Neil Allen - 1979-1983

In the infancy of the modern closer role Neil Allen served in that capacity for the Mets from 1979 to 1983. But he will go down in Mets history not for the 69 games he saved as a Met but for being the central piece in arguably the greatest trade in Mets history. On June 15, 1983 Neil Allen was traded to the St Louis Cardinals along with fellow pitcher Rick Ownbey for a first baseman by the name of Keith Hernandez. Yes the Keith Hernandez who would go on to be the leader of the 1986 World Championship team.


Neil Allen was drafted by the Mets in the 11th round of the 1976 amateur draft. Initially a starting pitcher he made his Major League debut with the Mets on April 15th 1979 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He would suffer the loss allowing 3 runs over 6 innings. After starting the first five games of his career the Mets moved him to the bullpen where he eventually emerged as the teams closer. He would save a total of 69 games for the Mets from 1979 to 1983, often keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.

In 1983 the Mets were experimenting with returning Allen back to a starter when Cardinals General Manager Whitey Herzog called the Mets to see if they would be interested in Keith Hernandez and the rest as they say is history.

While with the Mets Allen compiled a 25 and 40 record with 69 saves and 3.54 ERA in 223 games. He would go on to finish his career with the Cardinals (1983-1985), New York Yankees (1985,87,88), Chicago White Sox (1986-87) and Cleveland Indians (1989).

With the Met Neil Allen initially wore number 46 but later switched to number 13.

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