Sports

Why The New York Mets Should Retire Gary Carter's Number

By Jerry Beach Lindys Sports

Updated May 31, 2026 7:30 PM

In a true "boy cries wolf" moment, my reaction to the New York Mets once again stepping on rakes May 19 by somehow issuing the late great Gary Carter's no. 8 to rookie outfielder Nick Morabito was construed as snarky or sarcastic by a follower on Twitter.

It's the most Mets thing they went from not having enough retired numbers to having too many retired numbers & managed in the process to bruise the feelings of the family of a late franchise icon who has as good a case or better for his number being retired as any recent honoree. https://t.co/bmigq1320d
— Jerry Beach (@JerryBeach73) May 21, 2026

This was a fair reaction by the follower. The Mets often step on rakes, and my response is often snarky and sarcastic. This is like peanut butter and jelly, two things that just go together.

But this reply wasn't meant to be snarky or sarcastic - at least not too much. It really is the truth. The Mets have gone from ignoring their past under the Wilpons to probably overdoing it on retired numbers since Steve Cohen bought the team in 2020.

Even with Morabito quickly shifting to no. 55 (worn earlier this season by the ever-peripatetic Richard Lovelady), the Mets are in a bind because Carter's no. 8 - which had not been worn since Desi Relaford donned it in 2001 - will apparently not be retired as many hoped would become the case at some point, perhaps even this year as part of the Mets' season-long celebration of the 1986 World Series winners.

The situation is doubly awkward and delicate because Carter died of brain cancer in 2012. The retirement of his no. 8 is an honor his family would surely love to receive on behalf of their husband, Dad and grandfather - one that would not only cement Carter's legacy in Mets history as the final piece to the '86 champs but also cement the Mets as Carter's permanent baseball home.

Carter played the majority of his career with the Montreal Expos, whose hat is pictured on his Hall of Fame plaque. But Carter said he "…consider(s) myself a Met" upon his election in 2003, though at that point, it looked as if the Expos would be contracted instead of moving to Washington - where the Nationals barely recognize their Expos lineage.

Retiring Carter's number would also posthumously mend any strains in the relationship Carter and/or his family experienced with the Mets - a la when the Mets unveiled the Tom Seaver statue in 2022, fewer than two years after Seaver's death. Carter and the Mets could never get on the same page regarding his desire to manage the big league club and he spent two years managing in independent ball following his departure from the organization in 2006.

So yeah. This is awkward, delicate and complicated.

How Many Uniform Numbers Have The New York Mets Retired?

The Mets will be up to 12 retired numbers - 11 uniformed alumni as well as Jackie Robinson, whose no. 42 was retired throughout baseball in 1997 - once Carlos Beltran's number is placed high above Citi Field on Sept. 19.

Casey Stengel (no. 37, retired Sept. 2, 1965)
Gil Hodges (no. 14, retired June 9, 1973)
Tom Seaver (no. 41, retired July 24, 1988)
Jackie Robinson (no. 42, retired throughout baseball Apr. 15, 1997)
Mike Piazza (no. 31, retired July 30, 2016)
Jerry Koosman (no. 36, retired Aug, 20, 2021 after the 2020 ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic)
Keith Hernandez (no. 17, retired July 9, 2022)
Willie Mays (no. 24, retired Aug. 27, 2022)
Dwight Gooden (no. 16, retired Apr. 14, 2024)
Darryl Strawberry (no. 18, retired June 1, 2024)
David Wright (no. 5, retired July 19, 2025)
Carlos Beltran (no. 15, scheduled to be retired Sept. 19, 2026)

The rapid acceleration of retired numbers is a way for Cohen to display an appreciation of Mets history rarely exhibited by the Wilpons. But a stinginess for retiring numbers wasn't the issue for the Wilpon-era Mets.

Counting Koosman, whose number was initially scheduled to be retired during what proved to be the Wilpons' final season at the helm in 2020, the Mets entered the Cohen era with five retired numbers amongst their alumni. That was tied with the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers and the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics for the second-fewest retired numbers amongst the 20 teams founded in 1962 or earlier, ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels. (The Athletics retired Dave Stewart's number in 2022)

It also put the Mets in the company of teams such as the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles as teams that saved number retirements for Hall of Famers or inner-circle franchise icons. There's nothing wrong with sparsely handing out the highest honor a club can bestow, even if it was also a reminder of the Mets' relatively quiet history.

The problem with the Wilpons and their appreciation of Mets' history was rooted in just about everything else.

Mets History Unappreciated Under The Wilpons

Fred Wilpon, a Brooklyn native and high school classmate of Sandy Koufax, built Citi Field as a homage to Ebbets Field with little attention paid to the Mets' heritage.

When Gooden signed a wall inside the exclusive Ebbets Club at Citi Field in 2009, the Mets initially planned to paint it over before deciding to remove the autographed portion and place it elsewhere in the stadium.

This weekend's induction of Lee Mazzilli and Bobby Valentine into the Mets Hall of Fame marks the fourth class enshrined under Cohen. There were three Hall of Fame classes inducted under the Wilpons from 2002 through 2020.

The return of Old-Timers Day in 2022 turned into an open catharsis for Mets alumni finally free to say what they really felt about the Wilpons. Valentine, the manager of the 2000 NL pennant winners, said anyone who wasn't a part of the 1969 or 1986 champs felt ignored.

"There are so many guys that I wore a uniform with who didn't win a world championship and kind of felt that, well, we really don't count because we didn't win a world championship," Valentine said.

Ray Knight said he got a Christmas card every year from his four other former clubs, but never the Mets. Then for good measure he added: "I love the New York Mets. I don't like the Wilpons."

Steve Cohen Emphasizes Mets Alumni With Retired Numbers

It's almost certain Wright - who is the greatest position player in franchise history and was on his way to Cooperstown before neck and back injuries derailed his career - would have had his number retired under the Wilpons. And when the Mets announced plans to retire Hernandez's number in January 2022, the New York Post reported the decision was actually made under the Wilpons in 2020 but that they wanted to have separate ceremonies for Koosman and Hernandez, the latter of whom has fashioned an impressive second career as a beloved broadcaster on SNY.

But Cohen retiring the numbers of the four other recent honorees was a good way to establish new, alumni-friendly relations while also slyly taking some digs at the Wilpons.

Mays' twilight years with the Mets were nowhere near as productive as his peak years with the Giants. But retiring his number as a homage to Mays' status as the greatest NL player in New York history was also a way to acknowledge the Mets' history traces back much more to the Giants - whose old stadium, the Polo Grounds, served as the Mets' home for their first two seasons - than to the Dodgers.

It was also Cohen doing within two years what the Wilpons did not in almost two decades - follow up on original owner Joan Payson's declaration that no Mets player would wear no. 24 after Mays.

Retiring the numbers for Gooden and Strawberry, each of whom won championships with the Yankees following their acrimonious departures from the Mets, ensured the Mets are viewed as their baseball home - something else the Wilpons couldn't or wouldn't accomplish.

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There's an alternate universe in which Beltran, a special assistant to David Stearns, is taking a week off from his duties as Mets manager in July to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The reality is Beltran - who was hired as the Mets' skipper on Nov. 1, 2019 but stepped down Jan. 20, 2020 once his role in the Houston Astros' 2017 cheating scandal was uncovered - might not be going into the Hall of Fame with a Mets hat if he'd actually managed the club. His relationship with the Wilpons was strained throughout his six-plus seasons as a player and it's hard to imagine it would have gotten any better dealing with them on a daily basis as the club's skipper.

Why Isn't Gary Carter's Number Retired By the Mets?

Once Beltran's number 15 is unveiled atop the third deck at Citi Field on Sept. 19, only five teams - the Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, Phillies and Cardinals - will have more numbers retired than the Mets. Only the Yankees (23) have more than 13 numbers retired.

The Mets' 11 retired numbers leaves them tied with the Braves (founded in 1876) and the White Sox (founded in 1901) and one ahead of the Cincinnati Reds (founded in 1882) and Detroit Tigers (founded in 1901).

So it's understandable the Mets, barely into their senior citizen years as a franchise, have to draw the line somewhere. Perhaps it's a coincidence that line was drawn last year, as longtime mets.com beat writer Anthony DiComo noted following Morabito's debut.

But it's certainly worth mentioning that Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo, all of whom were making cases to one day have their numbers retired, were still with the Mets last year. Perhaps the committee was looking ahead 10 to 15 years and the possibility of another glut of potential retired numbers.

That, of course, is no longer something to consider after Stearns booted them out the door as part of his off-season detonation of the Mets' core. The only players even in the opening stages of putting together a candidacy to one day get their numbers retired are superstars Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. And if you've been following the Mets for more than a day, you know not to wager a single cent on either one spending the remainder of his career, or even his peak years, with the team.

The next Mets player to get his number retired is probably either a rookie (no pressure on you, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Nolan McLean) or some kid somewhere with no idea what awaits him.

So why not retire Carter's no. 8 - especially since it was out of circulation for almost a quarter century, an unofficial honor that wasn't awarded Gooden, Hernandez or Strawberry? Their numbers worn by a combined 52 players, including legends such as Danny Muno (16), Luis Lopez (17) and Jeff D'Amico (18), following their exits from Queens.

Carter's case for a retired number is also bolstered by Hernandez's number being retired. Hernandez (26.6 WAR with a .297 batting average and an .816 OPS over 880 games) had a lengthier and more prolific run in New York than Carter (11.4 WAR with a .249 batting average and a .731 OPS over 600 games).

But Carter arrived in New York shortly before his 31st birthday and after catching 1,257 games for the Expos, including half on the brutal turf in Montreal. His decline phase was always going to arrive faster.

And if Hernandez is going to rightfully be honored for being the first key outside addition to the core that won the '86 title, shouldn't Carter - acquired before the 1985 season - be honored for being the last key outside addition, especially since there is no '86 title without Carter's two-out, two-strike hit with the Mets down two runs in the 10th inning of Game 6?

The dumping of Alonso, Diaz and Nimmo (and Jacob deGrom bolting following the 2022 season) is a reminder Cohen hasn't been any better at keeping iconic Mets in the fold than the Wilpons. But there's no better way to remedy the mistakes of the present than by continuing to correct the mistakes of the past - and by doing right by Carter and sending his number high above Citi Field with the rest of the '86 icons.

This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 7:03 PM.