To date, there has only been one Mets player to ever wear the number 00. Tony Clark opted to wear the number to start the 2003 season because his preferred 22 was worn by Mets great Al Leiter. As such, he innocently wore 00.
It really was innocent as it was purportedly the number assigned to him. While Clark and many others may not have thought much of it, apparently, it bothered little Mets fans.
As reported by David Lennon of Newsday, Clark said young Mets fans had repeatedly approached him saying, “A lot of kids have expressed their opinion that there's only one double-zero in their heart,” the team’s lovable mascot, Mr. Met.
And with that Clark become not only the first Mets player to wear the number 00, he would also go on to become the first-ever Mets player to wear the number 52. The switch proved serendipitous as Clark would hit .191/.269/.415 with 00, and he would hit .256/.318/.506 with the number 52.
As we know, new Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker was torn between choosing the numbers 99 and 00 for his uniform after inking a three-year deal with New York this week.
In fact, he solicited fan input as to which number he should wear. Despite a narrow margin of the 27.538 Mets fans who voted for 00 having a slight edge, Walker did indeed pick the number 99.
Perhaps that is a good thing after all. While Clark found some bad luck messing with Mr. Met, the only Mets player to previously wear the number 99 found some luck with the number.
Fan-favorite Turk Wendell would easily have his best years in a Mets uniform. Part of that included being a part of the first Mets team to go to consecutive postseasons and his being the first-ever Mets pitcher to win an NLDS game.
The moral of the story here is you don’t make the youngest of Mets fans upset, and you certainly don’t mess with Mr. Met.
That’s bad luck. However, the number 99, well that number has a tremendous amount of luck for the Mets, especially in pressure situations.
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