1969 New York Mets season


The 1969 New York Mets season was the team's 8th as a Major League Baseball franchise and culminated when they won the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles. They played their home games at Shea Stadium and were managed by Gil Hodges. The team is often referred to as the "Amazin' Mets" or the "Miracle Mets".
The 1969 season was the first season of divisional play in MLB. The Mets were assigned to the newly created National League East. 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. 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. They went on to defeat the National League West champion Atlanta Braves three games to none in the inaugural NLCS, and defeated the American League champion Orioles in five games. First baseman Donn Clendenon was named the World 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 Mets' present park, Citi Field.

Offseason

Spring training

The 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" won the World Series, the first expansion team to do so.
1969 was the first year of divisional baseball, precipitated by the expansion of each league from 10 to 12 teams. The Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots joined the American League. The San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos joined the National League. Before 1969, the first place team in each league advanced directly to the World Series. Under the new structure, each league was divided into East and West divisions, each comprising six teams, with the divisional winners facing off in a best-of-five playoff for the right to represent their league in the World Series. The Mets were slotted into the National League East division, along with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, expansion Montreal Expos, and the St. Louis Cardinals, who had been World Champions in 1964 and 1967 and losers of the 1968 World Series. For the first time since joining the National League in 1962, the Mets could finish no lower than 6th. The New York Times journalist, Joe Durso, predicted the Mets would finish 4th in the East, ahead of the Pirates and the Expos.
On April 8, with 44,541 fans in attendance at Shea Stadium, the Mets and the Expos played the first international baseball game in MLB history. The Mets had lost seven straight Opening Day games since joining the National League in 1962. That dubious record reached eight when the Expos prevailed in an 11–10 slugfest, despite the Mets scoring four runs with two down in the bottom of the ninth, highlighted by a pinch hit three-run home run by Duffy Dyer. Apparently, this was axiomatic Mets baseball, as one columnist described the Mets as "masters of the lingering death."
The Mets took the next two games from the Expos, but then lost six of the following 7 games, bringing their record to 3–7. After a 9–14 start, the Mets won 9 of their next 13 games, including consecutive shutouts in late April against the Cubs and Expos. When Tom Seaver shut out the Atlanta Braves 5–0 on May 21, the Mets were 18–18, their best start in franchise history. But the Mets lost their next five games, starting with a 15–3 drubbing from the Braves, followed by a 3-game sweep by the Houston Astros, who outscored the Mets 18–4, and finishing with a loss at Shea Stadium to the lowly San Diego Padres. At the end of play on May 27, the Mets' record stood at 18–23. Then, in late May, the Mets reeled off a club-record 11 straight wins, which included three walk-off wins and dominant pitching, as the Mets pitching staff yielded a stingy 2-runs per game. Starting with their 42nd game, the Mets went 82–39, including an astonishing 38–11 in their last 49 games.
Despite that performance, the Mets suffered two mid-season three-game series sweeps at the hands of the Astros, who manhandled the Mets all season, taking 10 of the 12 games the teams played. They were also no-hit by Bob Moose of the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, only five days after becoming the first major league team to strike out 19 times in a nine-inning game, a game they won, 4–3, on a pair of two-run home runs by Ron Swoboda, against the Cardinals' Steve Carlton.
Trailing the Chicago Cubs for much of the season, the Mets found themselves in third place and 10 games back on August 14 but 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 them. That 18 game differential, recovering from being 10 games behind the Cubs to finish 8 games ahead of them, is one of the largest turnarounds in MLB history.

Season standings

National League East

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

Regular season

All times are Eastern Time

Attendance

Roster

The final out

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, starting pitcher Jerry Koosman faced Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson. 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

Two future Hall of Fame members were on that Mets' roster: pitcher Tom Seaver, who won 25 games en route to winning the Cy Young Award, and a young Nolan Ryan playing in his third season. Seaver was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992 and Ryan in 1999. Manager Gil Hodges was elected to the Hall in 2022. Bench coach Yogi Berra and Director of Player Development Whitey Herzog are also in the Hall of Fame.
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

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
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C11336592.252640
1B11235384.2381149
2B102362101.279332
3B12440087.218139
SS12339598.248024
LF137483164.3401275
CF149565153.2712676
RF10932777.235952

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
10030391.3001447
10324753.215223
11821549.228119
6221149.232010
7220251.2521237
6617737.209421
6116935.207318
489314.15104
297419.257312
16406.15012
10152.13301
4103.30000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
36273.12572.21208
32241.01792.28180
35233.213123.43154
30152.18103.0160
27135.0673.4790