Record 100–62 (.617) Manager Gil Hodges General manager Johnny Murphy Local television WWOR-TV | Divisional place 1st Start date 1969 Owner Joan Whitney Payson | |
Local radio WJRZ–AM 970/WABC-FM 95.5
(Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner) Similar 1986 New York Mets season, 1973 New York Mets season, 1962 New York Mets season, 2000 New York Mets season, 1980 New York Mets season | ||
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".
Contents
- Offseason
- Spring training
- Regular season
- Postseason
- The Final Out
- Hall of Fame members who played in the 1969 World Series
- Opening Day starters
- Notable transactions
- Starters by position
- Other batters
- Starting pitchers
- Other pitchers
- Relief pitchers
- Game 1
- Game 2
- Game 3
- Game 4
- Game 5
- In popular culture
- 40th Major League Baseball All Star Game
- Farm system
- References
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.
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
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, 10 games back, on August 14. 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 18 game differential is one of the largest turnarounds in MLB history.
Regular season
All times are EASTERN time
Postseason
All times are EASTERN time
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.
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
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Game 1
Saturday, October 4, 1969, at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta
Game 2
Sunday, October 5, 1969, at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia
Game 3
Monday, October 6, 1969, at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York
Game 1
Saturday, October 11, 1969, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland
Game 2
Sunday, October 12, 1969, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland
Game 3
Tuesday, October 14, 1969, at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York
Game 4
Wednesday, October 15, 1969, at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York
Game 5
Thursday, October 16, 1969, at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York
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.
40th Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Outfielders
Pitchers
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Memphis