1996 New York Mets season
| 1996 New York Mets | |
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| Owner(s) | Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr. |
| General manager(s) | Joe McIlvaine |
| Manager(s) | Dallas Green, Bobby Valentine |
| Local television |
WWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York (Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Howie Rose, Gary Thorne) |
| Local radio |
WFAN (Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Ed Coleman) WXLX (spanish) (Juan Alicea) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The New York Mets' 1996 season was the 35th regular season for the Mets. They went 71-91 and finished 4th in the NL East. They were managed by Dallas Green and Bobby Valentine. They played home games at Shea Stadium.
After back to back finishes near the top of the National League East, the Mets returned to the losing ways that had plagued the team since 1991. Manager Dallas Green, like his three predecessors in the position, was fired before the season was completed. His replacement was former Texas Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, the manager of the Norfolk Tides.
The Mets did not put up great power numbers as they had in recent years but managed to have two players reach 30 or more home runs. One was catcher Todd Hundley, who broke Roy Campanella's major league record for home runs by a catcher by recording 41. The other was outfielder Bernard Gilkey, who put up thirty home runs of his own. Lance Johnson, acquired in the off season after spending eight years with the Chicago White Sox, had a career year as well. The National League's All-Star center fielder, Johnson hit a career high .333, led the NL in hits with 227, stole 50 bases to set another career high, and recorded sixty extra base hits including a league leading 21 triples; no player since 1930 had that many in the National League.
The Mets traded away infielders Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino to the Cleveland Indians during the season. The promotion of rookie Rey Ordoñez to be the team's everyday shortstop had both players playing out of position, with Vizcaino at second base and Kent at third. In return the Mets received Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza, neither of whom made much of an impact.
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