Remembering Mets History (1962) "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry's Two Summer Walk Off HRs

Saturday, July 7th, 1962: Casey Stengel's New York Mets (23-57) hosted Johnny Keane's fourth place St. Louis Cardinals (45-38) in the first game of a double header at the Polo Grounds.

 
In the battle of pitchers with the last name of Jackson; the Mets sent Al Jackson (4-9) one of their better pitchers on the staff to the mound. Al would win just eight games for the 1962 Mets that lost 120 games, that was good enough for second on the staff. He would lead the team in wins in each of the next two seasons.

Today he went up against the Cardinals veteran Larry Jackson (7-8). Larry would pitch from 1955-1968 & win 194 games in his career (194-183) with a 3.40 ERA. In 1964 he the NL in wins (24) while with the Chicago Cubs.

Trivia: One of the early Mets folk heroes was Marv Throneberry. Although the Mets were a bad team in their early years, they were loved by their fans who donned them "loveable losers". They were thrilled National League baseball was back in New York. 

Throneberry was a six-year MLB veteran, by the time he was with the '62 Mets. He had played for Casey Stengel with the AL New York club, had been to Kansas City & Baltimore. There are many stories from the original Mets team, many about Marv, some real some fake but all legendary. 

According to Jay Hook, he remembers Marv asking him, since he was studying engineering if he could draft him up a sign reading "Marvelous" that he would hang on his locker. The writers were interested in what this was all about & the legend of Marvelous Marv was born.

The fans took to him right away, he had a fan club that was rumored to have 5,000 members. They even would wear shirts that read VRAM, which was Marv spelled backwards. The Polo Grounds fans would carry banners or "plaquards" as Casey Stengel called them around cheering their man Marv. "Cranberry Strawberry - We Love Throneberry"! He wasn't the greatest player but let's relive two walk off thrills he gave the fans.

The game went scoreless for the first two innings. In the top of the 3rd, the Cards, Larry Jackson singled & Curt Flood reached on an Elio Chacon error. Both runners tagged & advanced when Julian Javier flew out. Ken Boyer then singled to drive in both runners, making it 2-0 St. Louis. In the 6th, the Cards added another run-on singles by Ken Boyer, Charlie James & an RBI hit from Jimmy Schaffer making it 3-0.

St. Louis' Larry Jackson was pitching a shutout through the first five, in the bottom of the 6th, the Mets Sammy Taylor hit his second HR of the year, a solo shot to right field making it a 3-1 game. Taylor would hit just three HRs in 68 games with the Mets that year.

In the home 7th, the Mets rallied, as Hall of Famer, Gil Hodges started it off with a one out single. Elio Chacon then walked & pinch hitter Frank Thomas, singled bringing in Hodges to make it 3-2. 

The Cards brought in Lindy McDaniel to pitch, facing Richie Ashburn. Ashburn the first Met to hit .300, hit a fly ball to left field, Elio Chacon tagged & scored, tying up the game at three.

In the 9th inning, with the score still tied, the Mets had Ray Daviault on the mound. Curt Flood led off with a solo HR giving the Cards a 4-3 lead. Daviault then struck out the next three St. Louis hitters to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Cardinal pitcher was Curt Simmons, Simmons would have a twenty-year MLB career, mostly with the Phillies (1947-1960) & the Cardinals (1960-1966) winning 15 games or more five times. 

Simmons gave up a leadoff infield single to New York's Joe Christopher. Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst then brought in Ernie Broglio to try to close out the game. 

Broglio mostly a starter had won 21 games for the Cards in 1960. He would go 12-9 with a 3.00 ERA this year. This would be his only blown save/win in four relief appearances this season.

Broglio, got Gil Hodges to fly out to left field for the first out. The next batter was scheduled to be Elio Chacon, but Casey Stengel sent in Marv Throneberry to pinch hit. 

The legend of "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry grew even bigger today, as he came through, smashing a walk off HR over the Polo Grounds left field wall, winning the game for the Mets 5-4. The '62 Mets, won just 40 games, amazingly, nine of them were walk off's with Throneberry having two of them. 

They lost the second game of the double header 3-2.

__________________________

Tuesday August 21st, 1962: On this day a small crowd of 4,184 came to the Polo Grounds to see another twin bill. 

Today, Casey Stengel's Mets (30-95) hosted Danny Murtaugh's fourth place Pittsburgh Pirates (71-53). Two seasons earlier the Pirates had won the 1960 World Series.

The Mets had lost the first game 8-6, Bill Virdon drove in two Pirate runs, with Smokey Burgess, Jim Marshall, Diomedes Olivo & Roberto Clemente all having an RBI each. For the Mets Frank Thomas had his 29th HR. Joe Christopher & "Hot Rod" Kanhel both had two RBIs each.

In this second game, the Mets Bob Moorhead (0-0) got the start. Moorhead would get seven starts in 38 appearances for the 1962 Mets going 0-2 with a 4.53 ERA. He would pitch just one more MLB season, making nine appearances (0-1) for the 1963 Mets. 

He went up against Harvey Haddix, a three time All Star with the Cardinals (1953-1955), in a 14-year career he was 136-113 pitching for the Cards (1952-1956) Phillies (1956-1957) Reds (1958) Pirates (1959-1963) winning the World Series with them & was the Game #7 winning pitcher. 

Trivia: Haddix is famous for throwing a 12-inning perfect game in 1959 but the Pirates lost the game in the 13th. Haddi finished his career Orioles (1964-1965).

In the top of the 1st, Bill Virdon led off with a base hit & Dick Groat got aboard when a third strike got away from Catcher, Chris Cannizzaro. It was charged a passed ball.

Dick Stuart, (a future Met) known as "Dr. Strange Glove" because his fielding was so horrific, singled, bringing in the first two runs of the game. Pitcher Harvey Haddix added an RBI single to make it 3-0.

In the home 4th, the Mets Jim Hickman singled & Rick Herrscher doubled. 

Trivia: Rick Herrscher played in 35 games for the 1962 Mets, batting .220 with one HR & six RBIs. At the end of the year, he asked Casey Stengel if the Mets had planned to take him back in 1963, if not he wanted to attend dental school. Casey told him to enroll. He became a successful orthodontist. The SMU graduate was also a professional basketball player in 1961/1962.

"Hot Rod" Kanehl grounded out but Jim Hickman was able to score the Mets first run.  

In the 7th, the Pirates went up 4-1 as Don Leppert homered off Mets reliever, Ray Daviault.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Mets were down 4-1 & it looked like another loss. But there was some magic in the Polo Grounds that day. 

Richie Ashburn led off with a single & Joe Christopher walked. The Pirates took out Haddix & brought in Roy Face. After striking out Charlie Neal looking, Felix Mantilla singled to bring home Ashburn, making it a 4-2 game. 

The Mets fans began chanting "we want Marv- we want Marv". Throneberry was actually standing in as the first base coach. Casey Stengle always the showman & crowd pleaser decided to put in Throneberry. 

After slugger Frank Thomas flew out, Stengel brought in "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry to pinch hit for Jim Hickman. Casey had a hunch & it worked, Throneberry took Roy Face, who was one of the games top relievers, deep over the right center field wall, giving the Mets a dramatic, unbelievable 5-4 comeback win. The legend of "Marvelous Marv" got even bigger.

 In 1962 Throneberry hit 16 HRs, second to Frank Thomas on the Mets team. He would bat .244 with 49 RBIs playing in 116 games.

After just 14 games in 1963 he was sent to the minors & eventually retired. 

Famous Lite Beer Ads: In the early eighties he resurfaced as one of the stars in the classic Miller Lite commercials.