The Southpaw

Tom Seaver Doubleheader: Then and Now

As the old saw goes, I was born a Mets fan. The Mets were less than a month old when I entered this world, and on some level when the team started play in 1962 I was already rooting for Chris Cannizzaro, Choo Choo Coleman, Jay Hook, Gil Hodges, and Al Jackson. Then there was poor Roger Craig, who lost 24 in 1962 and, thanks to an 18-game losing streak, 22 in 1963.

I could go on about the characters on those early Mets teams, but the point here is to talk about one particular triumph that came four years later, when the Flushing front office was wise (and lucky) enough to draft a young fastballer named Tom Seaver. The Braves had actually taken him first, but lost him due to a technicality.

I remember also when the Mets traded Seaver to the Reds in 1977, in what was called "Grant's Massacre," in honor of Mets GM M. Donald Grant, who made the boneheaded move. Seaver enjoyed 4 1/2 fine seasons in Cincinnati (and one lousy one); one year he was an All-Star; in two other seasons he finished fourth and second in the Cy Young voting.

This first video, after the jump, has some nice footage of Tom Terrific during his time at Shea.

So We Met Again: Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones

by Jeff Merron

This feature appears in the current (Spring 2007) issue of 108 Magazine. You can find the issue on many Barnes & Noble and Borders newsstands. You can also subscribe to 108 and receive a discount off the newsstand price.

On October 14, 1969, Shea Stadium played host to the first World Series home game in the brief but memorable history of the New York Mets. The Amazing Mets, whose dramatic turnaround from losers to winners had led some to call them a team of destiny, seemed vastly overmatched against the mighty Baltimore Orioles, winners of 109 regular-season games. The Orioles had no major weaknesses; they could hit, and boasted the best pitching and defense in the majors. But the Mets managed one victory in Baltimore before the Series came to Shea for the middle three games. If they could win Game 3, they could gain credibility, confidence, and a bit of a cushion.

In the bottom of the first, Tommie Agee stepped to the plate to lead off against Orioles ace Jim Palmer. After going 0-for-8 in the first two games, the Mets center fielder hammered Palmer’s fourth pitch over the center-field wall to give New York a 1-0 lead. The Mets added two more runs in the second inning. Then, with two on and two out in the fourth, Orioles catcher Elrod Hendricks drove Gary Gentry’s outside fastball to left-center. Agee, shading the left-handed Hendricks toward right, took off. And ran. And ran.

Clendenon's Magical Moment

October 16, 1969. Fifth game of the World Series between the mighty Orioles and the Miracle Mets. Shea Stadium is, naturally, packed, with 57,397 fans wedged in, like a mighty bunch of exuberant sardines. The Mets are up 3-1 in the Series, but it's not over. The O's tagged Mets starter Jerry Koosman for three runs in the top of the third, and now, in the bottom of the sixth, the Mets still trail 3-0. Jones gets hit by a pitch -- the famous shoe polish play. Next up: Donn Clendenon, who's already slammed two homers in this World Series. Clendenon patiently works Orioles pitcher Dave McNally to a 2-2 count, then slams the next pitch for a homer off the auxiliary scoreboard in left field.

That was the charge the Mets needed. They went on to a 5-3 win to take the World Series. Koosman went nine innings and won his second game of the Series. And Clendenon, who was named World Series MVP, ended up setting a bunch of records for a five-game series: homers (3), total bases (15), and most extra bases on long hits (10). He also tied records for most extra-base hits, with 4, and most putouts in an inning (he played first base) with 3. Clendenon had started the year with the lowly expansion Montreal Expos, and ended it at the top. He was 34 years old, and didn't have much longer to go in his career, playing only a few hundred more games over the next few years.

But what a show he put on in Oct. 1969.

The Mets Win the Pennant! (a short history)

In 45 seasons (can the Mets really be that old?), New York's best team, the team that belongs to Casey Stengel, Marvelous Marv, Joan Payton, Tom Terrific, Jerry Koosman, Tommie and Cleon, Ed Kranepool, George "The Stork" Theodore, Duffy Dyer, Jerry Grote, John Milner, Jon Matlack, Tug McGraw, Bud Harrelson, Ken Boswell, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Howard Johnson, Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine, and Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, and Ralph Kiner, and so many others, have won their division only five times. (The 2000 Mets made it all the way to the Subway Series, but made the playoffs by taking the wild card.)

1969 -- from way behind the Cubs in August. 1973 -- from last place in August to first in October. 1986 -- by a landslide. 1988 -- the end of the dynasty that never was.  And now -- Sept. 18, 2006.