He started his Met career as a September call up in 1980 and would spend parts of the next four seasons with the Mets. He showed signs of promise over that time but could never stick with the big club, injuries also played a factor. During that time he spent much of the time with the Mets Triple A affiliate the Tidewater Tides. It was in the minors where Backman caught the eye of manager Dave Johnson who liked his style of play. When Johnson was named the manager of the Mets in 1984 he immediately made Backman his starting second baseman. and leadoff hitter. Backman would hit .280 while stealing 32 bases as the Mets surprised many and won 90 games for their first winning season since 1976. He quickly became a fan favorite with his hardnosed style of play, leading the league in dirty uniforms.
In 1986 Backman’s struggles against left handed pitching forced Dave Johnson to platoon him with Tim Teufel. But he still managed to hit a career best .320 while batting in the number two spot in the lineup setting the table for the Mets big hitters, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry, as the Mets ran away and hid in the National League.
Backman’s production began to fall off in 1987 and 1988 and with the emergence of Gregg Jefferies and Keith Miller from the Mets minor league system he became expendable and was traded to the Minnesota Twins in the off-season for three minor league prospects.
Backman hit .283 over his 9 year career with the Mets, playing in 765 games.
In 2010 Wally Backman returned to the Mets organization as manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets single A minor league affiliate.
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