Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Johan Santana

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Johan Santana
vs. the Mets

Johan Santana
vs. Other Teams

Memories of
Johan Santana

Johan Santana
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 220 of 1252 players

Johan Alexander Santana
Born: March 13, 1979 at Tovar, Venezuela
Throws: Left Bats: Left
Height: 6.00 Weight: 195

Johan Santana has been the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup 12 times, most recently on September 16, 2023.

First Mets game: March 31, 2008
Last Mets game: August 17, 2012

Winner of American League Cy Young award, 2004, 2006. (Minnesota Twins)
Winner of National League Pitcher of the Month award, September 2008, April 2009. (New York Mets)
Winner of National League Player of the Week award, August 17, 2008, June 3, 2012. (New York Mets)
Winner of National League Player of the Week award, August 17, 2008, June 3, 2012. (New York Mets)

Share your memories of Johan Santana

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Kyle B
February 9, 2008
I am very excited we have added Johan. He is easily the most dominant and exciting pitcher in baseball. I think he's an early Cy Young favorite and hopefully he can take the Mets back to where they were in 2006 and hopefully help them go the distance.

Sal Genovese
February 12, 2008
I got flashbacks of the Frank Viola trade here. We sent Aguilera our best reliever for some over-the-hill guy. We also thought that Zambrano was the answer and we gave up the league leader in strikeouts, that's all. Which one of these kids we gave up is gonna win Cy Young in two years is all I gotta say.

Shickhaus Franks
February 16, 2008
I have been to only ONE ticker tape parade (of course, that was the Mets in 1986) and after watching the highlights of Big Blue's parade; I'm hoping to be at my 2nd parade come October and it will be in no small part to No. 57 Johan Santana!

Menachem G. Jerenberg
February 17, 2008
Geez man, there's a limit to pessimism! Viola was NOT yet "over the hill" when we acquired him and Zambrano was NEVER thought of as "the answer" (just ask all the people who immediately and correctly branded it as the worst trade in Mets history). Santana is a prime-of-career Cy Young winner. In the 'Out' box, there's also no comparison. Aguilera was already an established player and Kazmir was the #8 prospect IN ALL OF BASEBALL. None of the three pitchers we gave up (Guerra, Humber, Mulvey) come close to that level.
Welcome to New York, Santana, and help us get those rings!

cholorad
February 18, 2008
The deal sounds too good to be true. My Mets fan paranoia makes me leery of what in paper appears to be a great event for the Mets organization. I hope this website is still around in the next few years to read the comments that will be posted during Johan's tenure with Mets.

Mets fan in Maine
April 3, 2008
While Santana has definitely been a great pitcher, I don't think he's the savior he's been made out to be. For one thing, he only plays every fifth game. For another, he was barely a .500 pitcher last year. As good as he is, the Mets need a lot more help than Santana can provide--they need power hitters, among other things.

JerseeJerry
April 4, 2008
This is to the Mets Fan From Maine. This trade will UNDOUBTEDLY work in the Mets favor. First off we gave up nothing to obtain him. He is the best LHP, if not the BEST pitcher in the game today. He is pitching at Shea Stadium this season, a pitchers park. Citi Field should be no different. He is not Pedro mind you obtained in his mid 30's. He is 29 years old, and only going to get better. His ERA of 3.33 last year, on a horrible ballclub the 2nd half of the season, pitching to the DH should drop by .50 of a run in the NL. He should go conservatively 17-7 with about a 2.70 ERA. He makes us better no doubt. Just like 10 years ago, with the Piazza bashers, the Santana bashers like yourself (and let's hope there are very few) will be proven wrong.

JakkSplatt
August 28, 2008
I'm a huge Twins fan, and i've got to say we were sorry to see him go. I've had the honor of sitting in the second row off first base for 30 or so games the last three seasons. Many of which Johan started. There is nothing like seeing him strike out 10 plus batters and have it complimented by some great hitting support. I've seen a lot of baseball over the years stretching from Rollie Fingers throwing side-arm back when I kid, Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew DHing for the Angels, early careers of Wally Joyner and Mark Maguire, I saw Bo Jackson a handful of times, WOW. None as exciting as being at a game with Santana throwing a ton of strikes and helping my team get it done. We miss Johan. Thoroughly enjoy him Mets fans; he's Amazing.

shea73
October 1, 2008
An absolute stud pitcher and a class act. We Mets fans are truly lucky to have the opportunity to see a genuine ace pitch for the Mets again. His final 2008 complete game, 9K's shut-out performance of the Marlins on three days rest with the pressure of the entire season on his shoulders, was a performance for the ages. Santana is not only a brilliant pitcher, but a gutsy one as well. Because of the Mets now legendary awful bullpen, he probably won't get the Cy Young Award. But he surely deserves it. So while the 2008 season went down in flames, I will be happy this winter knowing this class act of a Met will be pitching here for many years to come.

Jersee Jerry
October 13, 2008
Once in a lifetime a pitcher comes along that changes everything. Seaver, Koosman, Gooden, Cone. Santana. I remember on WFAN this year on more than one occasion was it mentioned that for Johan to be considered great he would have to have a signature game. Does Game 161 qualify? He asked for the ball, ASKED FOR IT on 3 games rest no less. That performance in my mind erased the last 2 years. AND HE THREW THE GAME on a bad knee to boot. For all the excuses, and poor pitching performances recently (at this point insert Tom Glavine's Game 162 in 2007) he is the total polar opposite 7-0 after the All Star Break. He is undoubtedly our pitching leader. Omar I gotta give you credit on this acquisition.

Joe Figliola
October 27, 2008
Yes, Johan's performance in game 161 was very Tiger Woods-like in terms of dealing with a physical adversity on the road to triumph.
I wonder if Johan had originally aggravated the knee while running the bases. On 27 July, during a Mets win against the Cardinals, he had two hits late in the game and he absolutely was MOTORING around the bases. Hope he doesn't lose any of that foot speed next year, because he's a pretty fair batsman. Oh, yeah, and a great pitcher, too!

CJ
October 29, 2008
I had the pleasure of being at Shea for the last time when Johan pitched that 2-0 shutout against the Marlins.

John L.
November 13, 2008
I've been going to Shea for 35 years now, and I don't think I have ever seen it as electric as when Santana pitched his complete game shutout against the Marlins on the final Saturday at Shea.

Todd Schuster
January 26, 2009
Without a doubt that 2-0 shutout against the Marlins on the penultimate day of the baseball season, game 161 was indeed one of the great games in franchise history. Johan pitching on 3 days rest and a bum knee nonetheless pitched his damnedest to keep the Mets in the running for the postseason. Unfortunately it wasn't in the cards as the Mets for the 2nd year in a row blew a chance to go to the postseason.
The bullpen really killed them in 2008. Yes the clutch hitting in the end cost them but over the season 30 plus blown saves did them in.
But in Johan we have a stud who's going to be here for a while. He probably would have won 22 games and been an odds on favorite to win the Cy Young.

Tom L
May 16, 2009
4 wins with 2 loses and a 0.78 ERA.
And I thought Seaver was hard luck.

Big Rudy
June 1, 2009
It's really a privilege to see him pitch every 5 days. The new Gooden. You heard it here.

Jason
April 22, 2011
You gotta feel for this guy, when he pitches good they either give him no run support or the bullpen blows it for him. Johan is a gamer; you gotta respect him.

Hot Foot
June 1, 2012
Johan just threw the first Mets no hitter on the 8020th game of the franchise. What a great guy to have done it; now a Mets legend no matter what else happens. Congratulations Johan!

cdamm
June 1, 2012
Thank you Johan for that no-hitter. You are now forever immortalized as a Met.

Jonathan Stern
June 1, 2012
Johan Santana is my favorite New York Met of all time.
Years ago, I don't remember when, I declared that the first Met to pitch a no-hitter would become, on that occasion, my favorite Met of all time. Well, Johan - NOHAN - has done it! From this day forward, he is my guy. From this day forward, he is beyond criticism, at least from me. NOHAN IS THE MAN!!
I now know how the Red Sox felt in 2004. And I have a better appreciation for how Phillies fans felt in 1980. A big reason why I rarely missed a game over the years is because I didn't want to miss the first Mets no-no. This is better than a third World Championship! It has never happened before. 50 years and 8,020 games and here we are! I don't know if anything Mets-related from this point on will ever top this - although, of course, I'll take another World Championship, too.
I don't know a lot about Santana. Since he has been injured for most of his Mets tenure, I haven't had the chance to develop an opinion on him one way or the other. I have some reading to do. And I will have more Santana posts to make, and all of them will be positive ones, no matter what. Not meaning disrespect to the other Mets past and present, but I have, at last, a definitive Mets hero.
I'm overwhelmed. This is why I'm a baseball fan. I salute my hero, Johan Santana.

Tom Delgado
June 1, 2012
First no-hitter in Mets history!
THANK YOU JOHAN!!! THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME BELIEVE AGAIN!!!!!

Cubbage
June 1, 2012
Let me be the first on this site to say Congratulations Johan! With everything you went through in the past two years you deserve to be the one to get our FIRST EVER NO HITTER!!

YOLO
June 1, 2012
FINALLY, JUNE 1th 2012, THE METS FINALLY THROW A NO HITTER, CONGRATS JOHAN YOU DESERVED IT!

The Big H
June 1, 2012
Johan Santana earned a true place in Met history forever tonight. Sometimes one game's performance, that doesn't win a championship, or whatever can be that important or great. This no hitter which took place on Met Game 8,020 and ending with last year's World Champions World Series MVP striking out for the no-hitter is such a game. Hurray!!!!! And Thank you Mr. Santana.

Get's by Buckner
June 7, 2012
8,019! The streak is over! Johan is Nohan! All the Yankee fans can stop poking fun at us Met fans! We have our No hitter...something I thought I would never see!!

Jonathan Stern
December 6, 2012
Recently, a close family friend died after a long battle with cancer. She was a huge Mets fan who had connections with the team's front office. Johan Santana called her when she was on her sickbed and they had a long conversation. As I understand it, he really brightened her day.

Hot Foot
December 6, 2012
Johan is the man. I hope he comes back strong in 2013. He pitched great last year until he hurt his foot when Reid Johnson stepped on it. His no-hitter was a dream come true, almost like a World Series win. How amazing would it be if Johan was an anchor to real World Series run down the road, like a latter day Walter Johnson. Even if he doesn't win a World Series, here's to hoping Johan pitches in the postseason for the Metropolitans.

Shickhaus Franks
November 19, 2012
In a year that has seen the too soon passing of Gary Carter, a ugly presidential race, the tragic shooting in a Colorado movie theater and of course, the devastation of Hurricane Sandy; The Mets first no- hitter in history on June 1st courtesy of Johan Santana has to be the HIGHLIGHT of 2012!!!! Let's hope SNY gives us a nice Christmas present by re-airing this historic moment on Tuesday December 25th, 2012. By the way, it was nice to see Johan recently helping out the victims in Brooklyn!

Shickhaus Franks
March 29, 2013
Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" said one of the greatest quotes in movie history when he said "We'll always have Paris"; I quote this because we got word on Thursday Night that Johan's Mets (and baseball) career is probably done due to another tear in his shoulder and I quote this: "We'll always have Friday June 1, 2012 at Citi Field..." and if Johan has to shut it down for good, I wish him NOTHING but the best!!!

Shickhaus Franks
March 28, 2014
Just signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles. He should also be the next inductee into the Mets HOF for what he accomplished on June 1, 2012 aka the first Mets No-Hitter in history!

Salamander
April 15, 2019
In 2008, Johan had a fine first year as a Met. He became the team's ace, finishing off with their final win ever at Shea Stadium and breaking Jon Matlack's club record for strikeouts in a season by a left hander.
But also in '08, the Mets again lost the division title to the Phillies, who went on to win the world championship. At the Phils' celebration after the World Series, Jimmy Rollins said to the crowd that the Mets thought they'd be lifted to the top by acquiring Santana, but that he was only one guy and it took a team to become a champion.
Rollins' words were very profound. The Mets, throughout their history, have promoted the images of certain individuals and ignored a team concept. This was the case with Casey Stengel in the early years and happened with Tom Seaver, Willie Mays, David Wright and a few others later on. Except for his no-hitter, Johan was never this kind of standout figure for the ball club. However, when Rollins mentioned his name in that fashion, he touched on the Mets' ongoing preference of a one-man focus instead of the basic team atmosphere that it should be.
The Mets would have more championships to the credit if their policy was simply being a unit and not a one-guy-and-everybody-else kind of thing over the years.