3) Ray Knight
It’s easy to say Knight doesn’t belong on this list because of his short stint in Queens. He played just three seasons in Flushing, but his World Series MVP suggests he made a lasting impact.
He hit .298 with 11 homers and 76 RBIs in 1986 en route to World Series in which he batted .391 and launched the go ahead homer in game seven. Knight also played a key role in the rally that sparked the infamous game six comeback.
It wasn’t just the numbers that defined Knight’s time in New York; his fiery play and leadership made him part of the backbone of the ’86 team.
He faded away from the team amid awkward tensions over the years though, “I never called, they never reached out to me, and it just became more and more and more of a separation,” Knight said. “I saw guys getting called back to throw out first pitches and things like that, and I never got a call like that. What really stung me was some of the publications that the Mets put out — whether it was a yearbook or a poster or something commemorating the ’86 team — there’d be seven or eight pictures of guys on there, and I’d never be on there. And it’s hard for me to understand, as much as I contributed to that team, why I was never even featured in the small thing. Sensitivities are big. We just want to be appreciated. I knew my teammates appreciated me, but the powers that be, I don’t know that they did at that time,” Knight told the New York post.
He recently joined the Mets for a 30 year celebration of the ’86 team earlier this season. It seems that things have cooled between Knight and the Mets, thankfully.
The mid to late ’80s Mets were remembered for guys like Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Doc Gooden, and Daryl Strawberry. It’s easy to see how Knight could be overshadowed, but he should be better remembered for his impact on a championship team.
