Mets legend Mookie Wilson recalls greatest moment at 1986 World Series 40th anniversary celebration
Members of the 1986 Mets pose for a photo during the 40th anniversary celebration honoring their World Series championship at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
They headed two by two toward a small section of bleachers placed behind second base, feeling the warmth from the crowd. There were Straw and Dykstra, Doc and Darling, Mookie and Keith, HoJo pushing Knight’s wheelchair, all 40 years older than they were in the highlights playing on the videoboard.
For the players who created those highlights at Shea Stadium and beyond, and for the fans who experienced that wondrous year, this was the happy 40-year anniversary party.
This was the Mets’ 1986 World Series reunion and celebration Saturday at Citi Field.
It was a trip back in time to the second championship in franchise history, an accomplishment the Mets haven’t been able to replicate since that night of Oct. 27, 1986.
Aug. 1, 2026, was a day at Citi Field for joyous memories, a day when living in the past sure beat living in the present. The current Mets are in last place and selling off some veteran parts for prospects before Monday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline. Another championship seems far, far away.
That 1986 team, with its talent and brashness and fun-loving ways, won 108 games and then staged that Game 6 comeback for the ages in the World Series against the Red Sox.
“We had a special team,” said Mookie Wilson, now a 70-year-old grandfather. “The personalities were so different and the cultures were so different. And it’s unusual that many different personalities come together and play in harmony.
That’s not to say we didn’t have our little disagreements . . . But we found a way to win. And I think that’s the common thread right now. We wanted to win and we depended on each other. And it showed on and off the ballfield. I think that’s what made this team so special.
“I mean, we were more than just a team. We were literally family. I know that’s an old cliche, but that team, it’s so true and so evident even to this very day.”
The expectations were set high for that team right from the start. The late Davey Johnson, “a player’s manager” in the words of Wilson, set them when he addressed the players at spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“We’re not only going to win, we’re going to dominate,” Johnson told them.
Wilson thought it was an odd thing to say.
“I thought that was kind of like ‘now you’re going to put your foot in it. Now we’ve got to go out and do something,’ ” he said. “But that was Davey.
“I don’t think any other manager could have handled this club. But Davey was one of us. Davey was an extension of what this club was because he was willing to go out on a limb. We were willing to be ourselves, have fun, hot foots, play basketball, soccer, hacky sack. We were not afraid to let people know who we were.”
They were in trouble in Game 6 of the NLCS at the Astrodome in Houston, down 3-0 in the ninth, with the series in danger of being tied and the Mets in danger of having to face a very tough starter in Mike Scott in Game 7. But they tied it and wound up winning in 16 innings, 7-6.
They again were in trouble in the World Series, dropping the first two games to Boston at Shea. They tied it and then fell behind three games to two. Then they fell behind 5-3 in the 10th inning of Game 6.
Wally Backman flied out to open the bottom half. Keith Hernandez did as well. There were two gone and no one on. Doom filled the air in Queens.
Roger McDowell had appeared earlier in relief and was sitting in the clubhouse — equipment manager Charlie Samuels’ office, to be exact.
“For me, two outs, nobody on, I thought it was over,” McDowell said. “I thought it was done.”
Out in the Mets’ dugout, Wilson was thinking the same thing, feeling that this great team was about to blow it. He saw his manager looking grim. The same with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.
Then Gary Carter singled to left.
McDowell said suddenly he had “a belief there” that maybe the Mets could come back.
Superstitiously, he wasn’t going to move from his seat until the end.
Kevin Mitchell followed with a single — first and second.
“Now things were looking up a little bit,” Wilson said.
Ray Knight, the World Series MVP, singled to center — first and third, 5-4.
Bob Stanley relieved Calvin Schiraldi.
Now it was Wilson’s turn for an at-bat that will live forever.
With the Mets down to their last strike, Stanley threw low and in, sending Wilson sprawling — wild pitch. Mitchell scored, Knight at second, 5-5.
“Let’s face it, I was playing with house money,” Wilson said. “Score is tied. I’m about 30 pounds lighter now because I don’t have the weight of New York on my shoulder.”
After he fouled off two pitches, he rolled over a sinker, sending a grounder toward first.
“I probably said some things I shouldn’t have said,” Wilson said.
But he took off.
“All of this seemed like it took a week,” he said. “Time just kind of stood still.
“And I’m watching the ball bounce down the first-base line and I’m running for no purpose, but I’m running.”
And then he saw the ball go through Bill Buckner’s legs.
“Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!” Vin Scully shouted in the TV booth.
“I don’t think any of us could ever predict or imagine that one instance in time in baseball history could bring that much joy to people and just create a lasting memory that they just tell their kids and grandkids about,” Wilson said. “I know I do.”
Boston led 3-0 heading for the home sixth in Game 7. But the Mets tied it in that inning and Knight cracked a solo shot for the lead in the seventh.
The Mets were up 8-5 when Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett and flung his glove skyward.
The closer, who won three games in the NLCS and saved two in the World Series, didn’t keep the glove. He soon gave it to a Mets fan — and it meant so much to that person, NYPD officer Steven McDonald, who had been shot and paralyzed that July and passed away in 2017.
“I know people that are saying, ‘Why would you do that, Jesse?’ ” Orosco said. “I said, ‘Look, I felt compelled to do that.’ It gave him a chance to live as long as he could . . . I feel good about doing that.”
Wilson spoke to the fans toward the end of the anniversary ceremony and thanked them. Then the 2026 Mets fell to Miami, 6-2, and dropped to 47-65.
When is this franchise going to have another World Series moment that will create another happy anniversary party?
“It’s everything you want to be a part of when you join an organization,” interim manager Andy Green said. “You want to hoist a banner. You want to bring the city a trophy.
“ . . . It’s easy to feel really far away from it . . . But ultimately seasons flip really fast to next year and you can be a lot closer to a World Series title than you think. But today is about what they did in ’86.”
