Tom Brennan - AMAZIN' 1969 METS STATS

In a recent article, done in consideration of the Mets' 60 game (hopefully) schedule for 2020, I looked at best 60 game stretches in Mets history.

I noted that in 1969, the 100-62 Mets finished up 45-12, including the playoffs, an astonishing win rate for a baseball team.

After all, a gaudy 100 wins in a season is only winning 5 of every 8, while a lousy 60 win season is only losing 5 of out of every 8.

In that 57 game stretch, the Mets came close to winning 7 out of every 8.

How did they do it?  Well...

There were some other remarkable and surprising stats that season:

The team scored just 632 runs, or 3.9 runs per game.  Good for just 16th out of 24 teams, where the average team averaged 690 runs.  They hit just .253, but .263 with runners in scoring position and .282 with the bags full, and hit 25 points higher with men on base, all indicators of a charmed season.

And slugging %?  Just 18th out of 24, arriving at a piddling .352 (somewhere, Pete Alonso is reading this and chuckling).  Only 4 Mets had slugging %'s of .400 or better, and 2 of them (Art Shamsky and Donn Clendenon) had just 500 Mets at bats between them.  Bud Harrelson hit .306 - no, wait, that was his slugging %.  But he had bragging rights over 21 year old rookie 3B Wayne Garrett, who had 1 HR in 400 ABs and a paltry .290 slugging %.  

Besides Tommie Agee and his 26 HRs, the Champs hit only 83 long balls that year.  Agee hit 26 homers, while the next highest guy was Art Shamsky with 14.  

And for a team with a player season record of 44 doubles, and a major league record by the great Earl Webb in 1931 (67), Cleon Jones led the 1969 boys with a mere 25. 

(Webb, as I am sure you were wondering, only had 30 doubles in his second best season, Oddly, he started his career at age 29, except for 3 earlier at bats, and had his 67 doubles at age 33. He hit .348 at age 38 and finished at .306, so don't give up on guys).

As great a season as Cleon Jones had in hitting .340, he drove in just 75 runs.  Ron Swoboda had just 52, including just 3 homers and 22 RBIs through 61 games before his 30 RBIs over the last two months when he truly became ROCKY!

And remember - the below-median Mets' hitters DID NOT HAVE TO FACE THOSE GREAT METS' PITCHERS.  

One team I know for sure was sad to have to face that Mets staff was Baltimore, who scored very few runs against the Mets in the World Series and who stated that the Mets' young staff was the hardest throwing that they had ever faced.

And they may have stolen our hearts, but only stole 66 bases that year, 15th out of 24 MLB teams.  Heck, Jose Reyes AVERAGED more than that many steals over his first 3 full seasons.

The 1969 Mets pitchers collectively had a 2.99 ERA.  And they only used 15 pitchers that season, and the last 5 scarcely at all...the regular 10 arms threw 1,447 (98.6%) of the 1,468 innings that season!  

The other 5 guys got just 21 innings in!  And those 5 gave up 21 earned runs, while not registering a single decision!  Give those guys a mop!  

One of the barely used guys, Danny Frisella, went a combined 16-8, 2.42 in 1970 and 1971, so the 1969 team had a gem in reserve.

So the top 10 pitchers had a sterling combined ERA of 2.89.  And 51 complete games and combined for a whopping 28 shutouts.  

Understandable that the fine bullpen for a 100 win team registered just 35 saves (13 Ron Taylor, 12 Tug McGraw).  Those two also went 18-7, and were a huge factor in the Mets winning 100, ya gotta believe me.

In fact, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw combined to go 60-23, while the rest of the squad went just 40-39.  Among the latter, Nolan Ryan and Cal Koonce were both 6-3.

They also had an insanely low team ERA of 2.32 after July.  After August, in 32 starts, the starters has a crazy 2.07 ERA.

Lastly, in the 100 wins, they had an incomprehensible 1.28 ERA with 46 complete games.

A few guys scarcely played.  For one, CF Amos Otis, blocked by Tommie Agee, hit .151 in just 93 ABs for the Champs, and of course, got traded.  Over his next 14 seasons with KC, he hit .280, stole 340 bases (including 85 of 95 in his first two ex-Mets seasons), drove in nearly 1,000 runs, and scored 1,074 runs.  Whoops!  

Otis was packaged with young Bob Johnson, who in 214 innings that next year, fanned 206 and had a 3.07 ERA.  The Mets in turn got the (not so) great Joe Foy, who in 399 PAs, hit .237 with 6 HRs and 37 RBIs.  

FRIGGIN' WHOOPS is more like it.

Back to 1969 - I often get accused of ignoring the D:

The Mets made up for bat shortcomings with having the second best errors in the NL (122).  They tied the Orioles for lowest with just 54 unearned runs allowed that season.  

I hope you enjoyed this nostalgic stroll down Stats Lane with me.