The Dark Knight has hung up his cape.
Matt Harvey, who helped pitch the Mets to the 2015 World Series before seeing his career derailed by injuries and an MLB suspension for drug use, announced his retirement on Friday.
“To the fans, most importantly the NY Mets fans: you made a dream come true for me,’’ Harvey wrote on Instagram. “A dream I never thought could be true. Who would have thought a kid from Mystic, CT would be able to play in the greatest city in the world, his hometown. You are forever embedded in my heart… Goodbye, baseball. And thank you.”
The 34-year-old right-hander last pitched in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021.
He spent last season in Baltimore’s minor league system after he served his ban for violating the joint drug program between MLB and the MLB Players Association following his testimony in the Tyler Skaggs case.
Harvey testified that he used cocaine and once provided Percocets for Skaggs, his former teammate with the Angels, who died of an overdose in 2019.
Among Harvey’s highlights was the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field and his return from Tommy John surgery in the 2015 playoffs.
“It’s a real sad story,’’ Harvey’s former manager with the Mets, Terry Collins, said by phone on Friday.
“I was around him when he was possibly the best in the game… He should be up there with [Max] Scherzer, [Justin] Verlander and [Clayton] Kershaw and those guys. That’s how good he was.”
Harvey last pitched competitively for Team Italy in the WBC, where he gave up one run in seven innings over two starts.
At the time, he told The Post’s Jon Heyman that he wanted to continue his career, despite his diminished arsenal.
“Obviously I’m not pumping mid-to-upper-90s anymore — at least not yet,’’ Harvey said in March. “Hopefully, the velo comes back.
But if it doesn’t, I feel like I still know how to pitch and to get guys out. I’ve worked really hard on a different style of pitching. I feel good. Hopefully the stuff comes back. But I can still pitch. The game is still about getting people out.”
Harvey was the Mets’ first-round pick, seventh overall, in the 2010 amateur draft and made his debut in 2012.
Harvey stormed onto the scene at the end of 2012 season and became a hero among fans with a flame-throwing arm and an unflinching confidence that made him an All Star in 2013.
The term “Harvey Day” was coined to capture the excitement around the days he was starting.
“April 19, 2013. A game I will always remember. I haven’t gone back to really feel or relive some of the highest moments pitching in the big league, especially for the New York Mets. But this particular game hits me extremely hard, making this a very difficult thing to write,” Harvey’s Instagram message read.
“…There is nothing I loved more than getting out of a tough situation in the 7th or 8th inning, to finally let the emotions out, knowing I did absolutely everything I could to help my team win, and to give a powerful fist bump and a scream!
“That day will forever stay in my dreams. I know I pitched well and we were on our way to a win, and as I’m sitting in the dugout, all I hear is the chants overtaking Citi Field.
“Harvey’s Better.”
The game he was referring to was against the Nationals in which he out-dueled Washington ace Stephen Strasburg.
Collins said at that All-Star Game, he asked Carlos Beltran — then with the Cardinals, what he thought of Harvey.
“He said, ‘He’s the best I’ve ever faced,’” Collins said. “That’s a big statement from a possible Hall of Famer.”
Harvey underwent Tommy John surgery following that season before his return in 2015.
“In 2015, I remember him coming back from [elbow] surgery and he was pitching good, but we were careful with his innings limits,’’ Collins said. “He walked up to me one day and he said ‘Give me the ball’ and that’s all you can ever ask for from a pitcher. I’ll never forget that.”
He struggled in 2016 and ended up having surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome and wasn’t able to regain his form.
“He was never the same after that,” Collins said. “He couldn’t get the arm speed and strength back.”
The Mets traded him early in the 2018 season to the Reds for catcher Devin Mesoraco.
Harvey struggled in the years that followed, eventually getting DFAed by the Mets and having stints with the Reds, Angels, Royals and Orioles from 2018 to 2021.
Collins said he still believes if Harvey had stayed healthy and led a rotation with Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard, “we would have won the big prize. But it was a pipe dream.”
