For the latest news visit qchron.com 42 ND ANNIVERSARY EDITION • 2020
QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, November 12, 2020 Page 14
C M ANN page 14 Y K 1962
TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY
The ’62 Mets were baseball’s worst team But after losing 120 games in their first year, they became champs in ’69 by David Russell Associate Editor
he 1962 Mets were so bad that people joked man would walk on the moon before the National League club would win the pennant. It turned out that they were correct, but only by a few months. Miraculously, the team that went 40-120 in its first season of play would be champions of the world by the end of the decade. But there were growing pains for the team that came into existence following the departure of the California-bound Dodgers and Giants after the 1957 season. And though this particular Queens tragedy claimed no lives, and didn’t even take place here, as the team played in Manhattan’s Polo Grounds, many have never forgotten the disaster that was. Joan Payson, a minority owner of the Giants, became the first owner of the Mets. Former Yankees general manager George Weiss, who oversaw the championship teams of the 1950s, was named club president. Casey Stengel, the manager of the Bronx Bombers dynasty who had been unceremoniously dismissed by the team after losing the 1960 World Series, returned to New York to become the Mets skipper. The Giants and Dodgers fans who could not stomach cheering for the Yankees would have some familiar faces to root for, including Gil Hodges, Don Zimmer and Roger Craig. Other National League stars like Richie Ashburn and Frank Thomas were also brought in. Virtually all the players on the team were past their primes — if they had primes — but how bad could they really be? Sherman Jones was to be the first starting pitcher in team history but just before Opening Day, he lit a cigarette and the head of the match flew into his eye, sidelining him. Craig got the start instead, resulting in an 11-4 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis. Upon returning to New York, the city held a ticker tape parade for the new club, something usually reserved for championship teams. An estimated 40,000 people came out to cheer. Jones started the first home game, a 4-3 loss to the Pirates at the Polo Grounds. Jones would go 0-4 as a Met, though he would become a Kansas state senator. “New York was the greatest place on earth to play,” Jones told The New York Times in 1988. “A team knee-deep in money, a legend for a manager, great fans. All I had to do was win a percentage of my games. But the club was not put together to win games. It had to have names. Gil Hodges, bless his heart. Gus Bell. When these names couldn’t do it anymore, it was too big a job for us fringe players.” Saying the team was not put together to win was an understatement. The Mets lost their first nine games. The best stretch of the season came in mid-May when the team won nine of 12, which was followed by a 17-game losing streak. There was also an 11-game losing streak in July. And a 13-game losing streak in August. The player who personified the team was
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Marvin Eugene Throneberry — initials MET — Washington Senators, where he became managwas acquired early in the season. He once hit a er but Mets fans would see him again. triple but was called out for not touching second The team also moved from the dilapidated base. Stengel went out to argue but was told not Polo Grounds to the state-of-the-art Shea Stadito bother because Throneberry hadn’t touched um in Queens for the 1964 season. first base either. So what if the Mets lost 109 games, the most The Mets continued to lose and set a modern in the majors? The team drew more than 1.7 milMajor League record with 120 defeats. lion fans to the park, the second-most in the “The games were so uninteresting we looked league. The Mets even outdrew the Yankees, for avenues to escape the reality,” broadcaster who won their fifth straight American League Ralph Kiner told The New York Times in 1993. pennant in the Bronx. “One of those was the banners. And we also had The losses — 112 of them — kept coming in Casey Stengel.” 1965 and Stengel retired after breaking his hip Mets fans became known as the new breed, in late July. But things were slowly coming and the banners they brought to the Polo together. Rookie Ron Swoboda hit 19 home Grounds, in unusual numruns, including 15 in the bers, were sometimes as first half of the year. entertaining as the on-field “[Stengel] said, ‘You’re product. not going to hit these guys And the manager’s lansitting on the bench,’” Swoguage of Stengelese gave boda told the Chronicle last plenty of copy for scribes. Friday. “If you were a writer T he out f ielder wa s and he went on one of his intimidated facing Dodgers verbal jaunts he could lose star Don Dr ysdale on you because he didn’t seem Opening Day. to have an out cue,” Ron “I thought I was going to Swoboda, a Mets outfielder have a heart attack,” he from 1965 through 1970, said. “You’re trying your told the Chronicle, adding, ass off to be cool about it “When you got back you but you ain’t cool.” weren’t sure what you Continuing to build, the asked him but you didn’t Mets called up Cleon Jones get your answer.” and Bud Harrelson from the Swoboda called the minors. And the team manager “endlessly fasciacquired catcher Jer r y nating,” saying, “There Grote from Houston after was a point to all his stothe season. ries. When I hear him Gil Hodges hit the first home run in Sometimes a team needs talking to players and I Mets history and returned to lead the a little luck too. hear him talking about team to a title. USC star Tom Seaver NEW YORK METS PHOTO guys that he had played VIA TRADING CARD DB.COM / WIKIPEDIA signed a contract with the with and managed, the Braves but it was voided story might get a little lengthy but it always by MLB commissioner William Ecker t had a point to it.” because the school had played two exhibition The 1962 season had a few bright spots. games. And Seaver was ineligible to finish the Thomas hit 34 home runs, leading the city, as college season because he had signed the pro Yankees stars Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle contract. So Eckert ruled other teams could hit 33 and 31, respectively. Relief pitcher Ken match the Braves’ offer and the Mets, Phillies MacKenzie went 5-4, the only pitcher with a and Indians did. Eckert put the three teams’ winning record. Ed Kranepool, 17, made his names into a hat and pulled out the slip of debut late in the year. Signed from James Mon- paper with “Mets” on it. roe High School in the Bronx, he hit .301 in the “The Franchise,” as he would come to be minors and made it to the majors in his first sea- known, would be in Flushing. And the Mets son of pro ball. even climbed out of the cellar in 1966, finishing Ashburn hit .306 and was the first Mets All- in ninth place for the first time. Star. He was also named team MVP. But though Seaver won 16 games and the NL “To be voted the most valuable player on the Rookie of the Year award in 1967, the team lost worst team in the history of Major League Base- 101 games and fell to last place. ball is a dubious honor, to be sure,” Ashburn “There’s a lot of ways to lose 100 games and later said. “But I was awarded a 24-foot boat we probably figured out all of ’em in ’67,” Swoequipped with a gallery and sleeping facilities boda said. for six. After the season ended, I docked the It had been three losing seasons for the young boat in Ocean City, NJ, and it sank.” outfielder. “You could accept it for a while The next year saw more of the same. The because it was Major League Baseball and Mets lost 111 games with the return of Brooklyn you’re playing against all these names that you Dodgers legend Duke Snider being one of the had followed as a kid,” Swoboda said. “Once bright spots. Hodges soon was traded to the that wore off you felt like, ‘Hey, it’s time for this
organization to make a move.’” Then an original Met returned to turn the franchise into winners. The team sent the Washington Senators $100,000 and right-hander Bill Denehy for Hodges, who would return as skipper. “Hodges had a seriousness about him and a competency,” Swoboda said. “He didn’t miss anything. You were expected to act like a big leaguer and work hard at improving yourself and if you played well you played.” The outfielder admitted that he didn’t always get along with Hodges. “I had a fractious relationship with Gil Hodges and that’s all on me,” he said, adding, “It wasn’t about lack of respect. It was about authority. I bristled under heavy authority.” The 1968 Mets finished ninth but set a teamrecord with 73 wins and even had a winning record on the road. Southpaw Jerry Koosman, who had pitched briefly in 1967, came on the scene and proved to be an excellent second starter behind Seaver. In the home opener, Koosman pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning against the Giants and tossed a shutout. That is also the first baseball memory for Nick Giampietro, known to Mets fans as “Pin Man.” “The atmosphere at Shea, there was nothing like it,” the Howard Beach superfan said. “When I was young, everything just looked so nice. It was my second home, really.” With Seaver and Koosman in the rotation and a strong bullpen, the pieces were coming together. “You started feeling like you could win games,” Swoboda said. The Mets lost 37 games by just one run, a sign that they were close to breaking through. In 1969, man walked on the moon in July and the Mets won the pennant in October. The Miracle Mets, using strong pitching, solid defense and timely hitting, won 100 games. Kranepool, the original Met, delivered a gamewinning hit off Cubs star Ferguson Jenkins on July 8 to win one of the most critical games of the season. The following day, Seaver pitched a one-hit shutout against the Cubs, with Jimmy Qualls breaking up the perfect game with one out in the ninth inning. Giampietro was one of the 50,709 fans at Shea that day. “It was crazy,” he said. “It was phenomenal. But I felt the air come out when that ball fell in.” New York overtook the Cubs for the NL East title and then swept the Braves in the NL championship series to go to the World Series. The Mets were up against the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles, who won 109 games and were heavy favorites. After losing the first game, the Mets took four straight to defeat the Orioles. The lovable losers were No. 1. Giampietro came home from school in time to see the ending, with future Met manager Davey Johnson making the last out, which settled safely in Jones’ glove in left field. The reaction of Giampietro’s mother: “Now Q go do your homework.”
