After seven years of perennial losing, there was something
palpable in the air. This combination of
young guns pitching and timely if unspectacular hitting had them hanging around
contention but they didn’t make the final push to the top until a mid-season
acquisition who delivered the power punch the lineup was so badly missing. No, I’m not talking about the current first
place Mets and Yoenis Cespedes, but the 1969 “Miracle Mets” who had toiled at
or near the basement since their inception in 1962.
Going into the season everyone knew the team had two studs
in Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, but much of the rest of the team was
overlooked. Everyone respected what guys
like Jerry Grote, Ken Boswell and Bud Harrelson could do with their gloves but
they were fairly anemic with bats in their hands. Slugger Tommie Agee was coming off a 17
HR/.217 campaign in 1968 and although Cleon Jones acquitted himself well with a
.297 average that year, no one could have anticipated the 48 point spike in
batting average that was to come. Starter
Dick Selma and his sub 3.00 ERA was gone when the 1969 season started, replaced
by rookie Gary Gentry. The Glider, Ed
Charles, gave way to primary starter Wayne Garrett who turned in a .218 rookie
campaign. Art Shamsky was solid in a
platoon role but there wasn’t a whole lot else going on offensively with this
bunch.
Then came the mid-season trade in which Donn Clendenon
arrived from the newly minted Montreal Expos for solid but unspectacular starting
pitcher Steve Renko and light hitting infielder Kevin Collins. Clendenon assumed regular first base duty and
in roughly 1/3 of a season’s worth of at bats delivered 12 HRs and 37 RBIs…not
unlike Yoenis Cespedes’ 14 HRs and 36 RBIs.
All of the sudden the Mets had a bonafide slugger in the lineup and it
coalesced the rest of the team into a productive unit. Still, like the current Mets, the 1969 squad
was more about pitching than hitting, but the parallel is rather striking.
For the Mets it was the Chicago Cubs who were the nemesis
and the 1st place team-to-beat in the inaugural year of divisional
play. In 1969 the Mets stood at 55-44 on
July 31st, 6.5 games back.
They then went on a tear that found them in first place with a record of
84-57 on September 10 behind the strong pitching that day of one Nolan Ryan who
topped the Montreal Expos 6-1.
On July 31st this year the Mets were 53-50, in
second place, 2 games behind the Washington Nationals who they beat that night
2-1 in extra innings. Last night it was
Bartolo Colon supplying strong pitching and Juan Uribe plus others delivering a
7-2 victory for the 1st place Mets 79-61 with a 7.5 game lead over
the fading Washington Nationals.
In 1969 it was Seaver, Koosman, Gentry, McAndrew and veteran
Don Cardwell (with spot starting from hot young pitcher Nolan Ryan). In 2015 it’s Jacob de Grom, Matt Harvey, Noah
Syndergaard, Jon Niese and veteran Bartolo Colon (with spot starting from hot young
pitcher Steven Matz).
In 1969 you had a platoon-happy manager who juggled Ed
Charles with Wayne Garrett, Donn Clendenon with Ed Kranepool, and Ron Swoboda
with Art Shamsky. In 2015 you have
Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer, Juan
Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis all getting in the outfield mix. You have Kelly Johnson, Daniel Murphy, Wilmer
Flores and Ruben Tejada getting time on the infield.
The 1969 squad improbably beat the heavily favored Atlanta
Braves in three straight, manhandling the likes of Hank Aaron, Rico Carty,
Orlando Cepeda, and Felipe Alou. Then
they promptly lost the first game of the World Series with Tom Seaver on the
mound before storming back for four straight victories for their first ever
crown. Here’s hoping the 2015 squad can
follow suit.
2 comments:
Reese, I have put aside all fears of collapse, and plan to enjoy this baby as far as it goes. Many similarities to 1969, except for innings limits!
Agee did not have 17 homers in 1968, he had just 5 - he drove in an unbelievably low 17 runs and scored just 30 in 132 games, courtesy of the Bob Gibson, "welcome to the NL" beaning of Agee in spring training 1968. I always felt that head targeting by Gibson was deliberate, and it reduced my regard for him. Agee as you may recall had an excruciating stretch in early 1968 after the beaning, where he could not help but step in the bucket, pitchers figured it out, and I seem to recall he had a stretch of 0-34 with 28 Ks.
The recovered, real Agee showed up in 1969.
Ouch. I misread the column as HRs that was RBIs. Sorry about that.
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