Behind Enemy (Base) Lines: IRT Lexington Avenue and IND Concourse

After endless matchups for the Mets against the same old boring opponents, it's time for a different... extra boring opponent, but at least Colleen Sullivan is here to

Project ShaqBox trivia from Jesse Spector: It’s Subway Series time, for the first time since I started working at the MTA, which means I can finally say, earnestly, that I’m rooting for the subway. Note the title above. Fine, I’m rooting for the Mets because they’re in a tighter pennant race, because my feelings about and toward the Yankees are very complex at the moment – more about that on the next episode of Pod At The Park! – and because (gestures broadly at Mets-themed website selling Mets-inspired creations).

Anyway, the 25-year joke since interleague play began is that the Yankees and Mets can find detente in their mutual rivalry with Boston, as the Mets have done the one thing that the Yanks never could, beat the Sox in a World Series.

1987 Topps Collectors Series #29 Darryl Strawberry

Darryl Strawberry, of course, played for both the Mets and the Yankees, and it’s not surprising that among players to homer for both teams, the Straw Man is the all-time leader, with 252 in Flushing and 41 in the Bronx for a total of 293 dingers as a New York player.

You may notice the phrasing there: among players to homer for both teams. Why not among players to play for both teams? Because, there’s a player who played for both teams, but only homered for one of them, and tallied more than Darryl.

Two questions today.

First, who’s the player who hit more than 293 homers for either the Mets or Yankees, and played for the other team, but didn’t homer at all?

Second, and orders of magnitude harder, which player hit 68 homers for the other team, and played for the other team, but didn’t homer at all?

As a bonus, how many of the 10 players can you on the all-time Mets/Yankees combined homer list (all of whom hit at least one for each team, naturally) between the first answer and the second answer? You already know that Strawberry is one.

I don’t love making these “Project ShaqBox Trivia from Jesse Spector,” but if I’m gonna write in the first person, I don’t want you to think this nonsense is coming from the actually talented people on the site. Anyway, enjoy the next couple of games, and go Subway!

BEBL, Local Enemy Edition: New York Yankees

By Colleen Sullivan

The Mets are back home-ish from a very long stretch of games and what felt like the longest series ever against the Phillies, on the heels of the previous longest series ever in Atlanta. Phillies fans… the entire Phillies organization?... really handled that whole “Keith Hernandez said their defense is bad” thing well. When I say the Mets are home-ish, I mean they’re in their hometown but not their home stadium since it’s Round 2 of the not-sandwiches Subway Series.