Some were future legends beginning their paths to greatness. Others never quite matched the successes they achieved early in their careers. But what they all share in common is their impact on professional baseball in the city of Binghamton.

As the city celebrates 100 years of baseball, the accomplishments of those players take on a special meaning. To commemorate the centennial, the Press & Sun-Bulletin has compiled a list of the top 10 professional players to suit up for a Binghamton team.

A history lesson before getting into the criteria.

The Binghamton Crickets became the city’s first professional team in 1877, joining the 28-team League Alliance. The Crickets played a portion of the 1878 season in a different league before folding. Binghamton got its next professional team in 1885, but that did not last long either. This was a trend that continued until 1899, with teams forming and staying for a year or two before moving or ceasing operations.

A new version of the Binghamton Bingoes, a name used for a team during that inconsistent period, was formed in 1899 as a member of the New York State League. The Bingoes played for 19 straight seasons before moving to the then-Double-A International League for two seasons.

Professional baseball again disappeared in Binghamton for four seasons until the Binghamton Triplets joined the New York-Pennsylvania League in 1923. They became an affiliate of the New York Yankees in 1932 and eventually joined the Eastern League in 1938. The Triplets spent all but three years as Yankees affiliates through the 1968 season, when professional baseball left Binghamton until 1992.

The New York Mets ended the 24-year gap without a team by bringing their Double-A team to town as a member of the Eastern League. NYSEG Stadium opened in downtown Binghamton for the inaugural season in 1992 and the B-Mets have been entertaining fans since.

Overall, the Triplets won 10 league championships and the B-Mets have two league titles.

The criteria for this list is based on a player’s contributions to the Binghamton team with their overall impact on the game of baseball also weighing on the ranking. The list does not include beloved home-grown Binghamton players like Johnny Logan and “Wild” Bill Hallahan.

All but two of the 10 players are members of the Binghamton Baseball Shrine. One is still active and the other is a former Eastern League MVP with the B-Mets.

10. Jay Payton

A first round pick by the New York Mets in 1994, Payton tore through the New York-Penn League after signing that summer (.357 batting average in 219 at-bats) and played eight games with the B-Mets to end his first professional season.

He began the 1995 season in Binghamton’s outfield and entertained fans with his bat and glove before getting promoted to Triple-A Norfolk in July. Statements like, “Man, could he ever go get the ball,” or “Payton played the outfield better than anyone who’s ever been here,” were heard often by the press box veterans.

The native of Zanesville, Ohio, posted a .345 average with 14 home runs, 20 doubles and three triples. He scored 59 runs and drive in 54 in 85 games. Those numbers combined with his flashy defense was enough to win the Eastern League’s MVP award, the first of three B-Mets to win the award.

Payton made his New York Mets debut in 1998 but didn’t become a full-time roster member until 2000, when he helped lead the team to the World Series against the New York Mets. Payton hit 17 home runs and batted .291 that season to finish third in Rookie of the Year voting.

Payton never played up to the potential he showed in the minor leagues but still spent 12 seasons in the majors, with his best coming in 2003 when he hit 28 home runs and hit .302 for the Colorado Rockies.

9. Bobby Richardson

Richardson is a seven-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion with the New York Yankees, but his most memorable moment as a professional may have came with the Binghamton Triplets as an 18-year-old.

“I can honestly say one of my greatest moments happened in Binghamton in 1954,” Richardson told the Press & Sun-Bulletin before his induction into the Shrine in 2000. “The Yankees came to play us in an exhibition game and Casey Stengel was the manager. Well, Casey came up to me and said, `Hey kid, I like you. You may be playing in New York some day.’ What a thrill it was to hear that from him.”

Richardson, a second baseman, spent the entire season with the Triplets, hitting .310 (171-for-552) with 29 doubles and nine home runs. He scored 81 runs while driving in 55.

Richardson joined the Yankees for good in 1956 at age 19. He played in 1,412 games during his 12-year career, retiring in 1968 at the age of 31. He won four Gold Glove awards and led the league in double plays five times. He is the only player to win the World Series MVP as a member of the losing team. He had a grand slam, 12 RBIs, a .367 batting average and eight runs scored in the 1960 World Series, which the Pittsburgh Pirates won in seven games.

After leaving the game, Richardson became head baseball coach at the University of South Carolina, guiding the Gamecocks to a runner-up finish at the 1976 College World Series. Now 79, Richardson lives in his hometown of Sumter, S.C.

8. Ken Harrelson

After 30 years as an affiliate of the New York Yankees, the Triplets joined the Kansas City Athletics for two seasons in 1962. Both seasons were losing campaigns for the Triplets, but fans did see some quality players come through. One of those was Ken “The Hawk” Harrelson.

Only 21 years old, Harrelson was an outgoing presence on the team and would go on to surprise nobody by becoming one of the sport’s most colorful broadcasters while working with the Chicago White Sox.

Harrelson was a power-hitting first baseman and went on to set a Triplets record with 38 home runs in 1962. He finished with 138 RBIs and 89 runs scored while hitting at a .272 clip (146-for-536).

In the fascinating Celebrating 100 Years of Baseball in Greater Binghamton: Tales from the Binghamton Baseball Shrine by Jim Maggiore and Michael J. McCann, Tony LaRussa described being teammates with the Hawk for 12 games in 1962.

“When I arrived, I was 17 and the Hawk was having a tremendous year,” said LaRussa, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. “We used to go to Red’s Kettle Inn after the games, and I remember Hawk at the head of the table, big as King Kong.”

The Red Kettle Inn is still open today and has many old photos from that era on the walls.

Harrelson reached the majors the following year in 1963 and spent nine seasons in the majors with four different teams. He hit 35 home runs and drove in a league-leading 109 RBIs for the Red Sox in 1968, his lone all-star season.

Harrelson’s 38 home runs still ranks No. 1 among all Binghamton players.

7. John Montgomery Ward

Pitchers that finish a season with a 15-15 record usually aren’t lauded, but they also don’t usually throw every pitch in a team’s season. Monte Ward was only 18 years old when he joined the Binghamton Crickets in 1878, the second season of professional baseball in Binghamton.

A gifted hurler, Ward was hurt by a porous defense before the team folded on July 9. Former Press & Sun-Bulletin sports editor John Fox quoted The Morning Republican in a story about Ward in 1999: “Ward’s pitching is simply immense, but he cannot win games unless properly supported.”

Written about Ward in a later edition: “(The crowd) saw as disgusting an attempt to play ball as can be imagined. (The Crickets) have a pitcher who, in our opinion, has few equals, but he is not supported as he must be to win.”

Ward got plenty of support when he joined the National League’s Providence Grays days after the Crickets folded, winning 22 more games that season.

Pitching was but a portion of his major-league presence. He played more than 1,300 games as an infielder for New York and Brooklyn. He stole a league-leading 111 bases the first year that it became an official statistic.

Ward was not beloved by baseball insiders, who delayed his HOF induction until 1964, almost 40 years after his death. Among his contributions to the game was forming the sport’s first union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, whose flood of headliners briefly formed their own rival league.

6. David Wright

Wright only spent 60 games with the B-Mets in 2004, but it was a memorable stay.

After 2½ promising seasons in the lower levels of the Mets’ farm system, his profile exploded with an incredible start to the season in Binghamton. He slugged 10 home runs and nearly averaged a double every two games (27) while hitting .341 (81-for-223) and driving in 57 RBIs.

He was promoted to Triple-A Norfolk for 31 games and then reached the Mets in August of that year. Wright has been there ever since, compiling over 230 home runs, 900 RBIs and 900 runs scored with a .298 career batting average. The third baseman has seven all-star appearances and is a guarantee for the Binghamton Baseball Shrine when he hangs it up.

“The Mets have had a plan for me since Day 1, and they’ve done a good job of challenging me at every level,” Wright said at the time of his promotion to Norfolk from Binghamton. “I feel like I’ve developed at a great pace, and all the credit goes to (B-Mets) manager Ken Oberkfell and the hitting coach Howard Johnson.”

On Twitter: @PSBSens

Binghamton’s All-Time Top 10

6. David Wright

7. John Montgomery Ward

8. Ken Harrelson

9. Bobby Richardson

10. Jay Payton

Coming Friday: The No. 5 player in Binghamton baseball history