Army Welcomes New York Mets for Exhibition

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point baseball will renew its longstanding historic tradition by hosting the New York Mets in an exhibition game this March.

The Black Knights are set to welcome the Mets to Doubleday Field at Johnson Stadium on Friday, March 31, at 3 p.m. The exhibition game will be New York's final tune up of spring training before opening its season on April 3.

The contest will be Army's 22nd of the year, and will be the Cadets' last game before kicking off Patriot League play with a doubleheader the next day at Lafayette.

Mets legends such as Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry played at West Point just a short time ago, and now manager Terry Collins and his 2017 squad will grace the historic playing surface at Doubleday Field.

"We are excited to have the New York Mets back at West Point before the start of the 2017 Major League Baseball season," Army's Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan said. "We would like to thank the Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, Saul Katz and General Manager Sandy Alderson for renewing this long standing tradition of us hosting a professional baseball organization. This is a great opportunity for our cadets and the entire West Point community."

"Sandy Alderson and I were so inspired by our visit to the West Point campus last year that we wanted our players to have that experience," New York Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon said. "The Mets are proud to be able to continue the strong bond we have with our military and this is a new way to show our appreciation for the sacrifices and bravery of our nation's armed forces. We are looking forward to the game."

One year after its origination, the Mets played their first-ever contest against West Point, posting a 3-0 decision over the Black Knights on May 6, 1963. That result marked the closest game of the series.

Since then there have been seven additional meetings between these two organizations, with the last coming 33 years ago on April 26, 1984, in which New York recorded a 6-0 win.

The Mets also visited West Point to face Army in 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1975, and 1979.

Army has built a continuous tradition of playing Major League Baseball teams, competing in 85 exhibition games between 1914 and 1986. The custom fell dormant though until 2013 when Army hosted the New York Yankees in an exhibition game on March 30.

The Yankees and the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) have been the Cadets' most familiar foe at 22 games but the Mets eight visits to West Point rank tied with the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) for second-most.

Army first competed against a Major League club on May 9, 1914, when a group of New York Giants rookies defeated the Black Knights, 7-2. The Cadets recorded their first and only wins against a Major League team in 1945 when they took two out of three games from the Dodgers.

Doubleday Field was named after Abner Doubleday, an 1842 West Point graduate, who is credited with creating the game of baseball.

Ticket information is not available at this time. Tickets for this event will be limited and reserved for USMA Cadets and the West Point community and may not be made available to the general public. All ticket sales will be conducted through the Army West Point Ticket Office when they become available.

The Black Knights officially open their 2017 campaign Friday, when they travel to Louisiana to face service-academy rival Air Force and No. 33 Tulane. The Cadets will also have a contest with No. 3 LSU during their time in the Bayou State. Army then begins its home schedule March 25-27, hosting Harvard for a four-game series just five days before the Mets come into town.

Army vs. Professional Baseball Teams
May 10, 1914 - New York Giants      (L, 7-2)
April 15, 1922 - New York Giants      (L, 11-3)
April 16, 1923 - New York Giants      (L, 14-2)
April 23, 1924 - New York Giants      (L, 10-3)
April 13, 1925 - New York Giants      (L, 7-0)
April 11, 1927 - New York Giants      (L, 19-6)
May 26, 1927   - New York Yankees     (L, 2-0)
April 9, 1928 - New York Giants      (L, 16-4)
May 3, 1928    - New York Yankees     (L, 20-9)
April 15, 1929 - New York Giants      (L, 6-1)
April 14, 1930 - New York Giants      (L, 18-0)
May 23, 1930   - New York Yankees     (L, 20-2)
April 13, 1931 - New York Giants      (L, 4-3)
April 17, 1931 - New York Yankees     (L, 15-1)
May 31, 1932   - New York Yankees     (L, 9-3)
April 10, 1933 - New York Yankees     (L, 9-0)
June 11, 1934 - New York Yankees     (L, 7-0)
April 15, 1935 - New York Giants      (L, 9-0)
April 22, 1935 - New York Yankees     (L, 5-1)
June 1, 1936   - New York Yankees     (L, 6-2)
April 19, 1937 - New York Yankees     (L, 19-4)
April 17, 1939 - New York Giants      (L, 4-2)
April 15, 1940 - New York Giants      (L, 7-1)
April 14, 1941 - New York Giants      (L, 9-0)
April 13, 1942 - New York Giants      (L, 12-3)
April 2, 1943 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 12-8)
April 5, 1943 - Montreal Royals      (L, 6-3)
March 31, 1944 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 18-4)
April 1, 1944 - Montreal Royals      (W, 8-6)
April 10, 1944 - Montreal Royals      (T, 6-6)
April 17, 1944 - New York Giants      (L, 11-9)
May 8, 1944    - New York Yankees     (L, 14-0)
March 24, 1945 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 9-5)
March 28, 1945 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (W, 5-4)
April 7, 1945 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (W, 4-0)
April 9, 1945 - Montreal Royals      (W, 12-8)
April 11, 1945 - Montreal Royals      (L, 8-4)
April 12, 1945 - Montreal Royals      (L, 9-3)
April 15, 1946 - New York Giants      (T, 2-2)
April 19, 1946 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 7-3)
April 28, 1947 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 16-5)
April 19, 1948 - New York Giants      (L, 7-2)
April 2, 1949 - Brooklyn Dodgers     (L, 4-3)
April 17, 1950 - New York Giants      (L, 8-0)
April 12, 1954 - New York Giants      (L, 6-5)
April 11, 1955 - New York Giants      (L, 14-1)
April 15, 1957 - New York Giants      (L, 16-0)
May 26, 1958   - San Francisco Giants (L, 17-1)
April 14, 1961 - New York Yankees     (L, 14-0)
May 7, 1962    - New York Yankees     (L, 8-4)
April 22, 1963 - New York Yankees     (L, 15-2)
May 6, 1963    - New York Mets        (L, 3-0)
April 27, 1964 - New York Yankees     (L, 8-2)
May 10, 1965   - New York Mets        (L, 8-0)
April 29, 1966 - New York Yankees     (L, 1-0)
May 8, 1967    - New York Mets        (L, 4-0)
May 9, 1968    - New York Yankees     (L, 9-0)
May 22, 1969   - New York Yankees     (L, 4-0)
April 15, 1971 - New York Mets        (L, 8-0)
April 27, 1972 - New York Yankees     (L, 10-1)
April 30, 1973 - New York Mets        (L, 7-1)
April 23, 1974 - New York Yankees     (L, 7-0)
May 5, 1975    - New York Mets        (L, 5-0)
April 19, 1976 - New York Yankees     (L, 2-0)
April 19, 1979 - New York Mets        (L, 19-0)
April 11, 1983 - Detroit Tigers       (L, 11-1)
April 26, 1984 - New York Mets        (L, 6-0)
May 6, 1986    - Houston Astros       (L, 9-0)
March 30, 2013 – New York Yankees     (L, 10-5)

All-Time Records vs. Professional Opponents
vs. N.Y. Yankees: 0-22
vs. N.Y. Giants: 0-22
vs. N.Y. Mets: 0-8
vs. Brooklyn Dodgers: 2-6
vs. Montreal Royals: 2-3-1
vs. S.F. Giants: 0-1
vs. Detroit Tigers: 0-1
vs. Houston Astros: 0-1

Army West Point Athletics

Army Welcomes New York Mets for Exhibition

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