50th Anniversary of the 1969 Mets (April 20th 1969): Mets Score Season High 11 Runs For the First of Four Times

-
50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets"

Sunday April 20th 1969: A crowd of 19065 came out to Busch Stadium to see their reigning NL Champion Cards take on who were to be the World Champions of 1969, Gil Hodges Mets. Both teams entered with 5-7 records. 

 The Mets had won Saturday's game as two Hall of Famers battled, Tom Seaver out dueling Bob Gibson 2-1. Todays starters were the young Jim McAndrew for the Mets taking on veteran Nelson Briles.

Trivia: Briles was a 19 game winner the previous year but was 0-1 in the World Series loss to the Detroit Tigers. He had a 1.64 ERA going 1-0 in the 1967 World Series win over the Boston Red Sox. Briles an accomplished singer, would sing the National Anthem at Shea Stadium, in the 1973 World Series.

Starting Lineups



In the bottom of the 1st it looked as though it was to be the Cardinal's day, as they beat up Mets starter Jim McAndrew for three runs, four hits a walk & a Lou Brock stolen base. A Mets double play ended the inning that could have been a lot worse. Joe Torre led that inning with a two run HR. 

Trivia: Joe Torre would drive in 100 runs in 1969, the first of three straight years. He would drive in 100 or more runs five times in his career & win the 1971 MVP Award. He spent five years with the Cards beginning in 1969 (1969-1974). 

 Mets owner Joan Payson had tried to bring Torre to the Mets a few times, but no deals ever panned out. Torre finally arrived with the Mets in 1975 finishing out his playing career there & starting out his managerial career there as well.

In the top of the 2nd, Cleon Jones led off with a double. With two outs, Jerry Grote started out his big hitting day as he doubled in Jones with the Mets first run.

McAndrew was done by the 4th inning, with 3 innings pitched he gave up three runs five hits, a walk & a HR, ballooning his ERA to a whopping 11.32. 

 Nolan Ryan would come in for the Mets and be outstanding. In 4.1 innings getting into the 8th inning, Ryan allowed no runs on one hit with four walks & four Ks. Ryan was still having control issues in his early years. Today Ryan earned his first win of the season, as he would go 6-3 on the year as a starter (10 games) & reliever (15 games) while striking out 92 batters in 89 innings.

The Mets exploded in the top of the 5th, knocking out Nellie Briles (six runs on six hits) being relieved by Mike Torrez. Jerry Grote started out with a walk, then young infielder Kevin Collins hit his first HR of the year tying the game. 

Trivia: Collins spend parts of four seasons with the Mets, getting traded at the traded deadline to the Expos in the deal that brought Donn Clendenon to New York. In 89 games he batted .209 with 2 HRs 15 RBIs. 

The Mets then loaded the bases as Bud Harrelson & Ken Boswell singled with Cleon Jones drawing a walk. Torrez came into pitch & walked Ed Kranepool then surrendered a two run double to Ron Swoboda. It was now 6-3 Mets.

In the 7th, the Mets collected two more runs off Torrez as with two outs, Cleon Jones singled. Ed Kranepool then doubled as did Ron Swoboda. It was 8-3 Mets.

In the top of the 9th with new Cards' pitcher Gary Waslewski on the mound, Jerry Grote completed his big day at the bat. After Cleon & Kranepool singled, Swoboda drew a walk. Grote then doubled clearing the bases making it 11-3 Mets. Cal Koonce closed out the game for the Mets, retiring the Cards.

Mets notes: The 11 runs would be a season high for the 1969 World Champs, but they match the total & would score 11 runs three more times on the season.

On the day Jerry Grote drove in a season high four runs. He & Cleon Jones both collected three hits. At this point Jones was batting .426 while Ed Kranepool, Ken Boswell & Ron Swoboda were all over .310. Ron Swoboda had three RBIs on the day as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ON NOVEMBER 13th................. The Odd Couple Lives

-
Image
"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" This was the opening dialogue of centerfieldmaz's favorite TV show: "the Odd Couple". This dialogue was used for the first two seasons. It is also featured on the third season of the DVD releases as well. The narration was done by actor Bill Woodson. The famous Odd Couple theme was written by non other than Neil Hefti, originally for the 1968 Odd Couple movie. Niel Hefti also did the classic Batman 1960's TV series theme song & music for that, another centerfieldmaz favorite TV sh...
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lace...
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford...
Read more

The History of Yogi Berra & the Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink

-
Image
Yogi Berra & Yoo-Hoo's  history go back to the 1950's. Yogi had met the Oliveri Family, the owners of the Yoo-Hoo company at a Country Club function near his home in New Jersey. Natale Olivieri started bottling the chocolate drink in 1928 in Garfield, w Jersey. By the late 1950's he Yoo-Hoo product wasn't selling all that well. Mr. Olivieri asked for Yogi's opinion at the new Jersey function. Berra said he actually liked the soft drink & started promoting it along with his teammates. Soon Yogi put Yoo-Hoo on the map, appearing in commercials, advertisements and supermarkets promotions.  Berra would show up at the factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey & became a hero to the factory workers. He soon became a Vice President of the company owning a large amount of Yoo-Hoo stock. In his auto biography Yogi wrote "One time I was in the office and the phone rang, I always answer a ringing phone, the woman on the other end asked if Yoo-Hoo was hyphenate...
Read more

Remembering Batgirl: Yvonne Craig (1937-2015)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz interrupts baseball with a sad note on one of his favorite actresses. Being a huge Batman (TV series) fan Yvonne Craig has been someone I adored since I was a child.  As a boy I always hoped the Batgirl cycle would wiz by on the opening credits, meaning it would be a Batgirl episode. I didn't realize why until I got older & liked girls. For myself & millions of young boys of the 60's / 70's Batgirl was one of our first crushes. But her character also she added so much more than that to the final season of Batman. She was special in so many ways ... rest in peace Batgirl! Yvonne Joyce Craig was born May 16th 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young girl she was a talented ballet dancer, getting accepted to the prestigious Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She eventually moved to Los Angeles & began an acting career. She landed a part in Gidget (1959) as one of Gidget's beach...
Read more