Unfortunately for the rest of the National League, Francisco Lindor and the first-place New York Mets are back at it once again.
Lindor recorded his latest iconic Mets moment Friday night, crushing a walk-off home run—the 250th of his stellar career—against the St. Louis Cardinals. Not only did Lindor’s blast push the Mets to an impressive 13-7, but it brought him one step closer to the league’s all-time shortstop home run record.
Lindor has hit 243 of his 250 home runs at shortstop, 102 behind Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken. The four-time All-Star currently ranks sixth among shortstops, with three of the five ahead of him—Ripken, Ernie Banks, and Derek Jeter—already enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Mets fans made it clear they expect Lindor to break Ripken’s record within the coming years.
“I didn’t realize how close he was to this until the broadcast brought up 250,” one Reddit user wrote. “There’s only a couple of switch hitters on that list too. Very impressive list to be on.”
Added another: “It seems likely that Lindor will surpass Jeter in bWAR and homeruns [by the] time he’s done here, just have to hope he gets a ring with us as well.”
A necessary clarification must be made regarding that list. The Reddit poster linked to StatMuse, which incorrectly lists Ripken with 353 home runs at short instead of 345. More importantly, the list includes the homers that players hit as a full-time shortstop, not where they played the night they hit the home run.
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
For example, StatMuse lists Jeter with 260 home runs, which is his career total because Jeter only ever played shortstop or DH. However, Jeter hit five home runs as a designated hitter, giving him a 12-home run advantage over Lindor rather than 10.
“Anywhere between 3 and 5 years at SS should do it,” one fan suggested.
Not long ago, Mets fans appeared skeptical of Lindor’s long-term fit. A glance at social media proves how quickly things change.
“Whether he does or not, I think he’s only ~3 healthy seasons of production from a HOF lock,” a Mets fan commented.
