Ron Hunt and the 1962 to 1967 Mets
by Scott Ferguson • July 4, 2020
Could we put together a division made up of the different Mets eras? Who would be victorious? What team would finish in last? How competitive would the different eras be?
Let’s start with developing the 25-man roster for the Mets teams prior to the Gil Hodges era that began in 1968.
The New York Mets from 1962 to 1967 were notorious for how bad they were, losing over 100 games in five of those first six years. They only missed losing 100 games all six years by losing 95 in in 1966. There are many reasons for this, including lack of talent. However, if you look at the teams of that era, it wasn’t that there was no talent, but more that the Mets’ management couldn’t build a roster in a way that made sense based on the talent they did locate. Such players were scattered on incomplete or in transitional rosters, which seemed to be the modus operandi of Mets management prior to Hodges taking over in 1968.
In building this roster, the concept was to build a team, not just the best 25 players. It was also to try to avoid having players on the roster that were traded for each other in an effort to show what a 1960’s Mets roster could have been. No players who had a major impact in the Hodges-managed Mets were included either and that will be noted when discussing the specific positions.
Catcher:
Jesse Gonder 1964
Chris Cannizzaro 1964
Choo-Choo Coleman 1962
Catcher was a bit of a black hole for the Mets before Jerry Grote took over in 1966, but of those early Mets teams, the 1964 group was the best. Gonder was mostly an offensive catcher and led the league in passed balls in 1963, but he posted a nearly .700 OPS and threw out 43% of would be runners, higher than the league average of 40%. Cannizzaro had one of the best years of his career in 1964, posting a .739 OPS, throwing out 59% of would be baserunners and providing solid defense behind the plate. Coleman is one of those Mets that is famous for being a part of that hapless 1962 team, but he was actually pretty good that year. Coleman posted a .744 OPS in 1962 and was at least league average behind the plate. This group, by rotating, would have not only limited each players faults but provided a pretty solid backstop for the team. Why three catchers? In the 1960’s, with smaller pitching staffs, having extra players that had limited positional versatility, like catchers, was pretty common, especially considering the toll the position took on the body.
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3 comments:
Charlie Smith! Haven't thought of him in ages--and he was one of my favorites at the time. At was Carlton Willey btw who might have actually amounted to more than a trivia contest answer if he hadn't been smacked in the head by a line drive.
Anyway, the team was a joke mainly because their manager treated them & the game like a joke. makes Terry Collins look like Sparky Anderson.
Ron Hunt will always be my favorite Mets second basemen.
Just the history in me.
Nice article - if you take each of those players in his best Mets year in that period together, they might have won the pennant IMO. Some fine performances.
But with rare occasions, it never works that way.
Oddly, I do not remember Bob Johnson at all. He was a good utility player in the majors for several seasons, but zero recollection of him, which is very odd considering he hit .348 as a Met that year.
Your link links up to the wrong Bob Johnson, BTW.
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