A Mets Grand Slam Could Slam Market

New York Mets fans don’t have much to cheer about these days, now that their team is sporting the worst record in baseball.

But the team’s current woes are bringing cheers from some stock traders.

Analysts at the securities firm of Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co. point out that every time the Mets make it to the World Series, the stock market strikes out the following year.

The “Miracle Mets” won the franchise’s first world championship in 1969. The following May, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged to its lowest level since 1962.

The Mets made it to the series again in 1973, and in 1974 the Dow dropped nearly 50% from its peak of a year earlier. And when a healthy Darryl Strawberry led the New York nine to their last World Series victory in 1986, the Dow followed with a gut-wrenching, 508-point drop on Oct. 19, 1987.

Ladenburg analysts caution that the Mets’ dismal showing so far this season doesn’t guarantee a winning year for investors in 1994. Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz declined comment: “With our record, I’m not in the mood to make funny quips for stories like this,” he explained.