A Fans Story from 1969: Mets Clinch the NL East Title At Shea
centerfield maz fan Louie Diaz has a great Mets story from the Summer of 1969. A young Louie was there the night the Mets clinched the NL East title in 1969 and can prove it. The following week Sports Illustrated ran its coverage of the Mets 1st place victory and among the pictures they published, there is Louie storming the field front & center. As years went by his brothers ex-wife ended up with the magazine & never gave it up to him. Louie went to online & recently bought a great copy of the October 1969 Sports Illustrated with Frank Robinson on the cover. He told the story to centerfield maz & it just had to be posted! September 25th 1969: Shea Stadium was packed with excitement as 55,000 fans were ready to witness the first stage of the miracle, the clinching of the NL East title. 1969 was the first year of divisional play, so the Eastern Title & NL Playoff Series were a whole new concept. Gil Hodges and his 1st place Mets were ahead of the Cubs by six games