Catch the Rising Stars: A New York Mets Retro Podcast

This week, a battle begins to brew in left field as George Foster, Danny Heep and Mookie Wilson vie for playing time.  After Rick Aguilera gets demoted to the bullpen, Bruce Berenyi makes his case as the team’s fifth starter.  And in a tougher week than usual, the Mets lose more games than they win, and the Expos narrow the gap in the NL East.  Check it out!

The 1986 Mets keep on winning, putting together a 7-game win streak, on the heels of their 11-game win streak.  The starting pitching keeps rolling and Mookie Wilson returns from the disabled list!  Tune in for our Mother’s Day episode!

The Mets win their 11th game in a row - tying a franchise record.  And when the winning streak ends…another begins!  Tune on in to hear how the Mets begin pulling away from the pack.

Hear about the most important series sweep in Mets history as the Mets take out the Cardinals in four games in St. Louis, vanquishing their 1985 rivals, and putting them in first place in the NL East… a position they would remain in for the rest of the 1986 season.  

It’s Opening Day at Shea for the ‘86 Mets and while the Mets would suffer a tough loss against the Cards, they’d begin to turn their season around beginning with a weekend series against the Phillies.  Also tune in to hear about a concerning incident with Dwight Gooden, his family, and Hertz rental car rep at LaGuardia Airport, as Dr. K continues to find off the field struggles. 

The 1986 Mets season gets underway with games on the road in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  In between, several Mets join up to record a rap song… Get Metsmerized!  Hear all about it as our deep dive of the 40th anniversary of the 1986 season begins. 

Before we begin our 40th anniversary deep dive of the Mets’ 1986 championship season, get ready by catching up on the happenings that prior winter and spring.  The acquisitions of Bobby Ojeda and Tim Teufel.  How Dwight Gooden discovered cocaine.  How Keith Hernandez and other players were punished as a result of the ‘85 cocaine trials.  And hear about a nasty eye injury that Mookie Wilson suffers in a rundown drill.  Our 1986 series begins with this episode!

The Top 10 Relief Pitchers in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Edwin Diaz? John Franco? Tug McGraw? Jesse Orosco? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Starting Pitchers in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Jacob deGrom? Dwight Gooden? Jerry Koosman? Tom Seaver? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Catchers in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Gary Carter? Jerry Grote? Todd Hundley? Mike Piazza? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Right Fielders in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Michael Conforto? Rusty Staub? Darryl Strawberry? Ron Swoboda? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Center Fielders in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Carlos Beltran? Lee Mazzilli? Brandon Nimmo? Mookie Wilson? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Left Fielders in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Yoenis Cespedes? Cliff Floyd? Cleon Jones? Kevin McReynolds? Listen in and find out. Plus, a very special guest, my 7-year-old son, joins us!

The Top 10 Third Basemen in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Wayne Garrett? Howard Johnson? Robin Ventura? David Wright? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Shortstops in New York Mets history are revealed! Who will be number one? Bud Harrelson? Francisco Lindor? Rey Ordonez? Jose Reyes? Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 Second Basemen in New York Mets history are revealed!  Who will be number one?  Edgardo Alfonzo?  Wally Backman?  Jeff McNeil?  Daniel Murphy?  Listen in and find out!

The Top 10 First Basemen in New York Mets history are revealed!  Who will be number one?  Pete Alonso?  Keith Hernandez?  Ed Kranepool?  John Olerud?  Listen in and find out!

Our look-back at the 1985 baseball season concludes with an episode discussing the exciting World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Listen in as KC triumphs, coming back from an 3-1 series deficit, and St. Louis completely melts down, instigated by a botched umpire call.   The podcast will then return in two weeks when we start a biweekly series of episodes talking about the Top 10 at each position in Mets history.

The Kansas City Royals battle the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1985 ALCS.  No one gets their foot eaten by a tarp in this one.

The St. Louis Cardinals battle the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1985 NLCS.  And Vince Coleman gets his foot eaten by a tarp.  

It’s the season finale of “Catch the Rising Stars” as our journey chronicling the 1985 New York Mets culminates in a thrilling and emotional ending. 

It’s the penultimate week of the 1985 season and the Mets attempt to gain ground on St. Louis prior to a final week head-to-head showdown. Also in this episode, we unveil the future of the ‘Catch the Rising Stars’ podcast and preview those episodes in the works once the Mets 1985 season wraps up.

After there was Babe Ruth and before there was Shohei Ohtani, there was Dwight Gooden.  Dr. K was not only a phenomenal pitcher in 1985, he could hit too!  Hear about a week where Doc has two starts, pitches great in both of them, but at the plate goes 5 for 8, with 6 RBIs, including a 3-run home run.  All this while the Mets continue to battle the Cardinals for first place with just a few weeks left in the season!

We’re in the thick of the 1985 pennant race as the Mets and Cardinals go head to head in three games in front of sold-out crowds at Shea.  Only a few weeks left in the season and it’s crunch time.  Check it out!

This week’s episode pays tribute to former Mets manager, Davey Johnson, who sadly recently passed away at the age of 82.  And in our 1985 look-back, we discuss a week when Keith Hernandez testified in front of a federal grand jury about his former use of cocaine.  We also look at how Gary Carter hit five home runs in a span of two games.  And the Mets and Dodgers get into an on-field brawl in L.A.  This is an important episode to listen to.

It’s Labor Day Weekend and the calendar turns to September where the Mets remain in a neck and neck race against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Hear about the Mets playing two against the Dodgers at Shea before flying to San Francisco for a weekend set against the Giants.  Only a month left in the season and the pennant races are kicking into gear!  

This week, Dr. K Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest pitcher in baseball history to win 20 games in a season at the young age of 20.  Listen in as Doc wins both his 19th game (a 16-strikeout performance) and his 20th in the same week!

The Mets and Cardinals battle for first place in the NL East as this week, Sid Fernandez pitches great with two 8 inning-plus wins.  Meanwhile Frank Cashen learns that the White Sox would make Tom Seaver available to the Mets in a trade.  Would the team pull the trigger?  The 1985 pennant race is heating up so listen to our latest episode! 

The 1985 baseball season takes a pause as the Players Union goes on strike!  For a full 48 hours.  When the season resumes play, the Mets find themselves red-hot, on a seven game winning streak, and moving into sole possession of first place in the NL East.  Hear about some amazing performances such as a three-home run game by Darryl Strawberry, a two-home run game by Gary Carter, a 5 for 6 performance by Keith Hernandez, and the fourth complete game in a row by Dr. K!

While the Franchise Tom Seaver may not be a Met in 1985, hear all about him achieving his 300th career win in front of a New York City crowd when his White Sox battle the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  As for the Mets, hear about them wrapping up an amazing month of July that saw them go 21-7!  This episode also pays homage to the recently departed Ryne Sandberg.

This week, the Mets play the Reds as Pete Rose inches closer and closer to breaking Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record.  The team says goodbye to Kelvin Chapman.  And the Mets win a game by a score of 16-4… with all 16 runs scored as unearned.  Listen on in!

Relive the 1985 All Star Game as Darryl Strawberry does a fine job representing the Mets in the Mid-Summer Classic.  But a black cloud looms over baseball as failing labor negotiations cause the Players Association to set a strike date for early August.  Meanwhile, the second half of the season gets underway and the Mets score 31 runs over the course of two games!  Check it out!

The first half of the 1985 season comes to a close as the Mets wrap up a 9-game winning streak and move back up to second place in the NL East.  Find out who from the Mets is selected to the ‘85 All Star Game next week in Minneapolis.  Plus, in this week’s episode, Nolan Ryan gets his 4,000th career strikeout against his former team.  Check it out!

It’s our biggest and best episode yet!  First, we cover the first ballgame that this podcaster ever attended in person.  Then, a few days later, we cover the wackiest game the Mets ever played.  The 4th of July 19-inning game… the “Rick Camp” game… the “Let’s Shoot Off a Bunch of Fireworks at 4 a.m” game.  This is one you don’t want to miss!  

After missing seven weeks due to injury, Darryl Strawberry returns to the Mets’ lineup!  But the bats have run cold and the team is not hitting… at all.  Davey Johnson holds a team meeting, desperate to turn things around.  Hear all about it!

An exciting week for the Mets as they sweep the Cubs thanks to back-to-back-to-back complete games from Ron Darling, Ed Lynch and Dwight Gooden.  Plus Rusty Staub gets 50,000+ fans at Shea rocking as he hits what will be the final home run of his MLB career.  Listen on in!

The Mets get whupped by a score of 26-7 against the Phillies.  Gary Carter makes a homecoming when the Mets visit Montreal.  A new rookie, Rick Aguilera, makes his Mets debut.  Happy Father’s Day! 

The great Mets/Cardinals rivalry of 1985 is officially underway as the young, speedy Cards show the Mets how dangerous they are.  A gruesome outfield collision between Terry Blocker and Danny Heep caps off a pretty terrible week for the Mets as their June slide begins.  But listen on in anyway!

The Mets are California-bound where a 5-1 record in games at San Francisco and San Diego puts them back in first place in the National League East.  Check it out!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend as in 1985 the Mets host the Dodgers (just as they currently are in 2025). Gooden vs Valenzuela is on tap in a game televised on NBC’s Game of the Week. And though Dr. K went 24-4 in ‘85, two of his four losses come on this week. Check it out!

The Mets make a coaching change involving two of their future managers!  Bobby Valentine is out and Buddy Harrelson is in.  Oh and Calvin Schiraldi breaks his toe.  Dive on in!

This episode covers the week when your podcaster FIRST became a Mets fan.  The week includes dominant starting pitching and a debut performance by Sid Fernandez.  But it’s also the week when Darryl Strawberry went down with a devastating thumb injury.  Oh, and Happy Mothers Day!  This is one you don’t want to miss.

The Mets enter the month of May, 1985.  Injuries pile up.  The bullpen implodes.  Doug Sisk gets demoted to the minors.  But a rookie named Lenny Dykstra debuts giving the team a new spark!  Take a listen!

This week, manager Davey Johnson and pitcher Ed Lynch have a throw down.  The Mets win an 18-inning, 5+ hour marathon.  And over in the Bronx, the Boss fires Yogi and hires Billy (again!).  

It’s the second week of the season and the Mets road-trip in Pennsylvania with stops in Pittsburgh, where fan turnout is real low and Philadelphia, where they face off with an old friend in Jerry Koosman.  But the real drama of the week is between Davey Johnson and Doug Sisk over the latter’s mutiny!  Check it out!

The 1985 Mets season gets underway with a COLD series of games at Shea against the Cardinals and Reds.  Hear all about Gary Carter’s game-winning heroics on opening day, a surprising masterful performance from Bruce Berenyi, and iconic moments from Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.  Even a Rolaids-inducing outing from Doug Sisk doesn’t put a damper on a perfect first week.  Take a listen!

Welcome to Catch the Rising Stars - a New York Mets retro podcast! Each week we will rewind the clock exactly 40 years ago and discuss all of the Mets games and all of the news from their magical run during the 1980s.  Subscribe and join us each week for the latest happenings that were going on with Doc, Straw, Keith, Kid and so many more of our favorites.  Let’s Go Mets!