» March 14, 1961: George Weiss is lured from retirement to become president of the New York Mets.

» September 29, 1961: Casey Stengel, 71, agrees to come out of retirement to manage the National League expansion New York Mets next year. Stengel mulled the offer over for two months before accepting.

» October 28, 1961: Ground is broken for the Flushing Meadows stadium, the future home of the New York Mets.

» April 23, 1962: Jay Hook gives the New York Mets their first regular-season victory, a 5-hit 9–1 win at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is now 10–1 for the season, but will lose 13 of its next 17 games.

» May 12, 1962: New York Mets relief P Craig Anderson wins both games of a doubleheader against the Braves to go 3–1. He will not win another game in the ML, losing his next 19 decisions, 16 of them this season. Ninth-inning home runs win the games as Hobie Landrith hits one in the opening 3–2 win and Gil Hodges closes a game-two 9–8 victory.

» June 23, 1963: Jimmy Piersall of the New York Mets hits the 100th home run of his ML career—and his only one in the National League—and celebrates by running around the bases backwards. Dallas Green of the Phillies, who gave up the home run, is not amused. Neither is Commissioner Ford Frick, who is in the stands. Nor are the Mets who will hand Jimmy his walking papers in a few days.

» August 7, 1963: In the Mets 7–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Hickman hits for the cycle, doing it in order. Both are firsts for the New York Mets.

» July 21, 1976: Montreal trades Jim Dwyer and Pepe Mangual to the New York Mets for Del Unser and Wayne Garrett.

» September 23, 1979: St. Louis legend Lou Brock steals the 938th—and final—base of his career in a 7–4 win against the New York Mets. He tops 19th century speedster Billy Hamilton by one.

» January 24, 1980: Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon head a group of investors which purchases the New York Mets for a reported $21.1 million, the highest price paid to date for a ML baseball franchise. Doubleday, whose publishing company supplied 80 percent of the purchase price, will serve as chairman of the board, while Wilpon, a former teammate of Sandy Koufax's at Brooklyn's Lafayette High School, will be president and chief operating officer.

» November 6, 1980: Mariners GM Lou Gorman, who had been with the club since its inception, resigns to become vice president of the New York Mets.

» June 3, 1983: George Bamberger resigns as manager of the New York Mets, whose 16-30 record is the big-leagues' worst. He will be replaced by Frank Howard, who managed the Padres in 1981.

» April 14, 1985: At Atlanta, the Braves defeat the Padres 3-1 behind Rick Mahler and 2B Glenn Hubbard, who as a ML-record tying 12 assists. Second base also sees action on the Pads side as Tony Gwynn throws out two runners there. LaMarr Hoyt gives up the three Braves runs in four innings of work. In six days, on April 20, Juan Samuel, second sacker of the Phillies will be the next to match the 12 assists in a 7-6 Philadelphia win over the New York Mets. Monte Ward, for Brooklyn in 1892, was the first to make 12 assists.

» September 1, 1985: The visiting New York Mets edge San Francisco, 4–3 with Keith Hernandez's 2-run homer climaxing a 3-run 9th inning. Siske, in relief of Ed Lynch, is the winning pitcher. In the 5th, Lynch lines to right field and is thrown out 9–3 by RF Joel Youngblood. It's the National League's 2nd 9–3 putout in two months.

» March 19, 1999: The career of New York Mets righthander Paul Wilson is derailed again when he suffers a partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow while warming up before a three–inning stint in a minor-league game. An MRI will show a partial tear of the MCL in his elbow, and on March 30 he will undergo "Tommy John" surgery which will sideline him for the year.

» June 28, 1999: Hack Wilson ups his RBI total for the 1930 season to 191. 69 years after the season, an RBI is added by the commissioner's office, which also gives Babe Ruth six additional walks, raising his career-record total to 2,062. "There is no doubt that Hack Wilson's RBI total should be 191," commissioner Bud Selig said. "I am sensitive to the historical significance that accompanies the correction of such a prestigious record, especially after so many years have passed, but it is important to get it right." The missing RBI came from the 2nd game of a doubleheader between Wilson's Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds on July 28, 1930 where Charlie Grimm was credited with two RBIs in the game and Wilson with none. Ruth's walks total is now 2,062. Ted Williams is second, trailing by 43, and Rickey Henderson of the New York Mets is third, 134 behind Ruth.

» May 17, 2001: Desi Relaford of the New York Mets became the third position player this year to take the mound as he pitches the ninth inning of a 15-3 blowout by the San Diego Padres. Relaford displays a 91-mph fastball as he fires a perfect inning. Starter Steve Trachsel takes the loss and sets a club record by serving up four homers (to Alex Arias, Rickey Henderson, Ryan Klesko, and Bubba Trammell) in the 3rd inning. The Pads set a team record with 11 extra base hits.