Why are they called the New York Mets?

When the franchise entered the National League for the 1962 season, team owners asked fans to select from among ten names they had chosen. The ten names were:

  • Avengers
  • Bees
  • Burros
  • Continentals
  • Jets
  • Mets
  • NYBS
  • Rebels
  • Skyliners
  • Skyscrapers.

Mets (which is short for Metropolitans) won rather easily, with two other names getting write-in votes: Empires and Islanders. Several of the rejected names were later selected by other pro teams (Islanders and Jets, for example).

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Dan Holmes

Dan Holmes is the author of three books about baseball, including Ty Cobb: A Biography. He previously worked for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Major League Baseball Advanced Media. He lives in Michigan where he writes, runs, and enjoys a good orange soda now and again.

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