However, in the mid-1950s, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley conceived the idea of moving the team to Los Angeles. This came about due in part to his clash with New York City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses over the location of a new Dodgers ballpark.1 He was able to get Horace Stoneham, the Giants owner, who faced similar stadium issues, to agree to move along with him to California’s greener (and presumably more profitable) pastures — and so the Giants landed in San Francisco.

These moves, shocking though they were, were perhaps not unexpected. Three other franchises had already moved to new cities in the 1950s, and with the nation’s changing demographics and much-improved transportation, expanding the major leagues out of its “rough rectangle” (Bounded by Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.) of the Northeast/Midwest regions of the country began to make sense.

The net effect of these moves, though, was to leave the nation’s largest city and its media capital without a National League franchise. Any league expansion would surely include New York City.

New York (along with Houston) was awarded an expansion franchise at the National League meeting in October 1960 to begin play with the 1962 season.2 Joan Payson was the team’s owner. This New York team took inspiration from the past, naming the club the Metropolitans (or Mets) after a 19th-century New York team, and adopted Dodger blue and Giants orange as the team colors.3

Along the same lines, nostalgia for the Dodgers and Giants influenced the Mets’ expansion draft selections. The Mets selected four players in all from the two former New York teams, with catcher Hobie Landrith selected as their first player. Other players selected in the draft with ties to the Dodgers and Giants were Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, and Ray Daviault.4 There was even an element of Yankees nostalgia on the Mets as well, with Casey Stengel (who had also played for the Giants and Dodgers, and had managed the Dodgers) becoming their first manager.

The Mets stumbled out of the season starting gate, losing their first nine games. They lost one-run games, and games by 10 runs. They fielded, hit, and/or pitched poorly enough to lose these games, with pitching being the usual culprit. At one point prior to the season, Stengel had said that “The Mets are gonna be amazing.” And so they were – they ended the season last in all meaningful statistical categories. An exasperated Stengel would at one particularly low point in the season mutter, “Can’t anyone here play this game?”5 Finding new ways to lose became commonplace.

Yet, the Mets did have their moments. And their first victory was one of them.

On Monday, April 23, 1962, the Mets played the Pirates at Forbes Field in front of 16,676 spectators. Jay Hook took the mound for the Mets. Among those taking the field that day for the Mets were Gus Bell, Frank Thomas, and Charlie Neal. The Pirates countered with starting pitcher Tom Sturdivant, backed by players such as Dick Groat, Bill Mazeroski, and Roberto Clemente. The Mets were 0-9; the Pirates were 10-0 to begin the 1962 season.

But on this day, the Mets got on top of the Pirates early, scoring two runs in the first and four more in the second. Beginning the game with back-to-back singles, the Mets scored their first-inning runs on sacrifice flies by Bell and Thomas.

After Hook’s 1-2-3 bottom of the first, the Mets put together a double, three singles (including a two-RBI single to center field by Hook), three walks, and a sacrifice fly to plate four runs and present Hook with what turned out to be an insurmountable 6-0 lead.

The Mets scored another run in the sixth, on Elio Chacon’s run-scoring single to center field, scoring Hook for the second time in the game.

The Pirates scored their only run in the bottom of the sixth on Bob Skinner’s run-scoring groundout to first base.

Then the Mets closed out the day’s scoring on Bobby Smith’s eighth-inning triple to center field, scoring two runs and capping a good offensive day for the Mets. They finished the game with 9 runs, 14 hits (including 3 doubles, a triple, and three sacrifice flies) off four different Pirates pitchers, with Hook, Chacon, and Smith each having two runs batted in.

Hook finished with a complete-game five-hitter, allowing only one earned run. Reminiscing later about this historic game, Hook had this to say:

“The main thing I remember was that if we would have lost one more, it would have been a record opening the season, and if Pittsburgh won one more, they would have had the record for wins. I had pitched one game before that, and we had been winning in that one, but they took me out and we ended up losing. This time, I pitched a complete game.”

After the win, Stengel put Hook to work on the PR front. “After the game, he wanted me to keep talking to the press until there was no one left, so I did, and by the time I was done, everyone was gone from the clubhouse, and there was no hot water left in the showers, so I had to take a bath in the whirlpool in the trainer’s room,” Hook said.6 The Mets had won their first game! It was a highlight in a season that did not feature very many. By the end of the decade, though, the Mets were World Series winners. In the end, Stengel was right: The Mets were amazing.

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin.

Notes

1. Neil Sullivan, The Dodgers Move West (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1999).

2. “Astros History: A History of the Astrodome,” mlb.com. houston.astros.mlb.com/hou/history/hou_history_feature.jsp?story=5.

3. “Mets Timeline,” mlb.com. newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/history/timeline1.jsp.

4. “Expansion of 1962,” baseballreference.com. baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Expansion_of_1962.

5. “Quotes,” The Official Site of Casey Stengel, caseystengel.com/quotes_by.htm.

6. Dan O’Shea, “Jay Hook,” SABR BioProject, sabr.org/bioproj/person/11397aad.

The Mets started the day at 28-45, in ninth place. The Cubs, at 39-33, were fifth and only three games behind the league-leading Cardinals. There was nothing special about this matchup and only 8,153 paying fans were on hand to witness what unexpectedly turned out to be one of the more memorable games in Mets history.1

The Cubs clearly had the better team that day. Their lineup featured three future Hall of Famers: Ernie Banks at first, Ron Santo at third, and Billy Williams in left.2 A fourth, Lou Brock, started the game on the bench and entered the game in the 10th inning.3 1962’s Rookie of the Year, Ken Hubbs4 was at second base.5 The veteran right-hander Bob Buhl was on the mound.6

The Mets lineup paled in comparison. The Mets did have a future Hall of Famer of their own, Edwin “Duke” Snider playing right field. Snider was in his last full season, having been acquired by the Mets in the offseason as part of a pattern of bringing to their team fan favorites of the recently departed Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants as their careers wound down.7 Third baseman Charlie Neal fit that category as well.8 Ron Hunt, a Rookie of the Year candidate, 9 was at second base and an original Met, Frank Thomas, a legitimate power threat, played left field and hit cleanup.10  At first base was the 25-year-old Harkness11who had been acquired in an offseason trade with the Dodgers in the hope that he could be the Mets regular at the position.12  Pitching for the Mets was “Little” Al Jackson, another original Met picked in the 1962 expansion draft.13

The game started out like many other Mets games, with the home squad falling behind 4-0 after five innings. The Mets of that era would often frustrate their fans by creating opportunities to win games only to fall short. This game looked no different as the Mets rallied to tie the game and then managed to blow three opportunities to win the game. Finally, after falling behind by two runs in the top of the 14th inning, a base running blunder cost the Mets again before Harkness came through with his dramatic hit.

The Mets comeback began in the sixth inning when, trailing 4-0, the Mets rallied with two outs. Hunt singled and scored on a double by Snider, Thomas homered, and the Mets were back in the game trailing by a run, 4-3. The Mets tied it in the bottom of the eighth on a single by Thomas, driving in Clarence “Choo-Choo” Coleman who led off the inning with a walk and took second on a balk. 14  With the score tied at four, the drama of the afternoon was only beginning.

Time and again the Mets appeared on the verge of victory. In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets had runners on second and third with two out but Jim Hickman struck out to send the game to extra innings. In the 11th, the Mets threatened again, putting runners on first and second with one out only to see pinch hitter Norm Sherry ground into a double play.15  The Mets had yet another chance in the bottom of the 12th when Jimmy Piersall walked with two out, only to be promptly picked off first. In the 13th, the Mets threatened once more, this time loading the bases with one out. After Chico Fernandez grounded into a force out at home, Galen Cisco — the Mets’ fifth pitcher of the day — was scheduled to bat with the bases still loaded and now two outs. Of course, the Mets being the Mets, there were no position players left on the bench and Cisco had to bat for himself.16  He grounded out to end the threat.17

Adding to the drama of the game, the Mets went to the 14th inning with their bullpen having pitched eight consecutive innings of hitless ball.18  With the Mets having squandered four opportunities to win the game, it could not have been surprising to the faithful fans that the Cubs would finally break the tie in the 14th inning with the only hit that they would have over the course of the final nine innings. Of course, this being a Mets game, the tie-breaking hit was a most unusual one, aided by a Mets misplay. With a man on first (from a walk) and two out, Billy Williams hit a liner to left. The Polo Grounds was oddly shaped with a huge expanse in the outfield and Frank Thomas, after getting a bad jump, failed to cut the ball off as it rolled all the way to the wall.19  Don Landrum raced home from first and Williams circled the bases — an inside-the-park home run – to give the Cubs a 6-4 lead.

In the bottom of the 14th, the Mets were not giving up as the small but enthusiastic crowd cheered on the “Amazings.”20  Another blunder, however, nearly sealed their fate. Hickman led off with a single and Hunt followed with another single. On Hunt’s single, Hickman inexplicably was thrown out at third (by Lou Brock) trying to take the extra base when his run did not matter. The crowd was groaning now but the best was yet to come. With one out, a walk to Piersall put runners at first and second. Paul Toth relieved Jack Warner21  and got the second out. With two out and two on, Jim Brewer replaced Toth and walked Sammy Taylor to load the bases for Harkness.22  The count went to three and two. The small crowd was cheering loudly as Harkness connected and sent the ball rocketing into the right-field seats. A two out walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 14th inning! An uncharacteristic ending as the Mets had an amazing comeback win, 8-6.

Writing in the next day’s New York Times, Gordon White, Jr. described the “feeling as one of gloom” as Harkness batted with the 3-2 count. Given that these were the hapless Mets, White wrote that “it looked like another tough defeat” for them. Harkness turned that “gloom” into “complete ecstasy” as his fourth hit of the game was his biggest one. The enthusiastic crowd did not stop cheering until Harkness came out of the dressing room to acknowledge the cheers, something that rarely happened in those days. Casey Stengel put it all in perspective, commenting that “it was one of those good ones. We just had to end it there because I’d run out of men.”23

1963 was the only season in which Tim Harkness played regularly. He played in 259 games in four seasons, his career ending after 1964. As a career .235 hitter with 14 home runs there is not much to remember him by. Yet, more than 50 years later, legions of Mets fans still remember Harkness for his leading role in one of the greatest games in Mets history.

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

The author recalls listening to this game on the radio and remembers the excitement of the moment when Harkness smashed his game-winning grand slam.

Notes

1 According to the New York Times account of the game, 18,072 fans were in attendance. In those days, the Mets often had promotions that allowed groups to attend their games for free. Presumably, that Wednesday afternoon was such a game, which would explain the discrepancy between the Times account and the attendance as reported in the official box score. Gordon White, Jr., “4th Harkness Hit Decides 8-6 Game,” New York Times, June 27, 1963.

2 Banks was not in the starting lineup. Leo Burke started at first base but was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing on a called third strike. Banks then took over at first base as part of a double switch.

3 Brock was in his second full season with the Cubs. In 1964, he would be traded to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio and others, in what became known as one of the worst trades in baseball history. Brock went on to play 16 seasons with the Cardinals in his Hall of Fame career.

4 1963 was Hubbs’ final season as, tragically, he was killed in a plane crash following the season.

5  The rest of the starting lineup consisted of Andre Rodgers at shortstop, Nelson Mathews in center field, Ellis Burton in right field and Dick Bertell behind the plate.

6 Buhl came to the Cubs in 1962 after 10 seasons with the Milwaukee Braves.

7 The “Duke of Flatbush,” then 36 years old, was one of the “Boys of Summer” on the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950s. After 16 years with the Dodgers, in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, the Mets bought his contract from the Dodgers prior to the season’s start. Snider played only one year with the Mets, hitting .243 with 14 home runs. He was a part-time outfielder for the San Francisco Giants in 1964 before retiring.

8  Neal was another former Brooklyn Dodger, who the Mets traded for prior to their inaugural 1962 season. Later in 1963, the Mets traded him to Cincinnati where he finished what turned out to be his final season.

9 Hunt would go on to finish second for Rookie of the Year, losing out to a young infielder on the Cincinnati Reds by the name of Pete Rose. The 22-year-old Hunt was acquired from Milwaukee in the offseason and became the Mets first young star. The scrappy second baseman went on to play 12 years in the majors, four with the Mets. His “specialty” was being hit by the pitch, as he led the league in that category seven times including 50 in 1971.

10 Thomas slugged 34 home runs in 1962 but only 15 in 1963. He was obtained in a trade with Milwaukee prior to the start of the 1962 season.

11 Harkness was a Canadian, at a time when very few players from Canada were in the major leagues. The Mets traded “Righty” Bob Miller to the Dodgers for him and second baseman Larry Burright.  Miller went on to have a 17-year career in the majors. He was known as “Righty” Bob Miller because the 1962 Mets had two Bob Millers, one a righty and one a lefty.

12 The rest of the lineup included Jim Hickman in center, a young hitter who would go on to have a solid 13-year career mostly with the Mets and later the Cubs; Sammy Taylor behind the plate, a career backup who played five seasons for the Cubs before coming to the Mets during the 1962 season; and shortstop Al Moran, a rookie who played only part of one additional season in the major leagues. Hickman, like Neal and Thomas, was an original Met, having been picked in the 1962 expansion draft.

13  Jackson, who was only 5’ 10” tall, was an effective left-hander who was a key part of the Mets rotation from 1962 through 1965.

14  Coleman entered the game as a pinch hitter for reliever Larry Bearnarth. “Choo-Choo” was one of the most colorful of all Mets. He ran faster than most catchers and had one of the all-time great nicknames but he could not hit. His career batting average was .197 in 462 major-league at-bats. Coleman, even though a catcher, was a threat to steal and that threat may have caused the balk by Cubs reliever Don Elston that put “Choo Choo” in position to score the tying run.

15 Sherry, whose brother was pitcher Larry Sherry, was a good defensive catcher but a very weak hitter. He was the last position player left on the Mets bench.

16 In 164 career at-bats, Cisco had a career batting average of .128.

17 The Mets used 20 players in the game and only four pitchers were still available when the game ended. White, “4th Harkness Hit Decides 8-6 Game.”

18 Writing his game account in the next day’s New York Times, Gordon White noted that this was “the closest the Mets have come to a no-hitter.” Little could he know that it would be nearly 50 years before a Mets pitcher would pitch a no-hitter, a feat achieved by Johan Santana in 2012.

19 White.

20 The Mets got the nickname “Amazings” when “The Old Perfessor,” Casey Stengel, while giving a lengthy answer to an interview question, dubbed them the “Amazing Mets.” youtube.com/watch?v=PBjPm_C-53E          

21 Warner pitched 4 2/3 solid innings in relief. Toth, who relieved him, was included in the 1964 Brock trade. See n.3.

22 Harkness came into the game batting only .208. He was 3-for-6 on the day going into his final at-bat but was facing a lefty pitcher in Brewer. In 1963, Harkness hit only .156 against lefties.

23 White.

A mist-like rain began to fall. Umbrellas sprung up all over the park, and some spectators elected to purchase hats. The rain stopped just as the first game began at 1:05 PM. Six weeks into the season, the Giants (24-17) were in second place, a game behind the Phillies. The Mets (14-30) looked to be well on their way to their third last-place finish in their three years as a team.

In the second inning of the first game, Joe Christopher, who, as day passed into night, gained a great following in right field, singled off Giants starter Juan Marichal. Ed Kranepool, who had just been called up to the Mets from their Buffalo farm team, singled. The day before, Ed had played a doubleheader in Syracuse, went back to Buffalo, and caught an early morning flight to New York. Jim Hickman cleared the bases with a homer to left.

The Giants took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. Orlando Cepeda’s double had scored Willie Mays and moved Jim Ray Hart to third base. A sacrifice fly by Jim Davenport scored Hart with the tying run and moved Cepeda to third. Cepeda attempted a steal of home. Reliever Tom Sturdivant’s pitch appeared to have the runner beaten by at least ten feet. Catcher Jesse Gonder was slow in applying the tag and the steal was complete.

The Giants completed the scoring in the ninth when Harvey Kuenn drove in Jesus Alou with the Giants’ fifth run. Marichal completed the 5-3 Giant win by striking out two batters in the ninth inning, wrapping up his eighth victory of the season. The time of game was 2:29.

The Giants took the second game lead, and the score was 6-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. In the Mets’ seventh, Roy McMillan and Frank Thomas singled. Christopher then stepped in. Joe hit Bobby Bolin’s 3-0 pitch to deepest center field, 410 feet from home plate. Mays leaped against the wall and, with his glove extended, grabbed at the ball as it was leaving the field. He came to the ground with his glove high in the air, signifying for all to see that he had caught the ball. There was one thing wrong, however. There was no ball in the glove. After Christopher circled the bases and touched home plate, the score was knotted at 6-6.

The score remained tied, inning after inning. Shuffling of players between positions became commonplace. In the bottom of the tenth, Mays took over at shortstop. Mays was replaced in center field, temporarily, by Matty Alou.

Gaylord Perry, young and unproven, entered the game to pitch the bottom of the 13th, and there were wholesale changes. Mays returned to center field. He did not have anything hit at him during his three innings in the infield.

In his autobiography, Me and the Spitter, Perry devotes an entire chapter to the events of this day. He lists the records set, and concludes by saying that “they saw Gaylord Perry throw a spitter under pressure for the first, but hardly the last, time in his career.” Prior to May 31, 1964, Perry “was the eleventh man on an eleven man pitching staff. The twelfth man was in Tacoma.” In the 13th inning, Amado “Sammy” Samuel reached Perry for a single. This was followed with a single to right field by McMillan. A great throw by Jesus Alou cut down Samuel trying to advance to third base.

In the 14th, Galen Cisco took over for the Mets. The Giants had Jesus Alou on second and Mays on first with none out. The red-hot Cepeda was up. Giants’ manager Alvin Dark, with fast runners on base, put on the hit-and-run play. McMillan was racing to cover second when he intercepted Cepeda’s liner to center, stepped on second, and fired to Kranepool at first. The Mets had a triple play, and the game went on.

In the Mets’ 15th inning, Perry was struggling. Hickman had singled and advanced to second on Charley Smith’s sacrifice bunt. Catcher Tom Haller went to the mound and suggested that Perry try out that “new pitch” that he had been working on. If there was ever a time to use it, this was it. Haller said, “It’s time to break the maiden, kid. I think you can do it.” Before resuming his position behind the plate, Haller told Perry, “Throw it when you can get it on the ball. Don’t worry about me. You throw it. I’ll catch it. Let’s go.”

Chris Cannizzaro stepped in and Perry loaded it up. Five spitters later, the count went to three-and-two. What followed was the best argument of the long day. Perry unleashed a fast ball and Cannizzaro checked his swing. Umpire Ed Sudol awarded Cannizzaro first base. Dark argued that Sudol should have conferred with the other umpires before making the decision. Sudol quickly ejected Dark.

Sudol’s temper was short because Cannizzaro, earlier in the at-bat, had fouled the 0-2 pitch off Sudol’s foot. His temper might have been made even shorter by hunger. Someone had forgotten to bring food to the umpires’ quarters between games. Before he left the playing area, Dark put the game under protest. The base on balls proved harmless. While the commotion was going on, Gaylord loaded up another spitter and Cisco hit a ball back to Perry. Perry fired to Davenport, playing shortstop, who threw the still wet ball to Cepeda to complete the inning-ending double play.[fn]Perry, pages 12-20.[/fn]

The innings continued to roll past. In the 23rd inning, Davenport stepped in with two out. He hit a ball safely toward the right-field corner. By the time Christopher could retrieve the ball, Davenport was standing at third base with a triple. Cisco intentionally walked Cap Peterson, with Perry, remarkably still in the game, scheduled to hit next. Perry was a worse hitter than even a typical pitcher, but he was pitching great — he had struck out nine batters and allowed seven hits in ten innings. The Giants sent Del Crandall up to pinch hit for Perry. Crandall came through, plating Davenport with a ground rule double to right field. Peterson advanced to third and scored on an infield hit by Jesus Alou. After being shut out for 19 consecutive innings, the Giants had taken an 8-6 lead into the bottom of the 23rd inning, Bob Hendley came in to settle the issue, retiring the three Mets he faced, striking out two.

The strikeouts brought the total by Giants’ pitchers for the game to 22, eclipsing the mark for strikeouts in an extra-inning game (21), set initially by the Phillies against the Pirates in a 14-inning win on September 22, 1958 and tied by Tom Cheney of Washington in a 16-inning complete game against Baltimore in 1962. When the final out was registered, the game became the longest ever, in terms of time, to be completed in the history of the major leagues – 7 hours and 23 minutes. The doubleheader, also the longest in history, went 9 hours and 52 minutes; the record still stands.

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Author’s note

I was a high school senior when the Giants first came to Shea Stadium to play the Mets in a four-game series. Each time they came to town, I would go to the local Howard Clothes Store and reserve my ticket. For the May 31, 1964 series finale, it would just be me, as I was unable to find anyone to drag along.

By the 15th inning of the second game, the vendors were gone. I found a discarded program and persevered with my score-keeping. I stepped on a mustard container, splattering its contents on my left leg. When Joe Christopher assumed his position in right field, the few of us remaining waved in his direction, and he waved back.

At the end of baseball’s longest day, I put my thoughts together in an article. After I retired, I discovered the paper, dusted it off, and did some updates.

Sources

Val Adams. “If it’s any help, Mets won TV Rating,” The New York Times, June 2, 1964: 75.

Arthur Daley. “Sports of the Times: Amazing is Correct,” The New York Times, June 2, 1964: 44.

Joseph Durso. “Giants Top Mets Twice, as 7 hour 23 Minute 23-Inning Sets Marks,” The New York Times, June 1, 1964.

Barney Kremenko. “Mets, Giants Go Round and Round to L. P. Record,” The Sporting News, June 13, 1964: 5.

Barney Kremenko. “Christopher Heating up Mets with Sizzling Bat,” The Sporting News, June 13, 1961: 6.

Robert Lipsyte. “Ball Park Well Built and ‘Could have lasted forever’,” The New York Times, May 31, 1964.

Associated Press. “Mets Fans Discussing Marathon,” The Hartford Courant, June 2, 1964: 19A.

Gaylord Perry (with Bob Sudyk). Me and the Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession. (New York. E. P. Dutton and Company. 1974)

Joe Christopher, Jim Davenport, Ed Kranepool, Rusty Staub, and Joan Haller (Tom’s wife) were interviewed for this article.

The 1969 Cubs were one of the franchise’s all-time great teams. They had not won a World Series since 1908 or a pennant since 1945, and 1969 looked like the year of the Cubs. Led by their fiery and brilliant manager, Leo “The Lip” Durocher,” the team from the North Side featured a powerful offense, including three future Hall of Famers: “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks at first, Ron Santo at third, and Billy Williams in left. Chicago also had a great catcher, Randy Hundley, and a solid middle infield combination with shortstop Don Kessinger and second baseman Glenn Beckert. Veteran Al Spangler shared right field with ex-Met Jim Hickman. The only weak spot in the lineup was center field, where little-known Don Young played most of the games, backed up by several others, including a 22-year-old rookie named Jim Qualls, who had a date with history.

The 1969 Mets had a winning record at midseason for the first time in their history. An expansion team in 1962, the Mets had set numerous records for futility. They lost a record 120 games in 1962 and then lost 90 or more games in each of the next five seasons (through 1967).2 Only in 1968 did the Mets finally lose less than 90 games, finishing in ninth place, one game ahead of last place Houston, with a record of 73-89. Former Brooklyn Dodgers star Gil Hodges, a fan favorite, took over as the Mets manager in 1968 and his steady hand had the team in pennant contention by the summer of 1969.

In contrast to the Cubs, the Mets’ offense was weak, featuring catcher Jerry Grote, first baseman Ed Kranepool, second baseman Ken Boswell, shortstop Bud Harrelson, third baseman Wayne Garrett, and young outfielders Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda. The Mets’ strength was in their young pitchers, including their Big Three starters: 24-year-old Seaver, 26-year-old Jerry Koosman, and 22-year-old Gary Gentry. The bullpen included a fireballing 22-year-old right hander named Nolan Ryan.

The previous day at Shea, the Mets played the Cubs in the opener of a three-game series. Trailing the first-place Cubs by five games at the series start,3 the Mets won the opener in dramatic fashion, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 victory. Thus, the stage was set for July 9, with their fans dreaming of a series sweep to put the Mets within a hair’s breadth of first place. On this night, it was the “All-American boy,” Tom Seaver, who would take the mound and try to lead the Mets to a place where they had never gone before.

Shea Stadium was packed with more than 59,000 screaming fans. What was about to unfold was not only one of the greatest games in Mets history, but one of the great games in baseball history, given the importance of the game, the record crowd, and the performance of a second-year pitcher who would go on to make the Hall of Fame.

Opposing Seaver was the Cubs’ ace lefty Ken Holtzman. Holtzman was only 23 years old and yet in his fifth season with the Cubs. This, however, would not be Holtzman’s night. The Mets scored one run in the first and had scored two runs in the second when Durocher pulled Holtzman for reliever Ted Abernathy, who ended the inning. The Mets led 3-0 after two and they had all the runs that they would need.

Seaver joined the Mets in 1967, one year removed from a stellar college career at the University of Southern California. He was a big, strong right-hander with near-perfect mechanics and his arrival gave Mets fans hope that their beloved team would finally become a winning one. Seaver lived up to his billing, going 16-13 in 1967 with a 2.76 ERA and 16-12 in 1968 with a 2.20 ERA. He was off to a spectacular start in 1969, with a 13-3 record going into the big game against the Cubs. The Mets had played the Cubs eight times early in the season, winning only three, at a time when the Mets had their usual below-.500 record. This time was different. As Seaver took the mound on that balmy July evening, the Mets were 46-34 and in a pennant race. For Seaver, it was the biggest game of his young major-league career, on the biggest stage, before the largest crowd in Shea Stadium history.4

“Tom Terrific” lived up to his nickname that evening. The Cubs could not touch him. He was pumped, as he struck out five of the first six Cubs batters. The fans were really into it and by the sixth inning it became apparent that on this, the biggest night in Mets history, Tom Seaver was making history. He was pitching a perfect game. No Mets pitcher had done so. No Mets pitcher had thrown a no-hitter and here was Seaver having retired the first 15 batters. The Cubs went down in order again in the sixth and the perfect game was intact. Seaver received a tremendous ovation as he came to bat in the bottom of the frame.

In the Cubs seventh, once again it was three up and three down and you could feel the tension as the excited crowd appreciated the magnitude of what was unfolding before their eyes. The Mets added a run in the seventh, to make it 4-0, but the story of the night now was Seaver. The Mets made some defensive changes in the eighth as Seaver prepared to face the middle of the Cubs lineup. He retired Santo on a fly to center and then struck out the great Banks and then Spangler, to give him 11 strikeouts.

Through eight innings of pitching, it was 24 up and 24 down, 11 on strikeouts. Seaver looked strong as he continued to pump fastballs and the nearly 60,000 faithful could feel his adrenaline as the game moved to the ninth inning.5

Randy Hundley led off. Surprisingly, Hundley tried to bunt his way on. As the boos sounded, Seaver fielded the bunt and threw to first for the out.6 Two outs to go for a perfect game. The fans were on their feet screaming. Up came the weakest hitter in the Cubs lineup — that 22-year-old rookie by the name of Jim Qualls. Qualls was making only his ninth start of the season and came into the game batting only .244. He would have only 120 at-bats in 1969 and after nine at-bats in 1970, for Montreal, he was gone for good from the major leagues. But on this night, on the night that Tom Seaver would make history, the names Jim Qualls and Tom Seaver would forever become linked in baseball lore.

On the first pitch, Seaver came in with a fastball and Qualls (a switch-hitter batting lefty) hit it to the left of second and in front of center fielder Agee — a clean single. Suddenly, the noisy crowd went completely silent. It was an eerie feeling at Shea. All of the air had gone out of the balloon. The disappointment that Seaver felt was shared by the suddenly quiet crowd. 7 Then came the standing ovation for Seaver. The next two batters were retired and the game was over.

The Mets had a huge victory against the Cubs. They were now only three games out of first place.8 The Franchise, Tom Seaver, had come through. He had pitched the greatest game in Mets history. Despite the disappointment caused by Qualls, Mets fans went home satisfied. They had just witnessed a game that, although not perfect, changed the course of Mets history. Seaver’s dominance of the Cubs that night showed, against all odds, that this team was a legitimate pennant contender. As Seaver went on to win 25 games in that magical season, the Mets won the pennant and the World Series. Their performance earned them the moniker “The Miracle Mets.” The Miracle began on July 9, 1969.

Author’s note

The author sat in the Upper Deck that evening and nearly 50 years later still vividly recalled the excitement and tension of that night, including how an unbelievably loud crowd went completely silent at the moment Qualls’s hit landed in center field.

Sources

Retrosheet (retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B07090NYN1969.htm) and Baseball Reference.com (baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196907090.shtml) were the source of play-by-play information.

Notes

1 There is a discrepancy between Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com with respect to the NL standings, and how many games behind the Mets were, on July 8 and 9, 1969. The references herein are based on Retrosheet, which is correct. On June 15, 1969, the Cubs played a doubleheader, losing the first game. The second game was suspended at the end of the seventh inning and completed on September 2, with the Cubs winning. Retrosheet correctly recorded only the June 15 first-game loss in the standings through September 1, recording the Cubs’ win in the suspended game only on September 2 when it was completed. Baseball Reference.com counted the September 2 suspended-game victory as a win in the standings on June 15, the day the game was suspended.

2 The Mets finished last from 1963 through 1965, losing 111, 109, and 112 games respectively. In 1966, the Mets were 66-95 and escaped the cellar for the first time, finishing ninth (of 10). In 1967, the Mets were back in last place as they lost 101 games.

3 See n. 1.

4 Shea Stadium’s capacity in 1969 was 55,300. On July 9, 1969, there were 59,083 fans in attendance. As reported in the New York Times, the paid attendance of 50,709 “was swelled by some junior fans who had been promised tickets in a long-planned promotion. Every seat could have been sold and many fans were turned away.” George Vecsey, “Single by Rookie Only Chicago Hit,” New York Times, July 10, 1969.

5 Even though Seaver looked strong, he said afterward that “the feeling was almost gone from my arm.” Ibid. In 1969 batters did not work the count and Seaver’s gem took only 99 pitches and 2 hours 2 minutes to complete.

6 After the game, Mets first baseman Donn Clendenon said he was not upset with Hundley’s effort to bunt his way on to break up a perfect game, commenting, “I don’t think Hundley was thinking about the no-hitter. … He was just trying to get on and start a rally.” Al Harvin, “Mets Clubhouse Quieted by Single,” New York Times, July 10, 1969.

7 Seaver said,. “I felt as if somebody had opened up a spout in my foot and the joy all went out of me.” Pack Bringley, “Even Tom Seaver Wasn’t Perfect,” amazinavenue.com/2013/4/1/4164470/tom-seaver-mets-imperfect-game-cub, April 1, 2013. While disappointed after the game, Seaver commented, “I got my breaks. … I just needed one more break.” Vecsey, “Single by Rookie Only Chicago Hit.” Forty years after the game was played, Seaver still vividly recalled the emotions of that evening, stating that after the game “The very first thing I felt might have been something like, ‘what could have been,’” Michael Bamberger, ”Forty Years Ago, Little-Known Qualls Spoiled Seaver’s Bid at Perfection,” si.com/more-sports/2009/07/08/seaver-tribute, December 11, 2017.    

8 See n.1.

The Mets’ game on September 15 against the St. Louis Cardinals was characteristic of their late-season surge to glory. The game ended up matching a magnificent 19-strikeout feat by the Cardinals’ Steve Carlton, with an improbable two-homer performance by the Mets’ Ron Swoboda. In a game they should have probably lost, the Mets came out on the winning end. Swoboda turned out to be Carlton’s only Achilles heel in the game.

Just five days before, the Mets had taken the division lead from the Cubs, who had remarkably been in first place since the first day of the season. It was the first time in the Mets’ eight-year history that the team held first place. They had won 10 straight games before the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated them the day before the Cardinals game. With the Cubs swooning in the “season from hell,” the Mets had climbed to a 3½-game lead.

The Cardinals, defending National League champions, came into the game in third place in the East, nine games behind the Mets. They weren’t putting up much of a fight down the stretch, and would finish the season in fourth place.

The Mets were in their second season under manager Gil Hodges. He had inherited a core of young players who had been accumulated beginning in 1965 and now included Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Ron Swoboda, and Bud Harrelson. All would play key roles in the Mets’ drive for the pennant.

The contest on September 15 was played at night in St. Louis before 13,086 spectators. Hodges gave 22-year-old rookie pitcher Gary Gentry (11-11) the starting assignment. Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst countered with 24-year-old lefty Carlton (16-9) against an all-right-handed-hitting Mets lineup. Carlton had lost his last two decisions.

The game’s start was delayed for 26 minutes by rain and once it resumed there was another 54-minute delay in the first inning. Carlton had felt feverish all day; and with a sore back, too, he required some pain-killers to suit up.1 However, he had his strikeout mojo working in the first inning. He struck out the side, although the Mets got two baserunners on an error and a single. The inning was characteristic of Carlton’s outing that night: He whiffed multiple Cardinals batters in six of his innings, but also worked around frequent baserunners who reached on nine hits, two walks, and an error.

Carlton struck out the side again in the second inning while yielding a single to Al Weis. In the third, he struck out his seventh opponent, and in the bottom of the inning the Cardinals scored the first run. Lou Brock walked and tried to score from first on Curt Flood’s single, but was thrown out at home by center fielder Tommy Agee. Flood advanced to second on the play, and scored on a single by the next batter, Vada Pinson.

In the top of the fourth, Carlton was dealt his first deadly blow by the first two Mets batters. Donn Clendenon walked and Swoboda homered to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Carlton then proceeded to strike out the side for the third time.

Carlton recorded strikeouts 11 and 12 in the fifth inning, and Cardinals hitters rebounded in the bottom of the frame with four consecutive hits. With two outs, Brock singled and stole second. Flood’s single brought in Brock. Pinson’s single advanced Flood to second, and Joe Torre’s single put the Cardinals ahead again, 3-2.

Carlton appeared to still be in control when he struck out Swoboda for the second time in the sixth. His 14th strikeout (Amos Otis was the victim) came in the seventh inning after the Mets threatened to score with a single and a walk.

Mets reliever Tug McGraw replaced Gentry in the bottom of the seventh and came close to yielding another run to the combination of Brock, Flood, and Pinson, before retiring the side with a strikeout of Torre.

Swoboda struck again in the top of the eighth. After Agee’s leadoff single and Carlton’s 15th strikeout (Clendenon), Swoboda belted another home run and the Mets regained the lead, 4-3. Carlton also recorded his 16th K that inning.

McGraw retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth, but so did Carlton in the top of the ninth, when he struck out the side for the fourth time in the game, including Amos Otis’s fourth punchout.

McGraw held the Cardinals scoreless in the ninth despite the Mets’ fourth error of the game and Brock’s single, his fourth time reaching base. The Mets’ 4-3 victory was McGraw’s eighth of the season.

On a day when Carlton said he had a fever all day before the game,2 his 19 strikeouts set a new modern-day record.3 It was the highest total of his Hall of Fame career, which also included three games with 16 strikeouts and one with 15. (He had also taken the loss in one of those 16-strikeout games, against the Phillies in 1967.) It Carlton’s sixth game in 1969 with double-digit strikeouts. The loss was his 10th; he finished the season 17-11. When he retired in 1988, he was second on the all-time strikeout list behind Nolan Ryan. (Carlton was subsequently surpassed by Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens.)

Carlton said after the game, “I’m very elated to have done something no other pitcher has ever done. I knew I had something special when I got that standing ovation. That’s the first one I ever got. And I got into some elite company – with Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, and Don Wilson.”4  Those three pitchers held the major-league record of 18 strikeouts in a game at the time. Unaware of how many strikeouts he had until the scoreboard flashed “16” in the eighth inning, Carlton said, “I decided to go all-out for the record. I wanted it badly then.”5

Nearly 50 years after his game-winning clouts, Swoboda recalled the historic game: “Carlton was a good pitcher having a good day. He had a lot of ways to get you out, possessing a fastball that jumped out at you, an overpowering curve, and an effective slider.” Swoboda recalled that his homers, both hit on two-strike counts, came on a fastball in the fourth inning and a hanging slider in the sixth.6 However, Swoboda wasn’t immune to Carlton’s strikeouts; the left-hander whiffed the big outfielder twice.

Swoboda remembered, “I had been hot and cold as a batter before this game. In a time before specialized hitting coaches, Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner took me into the batting cage the day before. He worked with me by setting up the pitching machine with the wheels going in opposite directions, allowing simulated sliders. Kiner kept asking me about my swings against those sliders in the cage, ‘How does that feel?’ Fortunately, I was able to get to a better place before having to face Carlton.”7

Swoboda’s two-homer game was his first since his rookie season, 1965, when he excited Mets fans by hitting 19 home runs. For much of the 1969 season, he had shared playing time with Art Shamsky and Rod Gaspar, but by mid-August Swoboda had reclaimed his right-field starting job. During the 35-game stretch from August 21 to September 24 (the day the Mets clinched the NL East title), Swoboda had 26 RBIs, including his first career grand slam. He would make one of the most memorable catches in World Series history with his diving backhanded catch of Brooks Robinson’s line drive in the ninth inning of Game Four.

In 1969, the first year of division play in major-league baseball, the Mets won the NL East by eight games over the Cubs. They swept the Atlanta Braves in three games in the NL Championship Series, then defeated the Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series. That team will forever be known as the “Miracle Mets.”

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author used the following:

Allen, Maury. The Incredible Mets (New York: Paperback Library, 1969).

Baseball-Reference.com: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196909150.shtml

Durso, Joseph. “Swoboda Clouts Pair for All Runs,” New York Times, September 16, 1969: 51.

New York Mets Media Guide, 1970.

Retrosheet.org: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B09150SLN1969.htm

ronswoboda.com.

Notes

1 Neal Russo, “A Record 19 Ks Cure Ailing Carlton,” The Sporting News, September 27, 1969: 12.

2 Bob Broeg, “Carlton Whiffs 19, but Mets Strike, Too,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 16, 1969: C1.

3 Carlton’s single-game strikeout record was surpassed by Roger Clemens (1986 and 1996), Kerry Wood (1998), and Max Scherzer (2016), all of whom struck out 20.

4 Broeg.

5 Broeg.

6 Author’s telephone interview with Ron Swoboda, July 17, 2017.

7 Ibid.

Seaver started impressively. Although Paul Blair got a single off him in the first inning, he struck out Don Buford and Boog Powell. Frank Robinson flied out to center field and Seaver kept the Orioles from capitalizing on Blair’s single. Cuellar also started well. He got Tommie Agee to ground out to third. Bud Harrelson singled to left field, but Cleon Jones hit a groundball to shortstop for a double play to end the inning almost as quickly as it started.

In the second inning Seaver began to show why he was the best pitcher in the National League that season. He got Brooks Robinson to ground out to shortstop. He walked Elrod Hendricks but Davey Johnson hit another groundball to shortstop and Hendricks was forced out at second. The inning ended when Johnson was caught stealing.

In a switch from the first game, it was Cuellar who made the first mistake. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Donn Clendenon in the second inning. Manager Gil Hodges used right-handed hitter Clendenon against lefties in place of Ed Kranepool.1 After Clendenon’s blast, Cuellar got both Ed Charles and Ron Swoboda to ground out to short, then struck out Jerry Grote to end the inning although not without some excitement as Oriole skipper Earl Weaver was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

As the game progressed, it looked as though that one run might be all that Seaver would need. He kept the Orioles hitters spellbound with his fastball and overwhelming curveball. Orioles got on base in each of the first three innings but Seaver quickly shut them down every time. Baltimore’s best chance to take advantage of Seaver took place in the third. After giving up singles to Mark Belanger and Cuellar, Seaver got Buford to hit a groundball to Clendenon. The first baseman threw out Cuellar out at second. This left runners at first and third. Blair, who had 26 home runs and 32 doubles during the season, now came to the plate. Everyone watching expected him to swing away. When Orioles manager Earl Weaver had Blair bunt the ball down the third-base line to score the lead runner, Seaver held Buford at third before throwing out Blair at first. Frank Robinson then hit a foul popup to the first-base side to end the inning.2

Cuellar and Seaver continued to battle each other through the sixth inning. The Mets got scattered hits off Cuellar but failed to score any more runs. A pair of singles by Al Weis and Agee in the bottom of the third inning had the Mets with runners at second and third, but Cuellar was able to get out of the inning with groundballs, one to third and second. The Mets got two more hits, one in the fifth and another in the sixth, but failed to score.

Meanwhile, Seaver settled down and took control of the game. From the fourth through the eighth, only one Oriole reached base, Blair on a walk in the sixth.

Coach Billy Hunter, who took over after Weaver was ejected 3 pulled Cuellar for a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth inning. Cuellar had kept the Mets from getting any more runs after Clendenon’s home run. When he left the game, he had retired 10 of the last 13 Mets batters he faced.4 Eddie Watt took over in the bottom of the eighth inning and picked up where Cuellar had left off. He got the Mets out in order. Weis flied out to center field, Seaver hit a groundball to second base and Agee struck out. So it was 1-0 going into the ninth inning.5

The Orioles finally scored in the top of the ninth inning. Seaver faced the heart of the Orioles lineup. He got Blair to fly out to right field. Then Frank Robinson singled to left and Powell singled to right, sending Robinson to third. Brooks Robinson stepped to the plate and hit a fly ball to short right field, barely over second baseman Weis. Swoboda, the right fielder, could have played it safe. The conservative approach would have been to concede the run and play the ball on a hop. Instead Swoboda practically knocked himself out with an extraordinary catch that would go down as one of the best in World Series history. Swoboda ran at full speed and dived at the last minute to make the catch inches above the ground.6

Although Frank Robinson scored, the Mets got an all-important second out. Even more significantly, Swoboda’s catch made the Mets and their fans start to believe that they might actually win the Series. Many of those who saw the catch consider it even more momentous than Willie Mays’ famous catch in the 1954 World Series.7 Although the Orioles had finally succeeded in scoring against Seaver, he recovered and got Hendricks to hit another line drive that Swoboda caught in less dramatic fashion.

With the game now tied 1-1, Watt kept the Mets from scoring in the bottom of the ninth even though he gave up singles to Jones and Swoboda. Watt got pinch-hitter Art Shamsky to ground out to second.

The game entered the 10th inning with Seaver still pitching. An error by Wayne Garrett, who had taken over at third for Charles, allowed Johnson to reach first. After Belanger fouled out to the catcher, Hunter sent Clay Dalrymple to the plate as a pinch-hitter for Watt. He singled to center field and Johnson went to second. The next batter, Buford, flied out to deep right field and Johnson took third base. Seaver got out of the inning by striking out Blair. Even though they managed to get a runner in scoring position again, the Orioles could not score. Seaver had kept his focus and continued to dominate the Orioles.

Hunter now sent Dick Hall, who had finished the season with a 1.92 ERA, to the mound in the bottom of the 10th inning. The first batter to face him, Grote, hit a double to left field. Mets manager Gil Hodges sent Rod Gaspar into the game to run for Grote. Hall intentionally walked Weis to set up a possible double play.

With Seaver scheduled to bat, Hodges pulled him for a left-handed pinch-hitter, J.C. Martin. Weaver replaced Hall with lefty Pete Richert. Martin bunted. Richert fielded the ball and threw to first for what looked like an easy out. But his throw hit Martin on the wrist as he ran down the first-base line and bounced into right field. Rod Gaspar, running for Grote, scored from second to win the game. The Orioles immediately protested, claiming that Martin was running too far inside the baseline and had interfered with the throw. The umpires disagreed.8 The Mets won 2-1 and took a commanding 3-games-to-1 lead in the series. Martin’s walk-off bunt was only the second one in postseason history. The first was in Game Three of the 1914 World Series when the Boston Braves swept the Philadelphia Athletics.9

The Mets were closing in on their first championship. Brian Naylor wrote that this team was “called the Miracle Mets, but in hindsight, they were a solid bunch whose success was due less to divine intervention than to playing good, inspired baseball and, well, perhaps a few lucky breaks.”10 Those lucky breaks were clearly evident on this afternoon.

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, and Retrosheet.org websites were used.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196910150.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B10150NYN1969.htm

Notes

A crowd of 57,397 showed up for Game Five against the Baltimore Orioles. The Mets led, three victories to one. The unexpected was about to become history. Experts had expected the usual from the Mets in 1969 after their 73-89 record in 1968. Gil Hodges was in his second year as manager, hired to lead the Mets’ youthful squad, whose core was pitchers, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry.2 Besides their young pitchers,the Mets had solid defensive players. Seaver later reflected on the new manager’s impact on the team: “[Hodges] brought that presence and that approach to how you play the game. That began to permeate through the club. He never missed a thing.”3

Hodges chose Koosman to pitch the fifth game. Koosman had earned a 2-1 victory in Game Two, pitching 8⅔ innings and holding the hard-hitting Orioles to just two hits. Now he was given the opportunity to clinch the championship in front of a home crowd. For the Orioles, Dave McNally, the losing pitcher in Koosman’s victory, was the starter.

Koosman held the Orioles to one hit in the first two innings, a single by second baseman Davey Johnson in the second, but gave up three runs in the third. Mark Belanger singled to right field, then Koosman gave up a home run to McNally. Koosman got Don Buford to ground out to shortstop and struck out Paul Blair. But the next batter, Frank Robinson, hit another home run, a blast over the center-field wall, to give the Orioles a three-run lead before Koosman struck out Boog Powell to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Dave McNally was dominant, holding the Mets to three hits through the first five innings and striking out five. It looked as if the Orioles might bring the Series back to Baltimore. But things began to unravel for them in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Leadoff batter Cleon Jones was brushed back from the plate by McNally’s first pitch. Home-plate umpire Lou DiMuro called it a ball, but Jones insisted he had been hit. Hodges quickly emerged from the dugout with the ball and showed DiMuro a scuff mark, whereupon DiMuro awarded Jones first base.4 The next batter, Donn Clendenon, hit a home run and the Mets were just one run behind the Orioles. Years later, the call was still controversial. Frank Robinson is one of those who questioned it. “It’s always good planning to have a baseball in the dugout with shoe polish on it, just in case,” he said in 2013.5

After the two home runs in the third inning, Koosman had allowed just one hit over the next six innings, a single by Boog Powell in the top of the sixth. Another unusual call went against the Orioles in the top of the sixth. It appeared that Koosman hit Frank Robinson but DiMuro ruled against the Orioles again and Robinson ended up striking out.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Al Weis, the Mets shortstop, who was known for his defensive skills rather than his bat, hit a home run to deep left field off McNally. It was only the seventh home run of Weis’s career and the only time he hit a home run at Shea Stadium.6 (Weis also surprised everyone by leading the Mets with a .455 batting average during the Series.)

After Curt Motton pinch hit for McNally in the top of the eight, Eddie Watt took over on the mound. Jones led off the inning with a double. After Clendenon grounded out to the third baseman, Ron Swoboda doubled to left and Jones scored. Ed Charles flied to left. The next batter, catcher Jerry Grote, hit a groundball down the first-base line. Powell bobbled the ball and then threw it late to Watt, who let the ball get away from him. Both players were charged with errors on the play, which allowed Swoboda to score. Grote was safe at first.7 Weis ended the inning by striking out.

Koosman walked Frank Robinson to start the ninth inning but the rest of the Orioles batting order was unable to get a rally started. Powell grounded to shortstop Weis and Robinson was forced at second. Brooks Robinson hit a fly ball to Tommie Agee in center field, and Davey Johnson’s fly ball to Jones in left field ended the game. Jones later said that he was thinking, “Come on down, baby, come on down. It’s all over” as he waited for the ball.8Koosman went the distance for the win as the Mets surprised the baseball world by winning the World Series.

After the game, Mets fans poured on to the field to celebrate. New York Times columnist Arthur Daley wrote, “They came tumbling from the stands by the thousands, lit red flares, brandished signs and whooped it up in unrestrained glee. They stole all the bases, including home plate, and ripped up the turf for souvenir pieces until it was as pockmarked as a battlefield.”9

• Related link: Read all biographies from SABR’s BioProject book, The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin’ Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, and Retrosheet.org websites were used for box score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other pertinent material.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196910160.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B10160NYN1969.htm

Notes

The game began with Seaver taking control from the first pitch. Jose Arcia, the San Diego leadoff batter, flied out to center field. Seaver struck out the next two batters, Van Kelly and Cito Gaston, to close out the top of the first. In the bottom of the first inning, the Mets jumped out to the lead. Bud Harrelson singled, and when Ken Boswell doubledto the left-field corner, the speedy Harrelson scored when Al Ferrara did not field the ball quickly.

The Padres tied the game in the top of the second, Ferrara, when the cleanup batter, led off with a towering home run over the left-field fence. To many in the crowd it was not a vintage Seaver performance so far.3 After giving up the home run, Seaver got Nate Colbert to hit a foul pop to first baseman Art Shamsky. Then Dave Campbell lined out to left field, and Seaver struck out Jerry Morales for the third out and his third strikeout of the game.

Seaver continued his dominance in the third inning as he collected two more strikeouts. After walking Bob Barton to start the inning, he struck out Mike Corkins and Kelly. Neither even swung at the third strike. Seaver now had five strikeouts and he was just warming up.

The Mets went ahead in the bottom of the third inning. Tommie Agee led off with a single and Harrelson hit a triple to right field that barely missed going out of the park. Agee scored and the Mets had the lead. Seaver had all the runs he would need.

Gaston led off the Padres’ fourth and struck out looking. Ferrara walked. Colbert flied out to center field.Campbell singled to left, but Seaver finished the inning by striking out Morales on a fastball. He now had seven whiffs.

Seaver continued to befuddle the Padres in the fifth inning. Barton fanned and Corkins was caught looking. The third out was a grounder to third base.

By the top of the sixth inning, Seaver had yielded just two hits and had nine strikeouts. Since the Mets led by only one run, he would really have to bear down to ensure that they kept the lead.4 After catcher Jerry Grote caught a foul popup, Seaver got Gaston to fly out to right field, then struck out Ferrara to end the inning and get his 10th strike out of the game.

By now the afternoon shadows were starting to creep over home plate.The rest of Shea Stadium was still in the bright sun and the shade around home plate presented problems for the Padres hitters.5 They were flailing at Seaver’s fastball and things would not improve as he showed no signs of slowing down.

Seaver struck out the Padres in order in the top of the seventh inning. Colbert swung at a third strike, and Campbell and Morales were both caught looking. Johnny Podres, the Padres minor-league pitching instructor, was in the dugout. Podres, who had once struck out eight batters in a row for the Los Angeles Dodgers, observed that Seaver “had perfect rhythm, and I don’t think he’ll ever throw that hard again. It’s amazing, as hard as he was throwing he was still hitting the spots. If you didn’t swing, it still was a strike.”6

After Barton struck out looking to lead off the eighth inning, Ramon Webster pinch-hit for pitcher Corkins and struck out. Next, Ivan Murrell pinch-hit for shortstop Arcia, and he was quickly dispatched by Seaver. With just one inning left, Seaver had 16 strikeouts.

When the Padres came to bat in the top of the ninth inning, Seaver and the Mets were still holding on to a one-run lead. As Seaver took the mound, the crowd was excited and there was a buzz throughout the stands. When Kelly led off and struck out swinging for Seaver’s eighth strikeout in a row, the crowd made it sound as if Shea Stadium was filled to capacity.7Seaver then caught Gaston on a called third strike for the second out.

Ferrara, who had homered for the Padres’ only run, now came to the plate. Ferrara said after the game: “The last time up,it was his best shot against my best shot.He challenged me and he won.”8Seaver struck out Ferrara for his 19th strikeout of the game and his 10th in a row.

Seaver finished masterfully. Over the last five innings, he allowed only three batters to make contact with the ball. He needed only 10 pitches to strike out the side in the ninth inning. “I might as well have played without a glove,” said shortstop Harrelson after the game.9

Besides the win, Seaver set a record of 10 strikeouts in a row. He also matched Steve Carlton‘s 19-strikeout game of the previous season. Carlton had lost that game to the Mets when Ron Swoboda hit two home runs.10

Seaver’s record of 19 strikeouts for a nine-inning game would stand for 16 years until Roger Clemens struck out 20 batters during the 1986 season. Seaver’s record of striking out 10 in a row still stood as of 2016 as the major-league record.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the Author also used the Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, and Retrosheet.org websites.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197004220.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1970/B04220NYN1970.htm

Photo credit: Tom Seaver, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Notes

The Mets acquired the future Hall of Famer on May 11 for Charlie Williams and $50,000 and Mays debuted three days later, coincidentally, against the Giants at Shea Stadium. With 646 home runs, 1,859 RBIs, 3,187 hits, and countless defensive gems under his belt, Mays was an unquestioned all-time great. 

Now, his role would be far less significant — even though his legend had yet to diminish.

Mets owner Joan Payson was in attendance on this Mother’s Day 1972 to watch Mays play. Early in her career Payson had acquired shares in the New York Giants team. Now as part-owner of the New York Mets, she was the third woman to have an ownership stake in a major-league ballclub.1

On May 14, Mays played first base and led off against Giants starting pitcher Sam McDowell, who entered the day with a 5-0 record. Pitching for the Mets was Ray Sadecki, without a decision so far in the young season. 

Sadecki got the Giants out in the first inning with the only trouble being a double to right field by Tito Fuentes with one out. Fuentes was left stranded and Mays stepped up to the plate for the Mets in the bottom of the first. He walked. So did the next two batters. All three came around to score on a grand slam by Rusty Staub — a four-run New York frame.

Sadecki kept up the good work in the second inning, allowing just a one-out single to Giants third baseman Jim Ray Hart. McDowell settled down, getting the Mets in order including a strikeout of Mays for the third out of the inning.

In the Giants’ third, all they could muster for an offense was a one-out single to center field by Fuentes. McDowell then dominated the New York lineup, getting three outs on a fly ball, a strikeout, and a groundout.

It was a 1, 2, 3 inning for Sadecki and the Mets in the top of the fourth. McDowell faltered just a bit for the Giants as he allowed a double to left field by Jim Fregosi. After intentionally walking the Mets catcher, Jerry Grote, McDowell put out this fire by striking out his mound counterpart Sadecki to end the inning.

Sadecki came unraveled in the fifth inning: He walked the leadoff batter, Fran Healy. Bernie Williams pinch-hit for McDowell, and tripled to score Healy with the Giants’ first run of the game. Chris Speier, the Giants shortstop, doubled to right field to score Williams and then Fuentes hit a two-run home run to tie the score at 4-4. There were still no outs, but Sadecki struck out Bobby Bonds and got both Dave Kingman and Ken Henderson to fly out. 

Don Carrithers replaced McDowell on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, and was to face the number one, two, and three hitters in the Mets lineup: Willie Mays, Bud Harrelson, and Tommie Agee. Mays got his first hit as a Met, a home run to left field that sent the Mets ahead again, 5-4.2 Agee walked and stole second base. Staub was intentionally walked, but the runners were left stranded when Cleon Jones hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.   

The sixth inning was of little excitement to either team. Hart singled to center field off reliever Jim McAndrew, who had replaced Sadecki. McAndrew got the next three outs to leave Hart stranded at first base. Jim Barr replaced Carrithers and, after giving up a single to Ted  Martinez, got Grote to ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Speier led off the seventh inning by grounding out to second base. Fuentes, who had been a pain to every pitcher the Mets used, got his fourth hit of the day, a double to right field. However, he remained at second base as McAndrew got the next two hitters to fly out. With Barr still pitching for the Giants, McAndrew struck out, Mays walked for the second time in the game, but was thrown out trying to steal second base, and Harrelson flied out to right field. 

San Francisco was down to its final six outs. McAndrew retired the first two batters in the Giants eighth on a flyout and groundout. Garry Maddox doubled to right field but Dave Rader, batting for Fran Healy, stranded Maddox when he grounded out to the shortstop, Harrelson. In the bottom of the inning, Barr struck out Agee, Staub, and Jones. Now it was the top of the ninth and the Giants were down to their final three outs.

McAndrew was still on the mound for the Mets and the Giants sent up Al Gallagher to hit for Barr. He grounded out to McAndrew on a comebacker. Speier grounded out to shortstop for out number two. Now it was the Giants’ last chance. Fuentes, who had tormented the Mets so far, walked to reach base for the fifth time in the game. But Bobby Bonds struck out to end the game.

Mays had pulled out some of that “Say Hey” magic one last time; his home run was the winning margin of victory for the Mets. After the game, Mays said, “That was my first hit as a Met. And my first hit as a Giant was a home run, too.”3

He played in a total of 135 games for the Mets, he ended his career with 660 home runs (placing him fifth all-time). He also ended up with 3,283 hits and 1,903 runs batted in. Mays announced his retirement after Game Two of the 1973 World Series pitting the Mets against the Oakland Athletics.4

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources 

The author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org,

Notes

1 Payson followed Helene Hathaway Britton who had a ownership with the St Louis Cardinals (1911-1917) and Grace Comiskey who had partial ownership of the Chicago White Sox between 1940 and 1956.

2  Joseph Durso, “Mets Win on Mays’s Homer, 5-4,” New York Times, May 15, 1972: 47.

3 Ibid. After going 0-for-12 in his first three games as a Giant, Mays homered off future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn of the Boston Braves at the Polo Grounds on May 28, 1951.

4 Phil Pepe, “Willie Mays Retires After Game 2 of the World Series in 1973,” New York Daily News, October 15, 1973.

Miraculous rallies from seemingly insurmountable deficits litter the historical landscape in every major sport. Whether a club ultimately needs that special comeback on their way to a championship, or merely uses it as a springboard for success later in the season, it’s often remembered in team lore as a landmark victory. 

However, there are also those miracle games that occur during seasons that aren’t quite as successful and whose outcomes don’t mean as much in the big picture of a full season.

Historically, the New York Mets have experienced their share of the latter. So in a campaign that ended with an 83-73 record and a 13½-game deficit in the National League East standings, their game against the Houston Astros on September 2, 1972, should have been lost deep in the pages of baseball history.

Instead, it will be remembered as one of the biggest comebacks the team ever had.

The 1972 season began with major-league baseball’s first strike, over a dispute regarding the players’ pension fund. By the time the sides agreed on a $500,000 increase for the plan, 13 days at the start of the regular season had been lost. By September 2, the National League standings told a fairly dismal story for both teams: The Mets were already 14 games back of the eventual division-winning Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Astros still clung to a glimmer of hope for a strong finish: They were on a six-game winning streak and trailed the soon-to-be pennant-winning Reds by seven games. As a matter of fact, they knew they could have gained another game that night, as Cincinnati lost to the Montreal Expos. 

Houston had pounded the Mets in the Astrodome, 8-0, the night before, handing franchise pitcher Tom Seaver his 10th loss of the season while beating up on a beleaguered Mets bullpen. And amazingly on this Saturday night, the Astros grabbed another 8-0 lead, sparked this time by Lee May’s two-run homer in the first inning, his 28th of the year, a two-run double by Cesar Cedeño in the third inning, and Bob Watson’s two-run single in the bottom of the seventh, as the Astros hammered starter Brent Strom and relievers Ray Sadecki and Bob Rauch, the latter a rookie hurler appearing in his only major-league season. Hence, the Mets entered the eighth inning hopelessly behind for the second consecutive game, as veteran right-hander Don Wilson had shut them down over the first seven innings, facing only 24 hitters and allowing just four hits.

But backup catcher Duffy Dyer, a holdover from the Miracle Mets of ’69 (as was every starting position player in this game except right fielder John Milner), opened the inning with a single to left. Shortstop Bud Harrelson followed with another base hit and utility outfielder Dave Marshall, pinch-hitting for Rauch, walked to load the bases. Center fielder Tommie Agee hit a sacrifice fly to right for the Mets’ first run of the game, which brought up second baseman Ken Boswell, another unheralded contributor to that 1969 team.

Though he had already been responsible for half his club’s hits entering the inning (two singles in three at-bats), Boswell had come into the game batting a paltry .177. “I started out the season not hitting badly, but I always came up empty-handed,” Boswell remarked after the game. “I kept trying to laugh it off, figuring things would straighten out but they didn’t.” They straightened out well enough in this at-bat, however, as Boswell launched his eighth homer of the season, a three-run blast that made the score 8-4. “I think it was a hanging slider,” he guessed. “I was just trying to get it in the air.”1

Though a home run in the midst of a big comeback is often dubbed a “momentum-killer” and the Mets were still down by four runs, a pitching change from Wilson to journeyman reliever Fred Gladding didn’t stop the Mets’ sudden offensive onslaught: Milner immediately collected a single, veteran Met first baseman Ed Kranepool followed with another, and left fielder Cleon Jones doubled in a run, with Kranepool stopping at third. Astros manager Leo Durocher then called for reliever Jim Ray to replace Gladding, but it made no difference as third baseman Wayne Garrett singled in Kranepool and Jones to make the score a suddenly tight 8-7.

Dyer made his second plate appearance of the inning and singled again, but Ray got Harrelson to pop out to the shortstop in foul territory and Marshall to fly out to end the Mets biggest inning of the season. They had scored seven runs on eight hits and were now down by only a single run.

To start the eighth, Mets manager Yogi Berra sent out legendary left-hander Jerry Koosman. Koosman, who had faced three batters in relief the night before, had been sent to the bullpen earlier in the season after three early-season losses because he had “lost his rhythm.” “I literally forgot how to wind up,” he said after his career.2 Koosman got into some trouble, hitting Tommy Helms with a pitch, then giving up a two-out single to Roger Metzger. At that point, Berra called on Tug McGraw, who struck out Cedeño looking.      

Now it was their turn again and the Mets offense didn’t miss a beat: Agee walked to start the ninth and Boswell chimed in with another single, his fourth hit of the game. Durocher marched out reliever Tom Griffin, but the Astros’ luck didn’t change as a sacrifice attempt by Milner was fielded by the usually surehanded third baseman Doug Rader, who made a disastrous throw wide of first. The error scored Agee to tie the game, sending Milner to second and Boswell to third.

Durocher then ordered Kranepool walked intentionally to load the bases, but that strategy backfired as well: Jones singled to right to score Boswell and Milner and give the Mets a two-run lead. Kranepool was thrown out at third as Cleon Jones took second and Garrett singled him in. Dyer followed with a strikeout, but even more action followed – Harrelson singled and even McGraw got into the act as he walked to load the bases. Reliever George Culver got Harrelson on a fielder’s choice, however, and the Mets took the field in the ninth with a three-run lead.

With Willie Mays now in center field in one of his last regular-season appearances, McGraw got the side in order in the ninth, closing out the 11-8 victory by getting Watson to ground out to the star of the game, Kenny Boswell.

Boswell, originally from Austin, Texas, said he usually had to have about 30 tickets available for friends and relatives who wanted to see him play when the came to Houston. “but I’ve never been able to do anything. Guess I was trying to impress them (tonight),” he said later.

For Houston manager Durocher it was just one of those games. “Everything they hit was right between somebody,” he lamented after the nightmarish experience. “We got beat with the best we had, so what can you say?”

“It’s about time we find a few holes,” Berra declared.

For Boswell, who actually ended his career with the Astros five years later, it was the night of his life. “It’s nice to know there’s a little left,” the 26-year-old veteran declared. “It’s the kind of a night you dream about.”

This article was published in “Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

Strauss, Michael. “Mets Score 7 in 8th, 4 in 9th, Win, 11-8, New York Times, September 3, 1972: S1

Associated Press. “Mets Down Houston 11-8,” Austin Statesman, September 3, 1972: D7.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197209020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B09020HOU1972.htm

Notes

1 “Boswell Finds a Little Left,” Newsday, September 3, 1972: 5C. All quotations come from this article unless otherwise indicated.

2 Interview with the author, 2008, in Matthew Silverman and Ken Samelson, eds., The Miracle Has Landed (Hanover, Massachusetts: Maple Street Press, 2009), 141.