Francisco Lindor on his newfound inner peace, living in the moment, and staying unsatisfied

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“My day has 26 hours,” Lindor joked of his restless lifestyle.

Topps announced on Monday that they signed an exclusive trading card and memorabilia deal with Lindor, marking the first time the shortstop will have licensed autographed cards since he signed with the Mets in 2020. It was Lindor’s brother, who owned binders full of baseball cards while growing up in Puerto Rico, that showed the shortstop how memorabilia can help fans connect to their favorite big-league players. 

As a kid, Lindor didn’t much care about the cards or the statistics on the back; he preferred being outside and playing baseball. As a result, he didn’t realize until he was a teenager how many people would line up to snag a Francisco Lindor trading card — and how long it would take to write his original signature. 

“When I played for Team USA, I was 14-15, and I was working on my signature, and we sat in a theater and we had to sign 2,500 baseball cards,” Lindor said. “And ever since then, I switched my signature. I said, I couldn’t do that — that’s way too long to sign baseball cards with that autograph, that signature. That was my first experience seeing myself on a baseball card. I mean, it was kind of eye-opening. I simplified my signature after that.”

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It’s a good thing he streamlined his autograph, because Lindor had a game to get to. After he wrapped up his signing duties with Topps, Lindor headed over to Citi Field to get ready to take the field against the Marlins. In the bottom of the first inning, he hit his first home run of the season — a no-doubter to the second deck in right field. It was a sweet gift for Katia, who was 1,093 miles away, celebrating her 31st birthday that day. The Mets defeated the Marlins, 10-5, and Lindor went home, recovered, and packed for the team’s next road trip to Sacramento and Minnesota, ready to fill his life with more busy days.

There was a time a few years ago, when he signed with the Mets, when Lindor put a ton of pressure on himself to carry out some of his professional duties. He felt like it was his job to do anything in his power to change the Mets culture and help guide the organization in the right direction. But something shifted last year. He was able to shed off some of that burden, and it showed. Lindor put up a career year in 2024, recording the second-highest fWAR (7.8) in the National League. He finished second to unanimous NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, garnering 23 second-place votes and seven third-place tallies.

“Last year, for the first time, I felt like I was always in the moment, and I enjoyed it a lot,” Lindor said. “And this year it’s carried over, for sure. So then that’s when you experience true happiness, when you live in the moment. And it slows life down.

“It has a lot to do with family, with the idea of going into Citi Field every day, with feeling like you have all the items you need in life. It’s like, I got ‘em. I don’t need more. So there’s that, and just understanding that this stage I’m in is fantastic. So just enjoy it, cherish it, and continue to grow.”

Given all the responsibilities in Lindor’s life — being the face of the Mets franchise, an icon and role model in Puerto Rico, a husband, a dad to three kids — there aren’t many opportunities for the shortstop to pause and reflect on his baseball career. It wasn’t until Lindor drove into the parking lot at Clover Field in Port St. Lucie, Fla. this spring when it dawned on him that he’s one of the oldest players on the Mets. He did, after all, complete his 10th year in the big leagues last year. 

“I go to the parking lot and they gave me the first spot,” Lindor said. “And I was like, hold up. Something’s different. And then I realized that I’m one of the guys with the most service time on the team, me and [Starling] Marte. That’s when I was like, damn. This is kind of cool.”

A lot has changed since Lindor burst onto the scene as a 21-year-old mid-June call-up for Cleveland, finishing his debut season as the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year runner-up to fellow countryman Carlos Correa. Lindor is a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger award winner, and two-time Glove Glove award winner. He’s been to the postseason six times, including an AL pennant-winning run to the World Series with Cleveland in 2016. In 2020, he was traded to the Mets, and before he played a single game in an orange and blue uniform, Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract to become the highest-paid shortstop in MLB history. 

As he got pulled into his new parking spot at spring training, Lindor started thinking about how much he’s grown in the past decade, both professionally and as a young adult who was navigating his 20s. 

“I got three kids now. Married, with three kids,” Lindor said. “I definitely learned how to handle failure, how to handle success, how to handle the ups and downs that baseball and life brings. I like the stage I’m in. I can’t wait to continue to grow and learn. I feel like it’s a real thing when they actually tell you, the older you get, the wiser you are. And it feels pretty good to have inner peace, you know?”

Lindor’s perspective may have changed, but in many ways, he remains the same baseball-obsessed, fun-loving young boy he was back in Florida, where he moved to when he was 12 years old. 

To teammate and Mets outfielder Jesse Winker, who played with and against Lindor as teenagers, he’s still “the best player on the baseball field,” and the same clubhouse leader that he’s always been in New York. Winker noticed when he played youth travel ball with Lindor that the shortstop was more mature than the rest of the teens their age. While Winker was watching the animated television show Rocket Power, Lindor was outside, working on his game. Lindor’s hard work in those teenage years became so impactful that his high school, Montverde Academy near Orlando, named its baseball facility after him.

“He’s the same dude every day,” Winker said. “I just think when it comes to being a leader, he’s extremely consistent. He cares about everybody else first, and then he goes and does his thing and performs.” Winker stopped talking to turn around and watch Lindor enter the Mets clubhouse wearing his usual smile. As is typical for the popular shortstop, there’s immediately a horde of people trying to talk to him within seconds of his arrival. “He’s just an amazing dude,” Winker continued. “You can see it. He’s always happy, he’s always lifting people up. He’s the man.”

As much as it may seem like Lindor finally has it all, that hardly means he’s satisfied. He wants to be stronger and throw the ball harder. He wants to increase his exit velocity, improve his barrel accuracy, and win another Gold Glove. He’s still chasing his first World Series ring. He wants to win an MVP award. He’d like to earn a fifth-career Slugger Silver award, and why not? Halfway through his Mets contract, it would be foolish to put a limit on what Lindor can accomplish throughout the rest of his career. After all, his 26-hour day is only maximizing his potential. 

“Ultimately, it comes down to winning,” he said. “If I do whatever it takes to play winning baseball, good things could happen.”

Deesha Thosar is a MLB reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for four years as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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