Things to Know

#LOLMets

Bucket Rank: *****

In their 55-season history, the Mets have won two world championships, won six division titles, and reached the postseason nine times. There are 10 other baseball teams that have gone longer without a World Series title than the Mets, but the Mets have a way of doing things that frequently get them mocked, ripped, and ridiculed by all of baseball.

Maybe it's the success of the New York Yankees during the late '90s to early 2000s, which has confused local sports fans and validated the idea that the Mets are the city's redheaded little brother or second-class citizen. Or maybe success and arrogance from the Bronx helped enhance a New York bias that ends up influencing opinions outside of Queens. Or maybe it's the tabloid nature of New York City's print media. Or maybe it's the fact that a dozen beat writers — where most teams have two or three reporters on their tail — compete for stories about the Mets on a daily basis, working to dig up and exploit every little thing the team does. Or maybe it's all of the above.

Or maybe it's actually the Mets.

The truth is the Mets sometimes do things that make even the most optimistic, loyal fan scratch his or her head. It happened so often during their 2009–2014 rebuild, the #LOLMets hashtag was created, shared, and frequently trended on Twitter.

The Mets have done some silly things on field, but so do most teams. I'm pretty sure every big league team has dropped a pop-up to lose a game or had a player miss third base when trying to score from second. They've all made costly errors or forgot the number of outs in an inning. However, it's the off-field moments that make the Mets unique. Here are the 10 best (or worst, depending on your point of view) off-the-field moments from the last 20 years that define what it means to be #LOLMets.

1) Citi Field is criticized for being Ebbets Field 2.0

Citi Field opened its doors in 2009, at which point fans and media were put off by how little blue, orange, and Mets history were present in the building. Instead, with its Jackie Robinson Rotunda, critics said it looked and felt more like a new Ebbets Field, which is where the Brooklyn Dodgers played before leaving for Los Angeles in 1958. Of course, it didn't help that Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon grew up a Dodgers fan, attending games and romanticizing his experiences at Ebbets. In subsequent seasons the Mets eventually made structural and design changes to make Citi Field look and feel more like a home for its team, but it didn't erase how people felt when the building debuted.

2) Hey, All-Star catcher Todd Hundley, go play left field

The Mets traded for Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza in May of 1998. He was (and still is) the greatest hitting catcher of all time. It was a great trade, which transformed the franchise and resulted in back-to-back postseason appearances. The only problem was that when they traded for Piazza, the Mets already had Todd Hundley, who was a fan favorite and twotime All-Star who also held the record for most home runs by a catcher in a single season. To make room for Piazza, the Mets put Hundley in the outfield, where he had never played. It was a total disaster. After the season the Mets traded Hundley to Los Angeles, where — in a weird twist of fate — Piazza started his career several years earlier.

3) Go fish, Rickey

In Game 6 of the 1999 National League Championship Series, while their teammates were fighting for their lives against the Atlanta Braves, Mets outfielders Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla were reportedly playing Go Fish in the clubhouse after being switched out of the game earlier in the night. "Obviously, it's not something you want players to do when you're playing any game, let alone a playoff game," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said when asked about the situation after the series.

Bonilla was eventually released, though he is still on their payroll through 2035 (see below). On the other hand, Henderson was voted 1999's National League Comeback Player of the Year and returned to the organization the following season. However, during a game six weeks into the season, Henderson did his notorious, casual, flashy, home-run trot on a ball that hit the outfield wall and resulted in a single. Henderson was put on outright waivers the next day. He was not claimed, became a free agent, and eventually signed a deal to end the season with the Seattle Mariners. "At some point, when you continue to do the wrong thing and say the wrong thing, you continue to wear out your welcome," Phillips said, when asked about Henderson's release. "We were at the point where we were having to compromise our ideals too many times. When taking everything into account, the offense, defense, and the alternatives we had, and what it does to the fabric of the team, we thought it was the right thing to do."

4) Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!

The Mets are mocked every July 1 for having agreed to pay Bobby Bonilla, who has been retired since 2001, $1.19 million every year through 2035. It's an understandable reaction, though very shortsighted. In 1999 after the infamous card game, the Mets owed Bonilla $5.9 million for the following season, after which he would be a free agent. In an effort to avoid paying him the full amount, they negotiated with his agent, Dennis Gilbert, to attach an 8 percent annual interest rate to the money and defer his payments for 35 years.

In the end with interest, the $5.9 million ends up being $29.8 million, which is why the organization is...