1963 New York Mets season

The 1963 New York Mets season was the second regular season for the Mets. They went 51–111 and finished tenth in the National League, 48 games behind the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They were managed by Casey Stengel. They played their home games at the Polo Grounds, the second and final season there for the Mets before moving to Shea Stadium the following season.

Offseason

October 11, 1962: Ron Hunt was purchased by the Mets from the Milwaukee Braves.
October 14, 1962: Norm Sherry and Dick Smith were purchased by the Mets from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
November 26, 1962: Paul Blair was drafted from the Mets by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft.

Regular season

On June 14, Duke Snider of the Mets hit his 400th home run against the Cincinnati Reds. The opposing pitcher was Bob Purkey. The homer came in the 6,783rd at bat of his career. Snider became the ninth player to reach 400 homers. Along with Eddie Mathews, Snider became part of the first duo to reach the 400-plateau in the same season. Afterwards, Mets outfielder Jimmy Piersall told Snider that he could get more publicity for his 100th home run. Nine days later, on June 23, Piersall ran the bases backward after hitting the 100th home run of his career off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dallas Green. He was released by the Mets one month later, with that home run being the only one he hit in a Mets uniform.

Notable transactions

May 8, 1963: Larry Foss was traded by the Mets to the Milwaukee Braves for Chico Fernández.
May 23, 1963: Gil Hodges was traded by the Mets to the Washington Senators for Jimmy Piersall.
July 1, 1963: Charlie Neal and Sammy Taylor were traded by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds for Jesse Gonder.
July 29, 1963: Jacke Davis and cash were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Duke Carmel.
July 27, 1963: Jimmy Piersall was released by the Mets.
September 5, 1963: Ron Swoboda was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Choo-Choo Coleman	106	247	44	.178	3	9
1B	Tim Harkness	123	375	79	.211	10	41
2B		143	533	135	.272	10	42
SS	Al Moran	119	331	64	.193	1	23
3B	Charlie Neal	72	253	57	.225	3	18
LF		126	420	109	.260	15	60
CF	Jim Hickman	146	494	113	.229	17	51
RF		129	354	86	.243	14	45

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Ed Kranepool	86	273	57	.209	2	14
Rod Kanehl	109	191	46	.241	1	9
Joe Hicks	56	159	36	.226	5	22
Joe Christopher	64	149	33	.221	1	8
	47	149	35	.235	3	18
Norm Sherry	63	147	20	.136	2	11
	58	145	29	.200	1	9
Jesse Gonder	42	126	38	.302	3	15
	40	124	24	.194	1	10
Cliff Cook	50	106	15	.142	2	8
Larry Burright	41	100	22	.220	0	3
Pumpsie Green	17	54	15	.278	1	5
Ted Schreiber	39	50	8	.160	0	2
Dick Smith	20	42	10	.238	0	3
Sammy Taylor	22	35	9	.257	0	6
Chris Cannizzaro	16	33	8	.242	0	4
Gil Hodges	11	22	5	.227	0	3
Cleon Jones	6	15	2	.133	0	1
Marv Throneberry	14	14	2	.143	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Roger Craig	46	236.0	5	22	3.78	108
Al Jackson	37	227.0	13	17	3.96	142
	30	183.0	9	14	3.10	101

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	51	155.2	7	15	4.34	81
Tracy Stallard	39	154.2	6	17	4.71	110
Jay Hook	41	152.2	4	14	5.48	89
Grover Powell	20	49.2	1	1	2.72	39
	3	9.1	0	2	8.68	6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	58	3	8	4	3.42	48
Ken MacKenzie	34	3	1	3	4.97	41
Don Rowe	26	0	0	0	4.28	27
	9	0	0	0	5.21	13
Steve Dillon	1	0	0	0	10.80	1

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Duke Snider, outfield, reserve