the most iconic landmarks in the United States. The face of the mountain features 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It depicts four of the greatest men our country has ever known.
 
In recent years, it has become fashionable for sports fans to select the Mount Rushmore of their franchise’s history. For some franchise’s, which have been around for 100+ years, it can be a daunting task. Even for younger franchises, such as the New York Mets, picking a Mount Rushmore can be a challenge. Mostly because fans always seem to favor players that they have seen play—leading older and younger fans to differ on who belongs carved on that fictional mountain in Queens.
 
In 2015, Major League Baseball announced its decision for each team’s Mount Rushmore. For the Mets, voters chose Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, and David Wright. No one would argue that Tom Seaver is on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore. He was, after all, “The Franchise.” Some might even argue that the Mets’ Mount Rushmore is Tom Seaver four times! However, that not-withstanding, when it comes to rounding out the other three players, did MLB get it right??

Thankfully, Mount Rushmore of the New York Mets tackles such a question. Covering the team by decade, author Brett Topel share the best players from the team’s almost sixty-year history. From Jerry Koosman and Ed Kranepool, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, to Edgardo Alfonzo and Jose Reyes, each decade is covered, reliving the highs and lows of the Metropolitans.
 
So whether you remember the Miracle Mets, the Amazin’ run of 1986, or the almost of the 2000s, Mount Rushmore of the New York Mets breaks down the fan favorites who earned their prominence in the Polo Grounds, Shea Stadium, and Citi Field.

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2021

Reviews

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift and I am guessing that is how most copies would be sold. It’s a fun if basic discussion that sports fans generally love

The idea of the book is to make a Rushmore of each decade. It then gives a profile of why each player chosen was chosen, though there is little or no discussion of those who might have just missed the cut. That makes it fun for nostalgia for old fans and some history for younger fans.

What I like about the book is that it also provides an alternate Rushmore for each decade- which is chosen by picking two hit prospects who never panned out and then two players who started in the Mets organization but only had success after leaving. These sometimes lesser told stories were interesting to me.

It’s an opinion book and so you can always make arguments. There’s no wrong answers of course, though I would have liked to add Al Leiter and am not sure where I would have landed with the fourth 80s Met (Darling, HoJo, Mookie?). But it is a fun gift book for Mets fans.