1983 New York Mets season

The 1983 New York Mets season was the 22nd regular season for the Mets. They went 68–94 and finished in sixth place in the National League East, twenty-two games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets were managed by George Bamberger and Frank Howard. They played home games at Shea Stadium.
Even though they finished with 94 losses, this Mets team showed the beginnings of what would be a contender for the next decade. Darryl Strawberry made his debut and on June 15 the Mets would get Keith Hernandez from St. Louis to start putting the veteran pieces together for what would be the 1986 Championship team.
This would be the last time the Mets would finish in last place until 1993.

Offseason

December 10, 1982: Mike Scott was traded by the Mets to the Houston Astros for Danny Heep.
December 16, 1982: Charlie Puleo, Lloyd McClendon, and Jason Felice were traded by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds for Tom Seaver.
January 13, 1983: The Mets traded a player to be named later to the Boston Red Sox for Mike Torrez. The Mets completed the deal by sending Mike Davis to the Red Sox on February 15.

Regular season

May 6, 1983: Darryl Strawberry made his major league debut.
June 15, 1983: The Mets would trade Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the Cardinals for Keith Hernandez.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 7, 1983: Clint Hurdle was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
June 6, 1983: 1983 Major League Baseball draft
*Stan Jefferson was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round.
*Matt Williams was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round, but did not sign.
June 15, 1983: Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez.
July 22, 1983: Scott Dye was traded by the Mets to the Oakland Athletics for Kelvin Moore.

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	Ron Hodges	110	250	65	.260	0	21
1B	Keith Hernandez	95	320	98	.306	9	37
2B	Brian Giles	145	400	98	.245	2	27
SS	José Oquendo	120	328	70	.213	1	17
3B	Hubie Brooks	150	586	147	.251	5	58
LF	George Foster	157	601	145	.241	28	90
CF	Mookie Wilson	152	638	176	.276	7	51
RF		122	420	108	.257	26	74

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
Bob Bailor	118	340	85	.250	1	30
	115	253	64	.253	8	21
Dave Kingman	100	248	49	.198	13	29
Junior Ortiz	68	185	47	.254	0	12
Rusty Staub	104	115	34	.296	3	28
Mark Bradley	73	104	21	.202	3	5
Ronn Reynolds	24	66	13	.197	0	2
Tucker Ashford	35	56	10	.179	0	2
Wally Backman	26	42	7	.167	0	3
	11	36	12	.333	1	3
Clint Hurdle	13	33	6	.182	0	2
Ron Gardenhire	17	32	2	.063	0	1
Mike Jorgensen	38	24	6	.250	1	3
Mike Fitzgerald	8	20	2	.100	1	2
Mike Bishop	3	8	1	.125	0	0
Mike Howard	1	3	1	.333	0	1
John Stearns	4	0	0	----	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
	34	231.0	9	14	3.55	135
	39	222.1	10	17	4.37	94
Ed Lynch	30	174.2	10	10	4.28	44
Walt Terrell	21	133.2	8	8	3.57	59
	5	35.1	1	3	2.80	23
Tim Leary	2	10.2	1	1	3.38	9

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
	35	101.0	1	7	3.74	44
Craig Swan	27	96.1	2	8	5.51	43
	21	54.0	2	7	4.50	32
	25	49.1	1	4	4.93	30
	10	34.2	1	3	4.67	19

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
Jesse Orosco	62	13	7	17	1.47	84
Doug Sisk	67	5	4	11	2.24	33
Carlos Diaz	54	3	1	2	2.05	64
	4	1	0	0	6.10	4

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Jesse Orosco, Pitcher

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tidewater, Lynchburg