It was never happening. Not the way it unfolded, anyway. But that did not stop the Mets from pushing aggressively to bring baseball’s most electrifying player to a team on the rise. Imagine Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, who might make up this year’s Cooperstown class, sharing the middle of the lineup in Flushing. The Mets sure did.
They had just fallen two games short of the World Series with elite production from Piazza at catcher, Edgardo Alfonzo at second base and Robin Ventura at third base. Their outfield was much weaker, and the Seattle Mariners were looking for a place to trade Griffey, one of the best center fielders in history.