1980 New York Mets season

The 1980 New York Mets season was the 19th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 67–95 record and finished in fifth place in the National League East, twenty-four games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies

Offseason

The beginnings of the 1986 team

On January 24, 1980, ownership of the team changed hands. The group that bought the Mets for an estimated $22 million was headed by Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon. Doubleday was head of the old and distinguished publishing company that bore his name, while Wilpon was a highly successful real-estate developer. The new owners promised to invest money to acquire winning players and develop a competitive club, though it took a few years before the new partners were able to rebuild a solid contender.
In February, the new owners hired Frank Cashen, who had spent ten years in the front office of the Baltimore Orioles from 1966 to 1976, during which time the Orioles went to four World Series, winning two. During his tenure, the Mets would see what some called a "resuscitation", eventually leading to the team's first World Championship in 17 years. After leaving the Orioles, Cashen worked outside of baseball for three years before joining commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office as administrator of baseball. It was from this job that the Mets wooed him and installed him as executive vice president and general manager.

Regular season

On the field

Due to their last-place finish in 1979, the Mets had the first pick in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. They used it to select an 18-year-old outfielder from Los Angeles, Darryl Strawberry, a key figure of future Mets teams. With the twenty-third pick, they selected Billy Beane, later the protagonist in Moneyball.
Under Torre, the team suffered their 4th consecutive losing season, 24 games out of first place, although the Mets moved up one place in the standings to fifth. They even flirted with.500, which may have led to attendance jumping nearly 400,000 to almost 1,200,000. The team had the motto "The Magic is Back" during the 1980 season.
Notable highlights from the season included three come-from-behind wins in five days: 5–4 and 6–5 over the Dodgers June 10 and 12, and 7–6 over the Giants on the 14th after trailing 6–0. The Mets fell to earth in a five-game sweep at Shea by the eventual champion Phillies in mid-August, before which they were 56-57. Their final home series against the Pirates drew just over 5,900 fans for three games combined.
The construction of the then-state-of-the-art DiamondVision electronic scoreboard in center field for 1981 resulted in a sharp increase in ticket prices following this season, e.g., with General Admission seating rising from $1.50 to $4.00.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

June 3, 1980: 1980 Major League Baseball draft
*Darryl Strawberry was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round. Player signed July 11, 1980.
*Billy Beane was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round.
*Ronn Reynolds was drafted by the Mets in the 5th round. Player signed June 7, 1980.
*Rick Ownbey was drafted by the Mets in the 13th round.
*Al Newman was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.
June 17, 1980: Kevin Kobel was traded by the Mets to the Kansas City Royals for Randy McGilberry.
July 1, 1980: Randy Johnson was traded by the Mets to the Atlanta Braves for Bill Haselrig.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Alex Treviño	106	355	91	.256	0	37
1B		152	578	162	.280	16	76
2B		128	443	113	.255	0	24
SS	Frank Taveras	141	562	157	.279	0	25
3B		130	411	101	.246	4	34
LF		143	513	149	.290	8	58
CF		94	193	49	.254	3	30
RF	Joel Youngblood	146	514	142	.276	8	69

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	119	321	82	.255	7	43
John Stearns	91	319	91	.285	0	45
Claudell Washington	79	284	78	.275	10	42
Bill Almon	48	112	19	.170	0	4
Mookie Wilson	27	105	26	.248	0	4
Wally Backman	27	93	30	.323	0	9
Dan Norman	69	92	17	.185	2	9
Hubie Brooks	24	81	25	.309	1	10
	37	46	9	.196	2	9
Ron Hodges	36	42	10	.238	0	5
José Cardenal	26	42	7	.167	0	4
	18	24	5	.208	0	0
Butch Benton	12	21	1	.048	0	0
Phil Mankowski	8	12	2	.167	0	1
Luis Rosado	4	4	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ray Burris	29	170.1	7	13	4.02	83
Pat Zachry	28	164.2	6	10	3.01	88
Craig Swan	21	128.1	5	9	3.58	79
Mike Scott	6	29.1	1	1	4.30	13

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mark Bomback	36	162.2	10	8	4.09	68
Pete Falcone	37	157.1	7	10	4.52	109
John Pacella	32	84.0	3	4	5.14	68
Roy Lee Jackson	24	70.2	1	7	4.20	58
Ed Lynch	5	19.1	1	1	5.12	9

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	59	7	10	22	3.70	79
Jeff Reardon	61	8	7	6	2.61	101
Tom Hausman	55	6	5	1	3.98	53
Ed Glynn	38	3	3	1	4.13	32
Dyar Miller	31	1	2	1	1.93	28
	14	1	4	0	7.03	8
	6	0	1	0	5.79	7
	4	0	0	0	1.29	3