1969 New York Mets season

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1969 New York Mets
World Series Champions
National League Champions
NL East Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • New York (since 1962)
Results
Record 100–62 (.617)
Divisional place 1st
Other information
Owner(s) Joan Whitney Payson
General manager(s) Johnny Murphy
Manager(s) Gil Hodges
Local television WOR-TV 9
(Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner)
Local radio WJRZ–AM 970/WABC-FM 95.5
(Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner)
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The 1969 New York Mets season was the team's eighth as a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise and culminated with them winning the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles. They played their home games at Shea Stadium. The team was managed by Gil Hodges. The team is often referred to as the "Amazin' Mets" (a nickname coined by Casey Stengel, who managed the team from their inaugural season to 1965) or the "Miracle Mets".

The 1969 season was the first season of divisional play in Major League Baseball. The Mets were assigned to the newly created National League East division. In their seven previous seasons, the Mets had never finished higher than ninth place in the ten-team National League and had never had a winning season. In fact, they lost at least one hundred games in five of the seasons. However, they overcame mid-season difficulties while the division leaders for much of the season, the Chicago Cubs, suffered a late-season collapse. The Mets finished 100–62, eight games ahead of the Cubs. The Mets went on to defeat the National League West champion Atlanta Braves three games to none in the inaugural National League Championship Series and went on to defeat the American League champion Baltimore Orioles in five games. First baseman Donn Clendenon was named the series' most valuable player on the strength of his .357 batting average, three home runs, and four runs batted in.

On Saturday, August 22, 2009, many of the surviving members of the 1969 championship team reunited at the New York Mets' present park, Citi Field.[1]

Offseason

Spring training

The 1969 New York Mets held spring training at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida for the 8th season.

Regular season

Shea Stadium prior to a game in September 1969.

The Mets had never finished higher than ninth place in a ten-team league in their first seven seasons. As an expansion team, they went 40–120 in 1962, the most losses by an MLB team in one season in the 20th century, and the 1962 Mets' .250 winning percentage was higher than only the .248 posted by the 1935 Boston Braves.

The Mets never had been over .500 after the ninth game of any season. Seven years after their disastrous inaugural season, "The Amazin' Mets" (as nicknamed by previous manager Casey Stengel) won the World Series, the first expansion team to do so.

With great pitching and decent defense, but not much offense, the Mets were an uninspired 18–23 through their first 41 games. They then reeled off a club-record 11 straight wins, equaled on several occasions. Starting with their 42nd game, the Mets went 82–39, an impressive .678 winning percentage, the rest of the season.

Despite that performance, the Mets suffered two mid-season three-game series sweeps at the hands of the Houston Astros, and were also no-hit by Bob Moose of the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, five days after becoming the first major league team to strike out 19 times in a nine-inning game, which they won, 4–3, on a pair of two-run home runs by Ron Swoboda, against the Cardinals' Steve Carlton.

In second place most of the season behind the Chicago Cubs, the Mets were in third place, 9.5 games back, on August 13.[3] They won 14 of their last 17 games during August, and 24 of their 32 games during September and October, to surge past the Cubs, finishing 100–62, eight games ahead of the Cubs. That 17 game differential is one of the largest turnarounds in MLB history.[clarification needed]

Season standings

National League East

NL East		 W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Mets 100 62 0.617 — 52–30 48–32
Chicago Cubs 92 70 0.568 8 49–32 43–38
Pittsburgh Pirates 88 74 0.543 12 47–34 41–40
St. Louis Cardinals 87 75 0.537 13 42–38 45–37
Philadelphia Phillies 63 99 0.389 37 30–51 33–48
Montreal Expos 52 110 0.321 48 24–57 28–53


Record vs. opponents

Record Games Left
Opponent Home Road Total Home Road Total
NL East
Chicago Cubs 5–4 5–4 10–8 – – –
Montreal Expos 7–2 6–3 13–5 – – –
Philadelphia Phillies 5–4 7–2 12–6 – – –
Pittsburgh Pirates 4–5 6–3 10–8 – – –
St. Louis Cardinals 6–4 6–2 12–6 – – –
NL West
Atlanta Braves 4–2 4–2 8–4 – – –
Cincinnati Reds 3–3 3–3 6–6 – – –
Houston Astros 2–4 0–6 2–10 – – –
Los Angeles Dodgers 6–0 2–4 8–4 – – –
San Diego Padres 5–1 6–0 11–1 – – –
San Francisco Giants 5–1 3–3 8–4 – – –
Grand Totals 52–30 48–32 100–62 – – –
Month Games Won Lost Pct.
April 20 9 11 .450
May 24 12 12 .500
June 28 19 9 .679
July 27 15 12 .556
August 31 21 10 .677
September 30 23 7 .767
October 2 1 1 .500
Totals 162 100 62 .617

Schedule and results

Regular season

1969 Regular Season Game Log (100–62) (Home: 52–30; Road: 48–32)
Legend
Mets win Mets loss All-Star Game Game postponed Clinched
"GB" legend
1st (NL East) Not in playoff berth Tied for 1st (NL East)

All times are EASTERN time

  • All games broadcast on WJRZ and METS RADIO NETWORK

Postseason

1969 Postseason Game Log
Legend
Mets win Mets loss

All times are EASTERN time

Attendance

Attendance Rank
2,175,373 1

Roster

1969 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

The Final Out

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, starting pitcher Jerry Koosman faced Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson (who later managed the Mets to their second World Series championship in 1986). After taking a pitch of two balls and one strike, Johnson hit a fly-ball out to left field which was caught by Cleon Jones.[4]

Hall of Fame members who played in the 1969 World Series

Three future Hall of Fame members were on the Mets' roster: pitcher Tom Seaver (who won twenty-five games en route to winning the Cy Young Award), a young Nolan Ryan (playing in his third season), and New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra (who briefly played for the Mets in 1965), who was their first base coach. Berra was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972, Seaver in 1992, and Ryan in 1999.

The Baltimore Orioles boasted four future Hall of Famers on their roster: pitcher Jim Palmer, outfielder Frank Robinson, third baseman Brooks Robinson, and manager Earl Weaver.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Jerry Grote 113 365 92 .252 6 40
1B Ed Kranepool 112 353 84 .238 11 49
2B Ken Boswell 102 362 101 .279 3 32
3B Wayne Garrett 124 400 87 .218 1 39
SS Bud Harrelson 123 395 98 .248 0 24
LF Cleon Jones 137 483 164 .340 12 75
CF Tommie Agee 149 565 153 .271 26 76
RF Ron Swoboda 109 327 77 .235 9 52

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Art Shamsky 100 303 91 .300 14 47
Al Weis 103 247 53 .215 2 23
Rod Gaspar 118 215 49 .228 1 19
Bobby Pfeil 62 211 49 .232 0 10
Donn Clendenon 72 202 51 .252 12 37
J. C. Martin 66 177 37 .209 4 21
Ed Charles 61 169 35 .207 3 18
Amos Otis 48 93 14 .151 0 4
Duffy Dyer 29 74 19 .257 3 12
Kevin Collins 16 40 6 .150 1 2
Jim Gosger 10 15 2 .133 0 1
Bob Heise 4 10 3 .300 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Gary Gentry 35 233.2 13 12 3.43 154
Tom Seaver 36 273.1 25 7 2.21 208
Jerry Koosman 32 241 17 9 2.28 180
Don Cardwell 30 152.1 8 10 3.01 60
Jim McAndrew 27 135 6 7 3.47 90

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Nolan Ryan 25 89.1 6 3 3.53 92
Jack Dilauro 23 63.2 1 4 2.40 27

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ron Taylor 59 9 4 13 2.72 42
Tug McGraw 42 9 3 12 2.24 92
Cal Koonce 40 6 3 7 4.99 48
Al Jackson 9 1 0 0 10.64 10
Danny Frisella 3 0 0 0 7.71 5
Jesse Hudson 1 0 0 0 4.50 3
Bob Johnson 2 0 0 1 0.00 1
Les Rohr 1 0 0 0 20.25 0

NLCS

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Main article: 1969 National League Championship Series

Game 1

Saturday, October 4, 1969 at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 5 0 9 10 1
Atlanta 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 5 10 2
WP: Tom Seaver (1–0)   LP: Phil Niekro (0–1)
Home runs:
NYM: None
ATL: Tony González (1), Hank Aaron (1)

Game 2

Sunday, October 5, 1969 at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 1 3 2 2 1 0 2 0 0 11 13 1
Atlanta 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 6 9 3
WP: Ron Taylor (1–0)   LP: Ron Reed (0–1)   Sv: Tug McGraw (1)
Home runs:
NYM: Tommie Agee (1), Ken Boswell (1), Cleon Jones (1)
ATL: Hank Aaron (2)

Game 3

Monday, October 6, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 8 1
New York 0 0 1 2 3 1 0 0 X 7 14 0
WP: Nolan Ryan (1–0)   LP: Pat Jarvis (0–1)
Home runs:
ATL: Hank Aaron (3), Orlando Cepeda (1)
NYM: Tommie Agee (2), Ken Boswell (2), Wayne Garrett (1)

World Series

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Main article: 1969 World Series

Game 1

Saturday, October 11, 1969 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 1
Baltimore 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 X 4 6 0
WP: Mike Cuellar (1–0)   LP: Tom Seaver (0–1)
Home runs:
NYM: None
BAL: Don Buford (1)

Game 2

Sunday, October 12, 1969 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 0
Baltimore 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0
WP: Jerry Koosman (1–0)   LP: Dave McNally (0–1)   Sv: Ron Taylor (1)
Home runs:
NYM: Donn Clendenon (1)
BAL: None

Game 3

Tuesday, October 14, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
New York 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 X 5 6 0
WP: Gary Gentry (1–0)   LP: Jim Palmer (0–1)   Sv: Nolan Ryan (1)
Home runs:
BAL: None
NYM: Tommie Agee (1), Ed Kranepool (1)

Game 4

Wednesday, October 15, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Baltimore 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 1
New York 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 10 1
WP: Tom Seaver (1–1)   LP: Dick Hall (0–1)
Home runs:
BAL: None
NYM: Donn Clendenon (2)

Game 5

Thursday, October 16, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 2
New York 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 X 5 7 0
WP: Jerry Koosman (2–0)   LP: Eddie Watt (0–1)
Home runs:
BAL: Dave McNally (1), Frank Robinson (1)
NYM: Donn Clendenon (3), Al Weis (1)

In popular culture

In the movie Oh, God!, God, as played by George Burns, explains to John Denver that "the last miracle I performed was the 1969 Mets."

Part of the movie Frequency is set in Queens, New York in 1969, as firefighter and avid Mets fan Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid) and his family follow the "Amazin's" throughout the World Series.

In Moonlighting, Season 2, Episode 13, "In God We Strongly Suspect", when David is attempting to define the parameters of Maddie's skepticism and atheism by inviting her to provide logical explanations for various phenomena seemingly beyond man's understanding, he mentions the "'69 Mets" which she immediately dismisses as "a myth and a hoax".

In his song "Faith and Fear in Flushing Meadows", twee/folk artist Harry Breitner makes mention of Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.

In the TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond episode "Big Shots", Ray and Robert visit the Baseball Hall of Fame to meet members of the '69 Mets.

In the film Men in Black 3, set shortly before the Apollo 11 launch in July 1969, Griffin, an alien from the fifth dimension who can see the future, says the Mets' title is his favorite human history moment for "all the improbabilities that helped".

In the TV show Growing Pains, the family's name was the Seavers and their neighbors were the Koosmans.

Awards and honors

Awards

Nolan Ryan's 1969 championship ring on display at the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center
File:Nolan Ryan rings.jpg
Nolan Ryan's 1969 championship ring on display at the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center
Regular Season
Player
Award
Al Weis Babe Ruth Award
Tom Seaver National League Cy Young Award
Associated Press Athlete of the Year[7]
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
Playoffs
Player
Award
Donn Clendenon World Series Most Valuable Player Award
Regular Season
Manager
Award
Gil Hodges Associated Press NL Manager of the Year

Records

Player Record (Amount) Achieved

Batting Feats

Regular Season
Player Feats Reached
Postseason
Player Feats Reached

Pitching Feats

Regular Season
Player Feats Reached
Postseason
Player Feats Reached

Batting Milestones

Regular Season
Player Milestone Reached
Postseason
Player Milestone Reached

Pitching Milestones

Regular Season
Player Milestone Reached
Postseason
Player Milestone Reached

40th Major League Baseball All-Star Game

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Main article: 1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Outfielders

Pos # Player League AB H RBI
LF 21 Cleon Jones National League
Starter		 4 2 0

Pitchers

# Player League IP SO
36 Jerry Koosman National League 1.2 1
41 Tom Seaver National League Did not pitch

Draft

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Main article: 1969 Major League Baseball draft
Date Round Pick Player Position Hometown/School
June 5, 1969 1 4 Randy Sterling RHP Key West, Florida
2 28 Joe Nolan C St. Louis, Missouri

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Clyde McCullough
AA Memphis Blues Texas League Pete Pavlick and John Antonelli
A Visalia Mets California League Roy McMillan, Chuck Estrada and Harry Minor
A Pompano Beach Mets Florida State League Joe Frazier
Rookie Marion Mets Appalachian League Jack Cassini

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Memphis [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Seaver, Ryan and Koosman highlight Miracle Mets gathering to celebrate 40th anniversary of 1969 World Series Championship | mets.com: Official Info
  2. ↑ Don Bosch at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/08131969.htm#1
  4. ↑ New York Mets Win 19enerated title -->
  5. ↑ Al Jackson at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Donn Clendenon at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Associated Press Athlete of the Year (male)
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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