Homegrown Players and Opening Day

Now that it's official that Daniel Murphy will start Opening Day, it gives the Mets three "homegrown" players on the field (homegrown defined as a player who played their first MLB game in a Mets uniform). This got me thinking about other Opening Day lineups

• In 47 seasons, the Mets have averaged 3.7 home-grown players in their Opening Day lineup
• Five times the Mets have fielded six homegrown players - 1969, 1977, 1983, 1984. and 1990
• Only once did they field a team with no homegrown players - 1962 (not unexpected)
• The '70s and '80s were great times for homegrown players, with an average of 4.6 and 4.5 starting respectively
• This decade on the other hand has proved to be the worst, with the team only averaging 2.7 homegrown players on Opening Day since 2000

What does this all mean in terms of wins? Absolutely nothing—there is no correlation between homegrown players starting Opening Day and winning percentage. (For you math geeks out there the overall coefficient is 0.36.)

However it is interesting that the Mets teams that people most remember (early to mid '70s and mid '80s) had the most homegrown players. When building a fan base, that really does mean something.

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