Jay Payton
From The Met Wiki
Jay Payton was an outfielder for the Mets from 1998 to 2002. He played in 378 regular season games with the team. Payton had 321 hits and 128 runs batted in as a Met.
Payton appeared in 28 games with the Mets during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his major league debut on September 1, 1998, he singled in his only two at bats in the Mets’ 9-8 loss at San Diego. Jay also got his first major league RBI with a double in a 3-1 Mets win at Los Angeles on September 9, 1999.
In 2000, Payton hit 17 homers and scored 63 runs. He batted .291 in the Mets’ pennant-winning season. At Philadelphia on April 13, Jay singled three times and scored the winning run in a 2-1 Mets victory over the Phillies. He doubled, homered and scored twice in an 8-7 Mets victory over the Orioles in 10 innings at Shea Stadium on June 8. One night later, Payton had three singles in the Mets 12-2 triumph over the Yankees. He had a .400 batting average (18-for-45) during a 12-game hitting streak from June 20 to July 1. Jay had a single and a home run in a 12-5 Mets win at Houston on August 9. He drove in three runs with a single and a double in the Mets' 13-3 victory over the Diamondbacks on August 25 at Shea. Payton hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning for a 4-1 Mets victory over the Brewers on September 13 at Shea. He also had seven hits in 21 at bats for a .333 batting average in the World Series against the Yankees.
A hamstring injury limited Payton to 104 games played in 2001. He collected 92 hits for the year. On April 5, Jay had two singles, a double and a run scored in the Mets’ 7-1 win at Atlanta. He singled, doubled and homered in an 8-2 Mets victory over the Astros at Shea on April 30. Payton had a pair of singles, a double and two runs scored in the Mets’ 10-9 win at Colorado on May 7. He singled and homered in a 7-5 Mets triumph over the Phillies on August 29 at Shea. Jay also had a run-scoring double in the 11th inning to give the Mets a 3-2 win over the Marlins at Shea on September 1.
Payton played in 87 games for the Mets in 2002. He had 114 total bases with the team during the season. In the season opener on April 1, Jay had a bases-loaded walk and a solo homer in the Mets’ 6-2 win over the Pirates. He homered twice in an 11-3 Mets victory at Houston on May 3. Payton walked with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run in the 10th inning for a 5-4 Mets triumph over the Marlins on May 24 at Shea. He had two singles, a triple and a pair of runs scored in an 11-2 Mets win over the Yankees on June 29. Jay had a single, a two-run double and a three-run homer in the Mets’ 9-3 victory at Florida on July 7. He also had two singles, a double and two RBIs in a 9-6 Mets win at Montreal on July 17.
On July 31, 2002, Payton was traded to the Rockies. He played for the Colorado team through 2003 and spent one year with the Padres. Jay played for the Athletics, Red Sox and Orioles from 2005 to 2008. After one year away from the major leagues, he spent the 2010 season back with the Rockies.
