They haven't won another title since. Indeed, they've only won 2 more World Series games. They've reached the National League Championship Series 6 times since then, going 2-4.
It's been exactly 40 years. That's 480 months, or 2,080 weeks, or 14,610 days. How long has that been?
*
Of the 25 players on their World Series roster, 24 are still alive. Only Gary Carter has died. It's (pardon the choice of words) an Amazing thing that none of the other '86 Mets has died.
Accidents and illnesses can happen. And that's before you consider the substance abuse issues of Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and, lest we forget why Whitey Herzog chased him out of St. Louis, Keith Hernandez.
Not to mention the eating habits some of them developed. Seriously, Hernandez and Ron Darling put on a lot of weight. Ironically, the fattest guy on the team, Sid Fernandez, has lost weight. He looked great the last time I saw him.
When the Mets won the 1986 World Series, they beat the Boston Red Sox, who hadn't won the Series in 68 years. The Chicago White Sox hadn't won in 69. the Chicago Cubs hadn't won in 78. The Giants hadn't won since moving to San Francisco, the Braves since moving to Atlanta, the Twins since moving to Minnesota. The team then known as the California Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Houston Astros, the Montreal Expos franchise and the Texas Rangers, had never won. The Blue Jays, the Astros, the Expos and the Rangers hadn't yet won a Pennant.
The Rangers and the Seattle Mariners had never even made the Playoffs. The Expos hadn't moved to become the Washington Nationals. The Oakland Athletics hadn't yet made a plan to move to Las Vegas, with Sacramento as a stopover. The Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays hadn't yet begun play. MLB hadn't yet seen a stadium with a retractable roof, or Interleague play, or, with 1 exception in the mid-1960s, a player from an Asian country.
All of those things have since happened.
Comiskey Park (built in 1910), Tiger Stadium (1912), the original Yankee Stadium (1923), Cleveland Municipal Stadium (1931), Milwaukee County Stadium (1953), Baltimore Memorial Stadium (1954), Exhibition Stadium (1959), Candlestick Park (1960), Arlington Stadium (1965), Busch Memorial Stadium (1966), Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1966), Jack Murphy Stadium (1967), Riverfront Stadium (1970), Three Rivers Stadium (1970), Veterans Stadium (1971), the Kingdome (1976), the Metrodome (1982), and, of course, the Mets' own Shea Stadium (1964) were all still standing and hosting Major League Baseball. They're all gone now.
Comiskey Park (built in 1910), Tiger Stadium (1912), the original Yankee Stadium (1923), Cleveland Municipal Stadium (1931), Milwaukee County Stadium (1953), Baltimore Memorial Stadium (1954), Exhibition Stadium (1959), Candlestick Park (1960), Arlington Stadium (1965), Busch Memorial Stadium (1966), Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1966), Jack Murphy Stadium (1967), Riverfront Stadium (1970), Three Rivers Stadium (1970), Veterans Stadium (1971), the Kingdome (1976), the Metrodome (1982), and, of course, the Mets' own Shea Stadium (1964) were all still standing and hosting Major League Baseball. They're all gone now.
Only 6 ballparks in use then are still being used: Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and both Los Angeles-area parks, Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium. And all of those 5 (some more so than others) have undergone major renovations. And a plan to replace Kauffman Stadium is in place.
In addition to the old Yankee Stadium and Shea, the Giants and Jets have moved out of Giants Stadium, the Devils and Nets have moved out of the Meadowlands Arena, and the Islanders have moved out of the Nassau Coliseum. The Knicks and Rangers haven't moved, but Madison Square Garden has undergone 2 major renovations.
There was an NFL team in St. Louis, but it was the Cardinals, not the Rams. There was an NFL team in Houston, but it was the Oilers, not the Texans. The Rams and the Raiders were both in Los Angeles, both have since left, and the Rams had returned. Baltimore was without a team. Phoenix was trying to get one (supposedly, they nearly got the Eagles a couple of years earlier), and so was Jacksonville, but they hadn't yet. Charlotte wasn't even trying to get in the picture: The best stadium within 50 miles of downtown had just 21,000 seats and was already 50 years old. (It was American Legion Memorial Stadium. Oddly, it still stands, although one side of it has been replaced.)
The NBA was planning an expansion, but hadn't yet selected Charlotte, Miami, Orlando and Minnesota. Despite the Houston Rockets having just won their 2nd Eastern Conference title in 6 years, this was the era of dominance by the Los Angeles Lakers (winning 5 of their 9 trips to the Finals) and the Boston Celtics (3 out of 5), with the Philadelphia 76ers having just made a couple of trades that crippled them for a decade, ending a decent run (4 trips to the Finals, but winning only 1).
The NHL still had teams in Quebec City and Hartford. Atlanta, without a team since 1980, and gained a new one, and lost it. Winnipeg lost a team, and regained it. There was a team in Minnesota, but it was the North Stars, not the Wild.
The Edmonton Oilers ruled the league, the Islanders weren't that far off of their dynasty, and the Rangers had just reached the Conference Finals. The Devils? At the time, they were a joke, and the idea that the Devils would win a 1st Stanley Cup, let alone a 3rd, before the Mets won a 3rd World Series would have gotten you laughed out of the room.
Edd Roush, star of the Cincinnati Reds team that won the 1919 World Series (with a little "help" from 7 Chicago White Sox), was still alive. So were 1926 St. Louis Cardinals player Specs Toporcer; 1927-28 Yankee World Champion Mark Koenig, Ray Morehart and Archie Campbell; 1930s Yankee stars Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Frank Crosetti; and 1930s Giants stars Bill Terry and Carl Hubbell. George Pipgras, Yankee pitcher star of the 1920s, had died on October 19, the day of Game 2 of the Series.
The defining players of my childhood had either hung 'em up or were in the process of doing so. Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench retired 3 years earlier. Tom Seaver was playing out the string -- ironically, for the Red Sox against the Mets in the World Series, although he did not appear. Pete Rose never really announced his retirement, but he had played his last game a few weeks earlier. Reggie Jackson would play 1 more year, Steve Carlton 2, Mike Schmidt 3. Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk, George Brett and Robin Yount would all hang on for another 7.
Derek Jeter was 12 years old, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz were 11, Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia were 6, Robinson Cano had just turned 4; David Wright, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera were 3; Matt Kemp was 2, and Felix Hernandez was 1. Stephen Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto weren't born yet. Neither were any of the players on the Mets' current 40-man roster: The oldest is Robert Stock, a 36-year-old pitcher.
In addition to the old Yankee Stadium and Shea, the Giants and Jets have moved out of Giants Stadium, the Devils and Nets have moved out of the Meadowlands Arena, and the Islanders have moved out of the Nassau Coliseum. The Knicks and Rangers haven't moved, but Madison Square Garden has undergone 2 major renovations.
There was an NFL team in St. Louis, but it was the Cardinals, not the Rams. There was an NFL team in Houston, but it was the Oilers, not the Texans. The Rams and the Raiders were both in Los Angeles, both have since left, and the Rams had returned. Baltimore was without a team. Phoenix was trying to get one (supposedly, they nearly got the Eagles a couple of years earlier), and so was Jacksonville, but they hadn't yet. Charlotte wasn't even trying to get in the picture: The best stadium within 50 miles of downtown had just 21,000 seats and was already 50 years old. (It was American Legion Memorial Stadium. Oddly, it still stands, although one side of it has been replaced.)
The NBA was planning an expansion, but hadn't yet selected Charlotte, Miami, Orlando and Minnesota. Despite the Houston Rockets having just won their 2nd Eastern Conference title in 6 years, this was the era of dominance by the Los Angeles Lakers (winning 5 of their 9 trips to the Finals) and the Boston Celtics (3 out of 5), with the Philadelphia 76ers having just made a couple of trades that crippled them for a decade, ending a decent run (4 trips to the Finals, but winning only 1).
The NHL still had teams in Quebec City and Hartford. Atlanta, without a team since 1980, and gained a new one, and lost it. Winnipeg lost a team, and regained it. There was a team in Minnesota, but it was the North Stars, not the Wild.
The Edmonton Oilers ruled the league, the Islanders weren't that far off of their dynasty, and the Rangers had just reached the Conference Finals. The Devils? At the time, they were a joke, and the idea that the Devils would win a 1st Stanley Cup, let alone a 3rd, before the Mets won a 3rd World Series would have gotten you laughed out of the room.
Edd Roush, star of the Cincinnati Reds team that won the 1919 World Series (with a little "help" from 7 Chicago White Sox), was still alive. So were 1926 St. Louis Cardinals player Specs Toporcer; 1927-28 Yankee World Champion Mark Koenig, Ray Morehart and Archie Campbell; 1930s Yankee stars Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Frank Crosetti; and 1930s Giants stars Bill Terry and Carl Hubbell. George Pipgras, Yankee pitcher star of the 1920s, had died on October 19, the day of Game 2 of the Series.
The defining players of my childhood had either hung 'em up or were in the process of doing so. Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench retired 3 years earlier. Tom Seaver was playing out the string -- ironically, for the Red Sox against the Mets in the World Series, although he did not appear. Pete Rose never really announced his retirement, but he had played his last game a few weeks earlier. Reggie Jackson would play 1 more year, Steve Carlton 2, Mike Schmidt 3. Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk, George Brett and Robin Yount would all hang on for another 7.
Derek Jeter was 12 years old, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz were 11, Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia were 6, Robinson Cano had just turned 4; David Wright, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera were 3; Matt Kemp was 2, and Felix Hernandez was 1. Stephen Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto weren't born yet. Neither were any of the players on the Mets' current 40-man roster: The oldest is Robert Stock, a 36-year-old pitcher.
Current Mets manager Andy Green was 9 years old. Yankee manager Aaron Boone was in junior high school. John Harbaugh of the Giants was coaching running backs and linebackers at Western Michigan University. Peter DeBoer of the Islanders was playing for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Mike Sullivan of the Rangers was a freshman at Boston University. Mike Brown of the Knicks was a junior at a high school at an American military base in Germany, where his father was serving in the U.S. Air Force. Aaron Glenn of the Jets was a freshman in high school in Houston. Pascal Jansen of New York City FC was a schoolboy player in his native Netherlands. Sheldon Keefe of the Devils was 6 years old. Jordi Fernández of the Nets was 3. Chris DeMarco of the Liberty was 1. Michael Bradley of the Red Bulls was born the next year.
The team the Mets dethroned as World Series winners was the Kansas City Royals. The other defending World Champions were the Chicago Bears, the Boston Celtics and the Montreal Canadiens. Between them, those 4 teams have won just 4 titles since (the 1993 Canadiens, the 2015 Royals -- against the Mets -- and the 2008 and 2024 Celtics). The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Michael Spinks, but Mike Tyson was coming.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 4 times; Canada, Korea, Japan, China, France and Italy twice each; and Spain, Norway, Japan, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain, Russia and Brazil once each.
There were 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The idea that a person could legally marry someone of the same gender, with all the rights and privileges that couples in a "traditional marriage" would have, was ludicrous -- but so was the idea that corporations were "people," with all the rights and privileges thereof.
So was the idea that a six-times-bankrupt businessman with no political experience, who brags about grabbing women by various body parts, could be elected President. So was the idea that a President could lose his bid for re-election, send thugs to invade the Capitol in an attempt to prevent that result's certification. So was the idea that someone who did that could avoid prison. And so was the idea that said person could win the next Presidential election.
The President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. George H.W. Bush was Vice President. His son George W. had recently quit drinking (or so he says), but was still a 40-year-old businessman who couldn't find oil in Texas, and had run for office once and lost, having failed at everything he'd ever done to that point.
Bill Clinton, the same age, was about to be elected to his 4th term as Governor of Arkansas. Barack Obama was at Harvard Law School. Joe Biden was about to become Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And Donald Trump was still on his first wife, and not well-known west of the Delaware River. Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy were all still alive.
The Governor of New York was Mario Cuomo, while current Governor Kathy Hochul was an aide to Senator Pat Moynihan. The Governor of New Jersey was Tom Kean, whose son Tom Jr. is currently running for re-election to Congress, while current Governor Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherrill was a freshman in high school. The Mayor of New York, uh, was, uh, Ed Koch. Current Mayor Zohran Mamdani wasn't born yet.
There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine Campaign, the Boer War, and the Russo-Japanese War. There were still survivors of the Iroquois Theatre fire, the General Slocum fire, the Potemkin Mutiny and the Great San Francisco Earthquake.
Elie Wiesel, survivor and chronicler of the Holocaust, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and was invited to throw out the first ball before Game 1 of the World Series at Shea Stadium. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, was earning his doctorate at The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in Rome.
The Prime Minister of Canada was Brian Mulroney. The monarch of Great Britain was Queen Elizabeth II, and the Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher. There have since been 7 Presidents of the United States (8 if you count Trump twice), 11 Prime Ministers and 2 monarchs of Britain, and 4 Popes.
England's Football League title and its FA Cup were both won by Liverpool; for all that club's achievements, this is the only time they've ever won both in the same year, the only time they've "done The Double."
Major novels of 1986 included The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy, and Stephen King's It. George R.R. Martin, a Met fan, and a Jet fan -- both of which may explain his penchant for unhappy endings for characters -- published the science fiction novel Tuf Voyaging. J.K. Rowling had just graduated from the University of Exeter, and was now working as a researcher for Amnesty International in London.
Major films released in the fall of 1986 included Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Hoosiers, Blue Velvet, Crocodile Dundee, Children of a Lesser God, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Mosquito Coast, An American Tail, and the film that finally got Paul Newman the Oscar for Best Actor, the sequel to the film that should have, The Hustler: The Color of Money.
Saturday Night Live did a parody of it, The Hustler of Money, turning Newman's Fast Eddie Felson and Tom Cruise's Vincent Lauria into bowlers. Newman and Cruise were both played by newcomers to the show, Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey, respectively. Kevin Nealon had also recently debuted on the show.
The Fox Network had just become the 4th major network, and The Oprah Winfrey Show had just gone to national syndication after 2 years as a Chicago-only show. Shows debuting that fall included L.A. Law, Head of the Class, Matlock, Designing Women, ALF, It's Garry Shandling's Show and Pee-wee's Playhouse.
George Lucas was still reaping the benefits of the original Star Wars trilogy. Steven Spielberg had just produced An American Tail, a cartoon about a Jewish immigrant mouse -- not to be confused with Art Spiegelman's Maus, then in progress, which takes place half a century later, during the Holocaust. Christopher Reeve was still playing Superman, a new Batman film was being prepared, Colin Baker was playing The Doctor, and Timothy Dalton was filming The Living Daylights, his 1st outing as James Bond.
No one had yet heard of Bart Simpson, Robocop, Codename V, John McClane, Zack Morris, Hayden Fox, the Seinfeld Four, Deadpool, Buffy Summers, Alex Cross, Fox Mulder, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Bridget Jones, Xena, Carrie Bradshaw, Jed Bartlet, Tony Soprano, Master Chief, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White, Richard Castle, Jon Snow or Maggie Bell.
Queens produced both the team that won the World Series on this date and the singer of the Number 1 song in the country on this date: Cyndi Lauper, with "True Colors." Also in the Autumn of 1986, The Smiths broke up. Metallica's bus crashed, killing bass guitarist Cliff Burton. Bon Jovi released Slippery When Wet, Slayer released Reign In Blood, and Stryper countered with To Hell With the Devil.
The Beastie Boys released License to Ill, and every teenager who'd ever said, "What a drag!" about his parents failed to realize that "You Gotta Fight for Your Right (To Party)" was a joke, a parody of that kind of teenage boy. All 3 Beasties -- Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Michael "Mike D" Diamond -- were Met fans.
Michael Jackson was recording his album Bad. Paul McCartney had a hit with the theme from the Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd film Spies Like Us. Bob Dylan was getting bad reviews for his album Knocked Out Loaded. Frank Sinatra had recently collapsed onstage in Atlantic City, and was diagnosed with diverticulitis.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $3.05 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 22 cents, and a New York Subway ride $1.00. The average price of a gallon of gas 93 cents, a cup of coffee $1.25, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $2.85, a movie ticket $3.77, a new car $13,016, and a new house $115,600. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day at 1,841.82.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. The birth control pill was long-established, but there was, as yet, no Viagra. The leading home video game system was the Atari 5200 SuperSystem. There were home computers and desktop computers, but they were still pretty bulky. The idea of a computer fitting on your lap, let alone in your pocket, was ridiculous. Hardly anybody had heard of the Internet, and there was no World Wide Web, to say anything of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Wikipedia, Pinterest or Vine. And portable phones were still of the large "brick" variety.
In the Autumn of 1986, Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Queen Elizabeth became the 1st British monarch to visit mainland China. The M25 motorway, London's answer to a capital beltway, was completed. Earthquakes shook Greece and El Salvador. Former supermodel Gia Carangi died of AIDS. So did Jerry Smith, a former tight end for the Washington Redskins, who never came out of the closet during his lifetime.
The Democrats regained control of the U.S. Senate. And just 1 week after the Mets won the World Series, it was revealed that Reagan had sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of American and other Western hostages. A few days after that, it was revealed that the money made from these sales had gone to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Either was an impeachable offense; had Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama done these things, conservatives would have wanted them impeached, imprisoned and hanged, not necessarily in that order. But it was Reagan who did it, and he completely got away with it.
Vyacheslav Molotov, and Cary Grant, and Hank Greenberg died. Emilia Clarke, and Shaun White, and Olivier Giroud were born. So were a pair of murderers, Oscar Pistorius and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. And, on the very day the Mets won it, one of their later pitchers, Jon Niese, was born.
October 27, 1986. The last time the New York Mets won the World Series.
And I truly do mean the last time. It will never happen again.
Curse of Kevin Mitchell, people.
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