An expansion franchise that joined the majors in 1962, the Mets had been nowhere close to title contention in their first seven seasons. They hadn't even been close to being close.
Their highest finish was ninth place in a 10-team National League. Their club record for wins was 73. Before the 1969 season, they were listed as 100-to-1 longshots to win the World Series.
But a team once known as "Lovable Losers" came to be called the "Miracle Mets" and the "Amazing Mets" as they won their first World Series.
Mets Were Outscored During Regular Season
An offensive juggernaut the Mets were not. During the regular season, the team hit .242 -- the second-lowest batting average for a World Series champion (the 1906 Chicago White Sox rank first at .230).
The Mets did have some punch. Left fielder Cleon Jones batted .340, and center fielder Tommie Agee hit 26 home runs. But those two were the only Mets who played in more than 125 games. Lacking other top-tier hitters, second-year manager Gil Hodges platooned players at other spots.
The result was that the Mets were actually outscored by their opponents during the regular season, by 91 runs. Yet somehow, they won 100 games.
Seaver, Koosman Sparkled
The Mets overcame their run-of-the-mill hitting with some solid defense and an awful lot of pitching. Much of the latter came from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.
Seaver, in just the third season of what would become a Hall of Fame career, went 25-7 with a 2.21 earned run average. Koosman was 17-9 with a 2.28 ERA.
The Mets had other talented pitchers. Gary Gentry won 13 games, a 22-year-old fireballer Nolan Ryan was showing glimpses of his future greatness, and Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw were effective out of the bullpen.
But when Seaver and Koosman were on the mound, the need for relief dwindled drastically. The two combined for 34 complete games, including 11 shutouts.
Sizzling Finish Led to NL Title
1969 marked the first season of league playoffs. Both American League and National League were split into two divisions, with the winners set to face off for the league pennants in best-of-five series' after the regular season.
The Mets started the season in typically forgettable fashion, but gradually built momentum. They still trailed the first-place Chicago Cubs by 9 1/2 games in the middle of August, but closed the season by going 39-11. That enabled them to finish eight games ahead of Chicago and win the NL East division
New York then faced the NL West champion Atlanta Braves in the league playoffs. The Braves featured the great slugger Henry Aaron as well as a 23-game winner in Phil Niekro, but were swept by the Mets in three games.
Orioles Won 109 Games
The 100-win regular season and the sweep Atlanta proved the Mets were no fluke. But in the World Series, they seemed in over their heads.
The AL Champion Baltimore Orioles won 109 games, and had they defeated the Mets, they might be mentioned as one of the greatest teams of all time. They were, after all, enjoying a run during which they'd reach the World Series four times in a six-year span.
Powered by future Hall-of-Famers Frank and Brooks Robinson, slugging first baseman Boog Powell and center fielder Paul Blair, Baltimore seemed to outclass New York offensively. And the Orioles pitching staff -- which featured Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar -- turned in an ERA that was actually lower than that of the Mets.
Many Contributed to Series Triumph
The Orioles' apparent superiority showed in Game 1 at Baltimore, when Cuellar outpitched Seaver in a 4-1 victory on Oct. 11. But the Mets took Game 2 by a 2-1 score, as Koosman fired 8 2/3 innings and won with relief help from Taylor.
The series shifted to New York for Game 3, and Baltimore hitters remained baffled. Gentry pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings and hit a two-run double as the Mets won 5-0. The game also included an electrifying effort by Agee, who hit an early homer then made two spectacular catches to save at least four runs.
Ryan made his World Series debut in that contest, pitching the final 2 1/3 innings. He'd play 24 more seasons, setting all-time records for strikeouts (5,714) and no-hitters (seven). But he never appeared in another World Series contest.
In the fourth game, Seaver made his second World Series appearance. He made amends for his Game 1 loss by a pitching all 10 innings of a 2-1 win. Right fielder Ron Swoboda made a dazzling catch in the ninth to help preserve a tie, and the Mets scored the winning run in the 10th on a throwing error by Baltimore pitcher Pete Richert.
Koosman then hurled a complete game, and Donn Clendenon and light-hitting Al Weis homered as New York wrapped up the championship at home with a 5-3 victory.
Weis, a .215 hitter during the regular season, batted .455 in the series. But Clendenon, who had three homers and four RBIs in 14 at-bats, was named series MVP. His two-run blast in Game 5 came after one of the series' more humorous moments. Hodges showed the umpire shoe polish on the ball to prove that Jones, the previous batter, had been hit by a pitch.
The Legacy of the 'Miracle Mets'
Ironically, the Mets' triumph was only the second major championship upset scored by a New York over Baltimore that year. In January, the New York Jets football team defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.
And the magic of the "Miracle Mets" wore off. They made it to the World Series again in 1973, but did not win another until 1986 when a team managed by Davey Johnson -- the starting second baseman for the 1969 Orioles -- defeated the Boston Red Sox for the championship.
But the Mets' victory remains one of baseball's most memorable moments. ESPN.com placed it eighth in a ranking of the greatest upsets in sports history, and SI.com put it at No. 16 on a similar list.
Sources:
BaseballReference.com
ESPN.com
SI.com
UltimateMets.com
