Okay, so this morning I got a random itch. I mean, why the 2012 Mets roster? Honestly, no clue. Maybe it was that documentary snippet I saw last night, or just baseball on the brain. Point is, I decided I needed the full lineup – names, numbers, positions, the whole shebang.
Went straight to the official source first, obviously. Pulled up the main Mets site. Big mistake. Their historical stuff? Buried deep. Clicked around for ages – team history, archives, past seasons. Felt like navigating a maze designed by someone who hates fans. Found a “2012” page eventually, but guess what? Just the headline names. No jersey numbers, relief pitchers were missing, bench players were ghosts. Totally useless for what I wanted. Closed that tab fast.
Next stop: trusty Baseball Reference. Usually my go-to, right? Searched “2012 Mets,” pulled up the roster page. Okay, getting warmer. Names listed, positions mostly there. But the player images? Tiny thumbnails from 2012, kinda blurry when you zoom. Annoying. Worse? The jersey numbers were missing for a bunch of bench guys and that revolving door of relief pitchers they had that year. Seriously? How hard is it to list the number next to the name? Felt like I was getting only half the picture.
Frustration building. Tried a generic search engine. Typed in “new york mets 2012 roster full list.” Scrolled past news articles about trades from back then, obituaries for players who’d passed, and a bunch of sites trying to sell me jerseys. Found a couple fan wikis. Information overload, honestly. Some had numbers but wrong positions. Others had positions but listed players who only played a single game. Messy. Didn’t trust it.
Then I remembered ESPN. They gotta have archives. Dug into their MLB section, found the team pages, went way back to 2012. Bingo! Finally. A clean list, broken down properly. Position players, starting pitchers, relievers, bench. And finally – clear, consistent data.
Here’s the core of that mess of a team, finally laid bare:
Starting Pitchers (The Hopefuls?):
- R.A. Dickey (#43) – Knuckleball wizardry
- Johan Santana (#57) – Post-no-hitter shoulder…
- Jon Niese (#49)
- Dillon Gee (#35)
- Mike Pelfrey? Chris Young? Seriously, it rotated!
Key Relievers (The Bullpen Fire Department… often on fire):
- Frank Francisco (#48) – Closer… sometimes
- Bobby Parnell (#39)
- Jon Rauch (#60) – Dude was tall
- Tim Byrdak (#40)
- Ramon Ramirez (#59)
Everyday Players (David Wright & Friends):
- David Wright (#5) – Captain, carrying the offense
- Ike Davis (#29) – First base, power potential
- Daniel Murphy (#28) – Second base, hitting machine
- Ruben Tejada (#11) – Shortstop kid
- Josh Thole (#30) – Catching Dickey’s knuckler
- Lucas Duda (#21) – Big bat, LF/RF/1B… kinda?
- Jason Bay (#44) – Remember that contract? Oof.
Bench & Others (The Who’s Who of Fill-ins):
- Andres Torres (#56) – CF for a bit
- Scott Hairston (#12) – Pinch hit hero sometimes
- Mike Baxter (#23) – Sacrificed his shoulder for Santana’s no-no!
- Ronny Cedeno (#1) – Utility infielder
- Justin Turner (#2) – Utility guy before he was famous
- Kirk Nieuwenhuis (#9) – Rookie OF
Scrolling through that final list… man. R.A. Dickey winning 20 games with that knuckleball felt like magic. David Wright putting up MVP numbers basically alone. Johan Santana’s shoulder falling apart after the no-hitter. The constant bullpen shuffle. That Jason Bay contract hanging over everything like a dark cloud. It was a team built on hope, crushed by injuries and inconsistencies. Found what I needed, but the journey itself kinda summed up that Mets season perfectly: frustrating, a scavenger hunt for reliable pieces, and ultimately… kinda sad? For the love of the game, I guess. Done.
