50th Anniversary of the 1969 Mets: Mets Take A Twin Bill At Wrigley Field

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

Sunday May 4th, 1969: After the Chicago Cubs (18-8) took the first two games of a big four game series at Wrigley Field, a large noisy crowd of nearly 40,000 filled the Friendly Confines, looking for a sweep in this Sunday doubleheader. 

After all the Cubs were already leading the division & were a heavy favorite to win it all. Led by legendary manager, Leo Durocher & Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins & Billy Williams, it was a powerful veteran team with good pitching. 

 The Cubs & their fans were ready to clinch the title this early in the season, little did they know, todays Mets double header sweep was just the beginning of the end of their dreams. This young Mets team sent a message in what was to become that summers biggest rivalry.

Todays matchup was a good one, Gil Hodges Mets (10-14) sent their ace Tom Seaver to the mound, against the Cubs, Bill Hands. The Hackensack, New Jersey born Hands was at the peak of his career.

He would win twenty games in 1969, second best on the team to Ferguson Jenkins 21 victories. Hands coming off a 16 win season, would win 18 more in 1970.

Starting Lineups



First Game: The Mets would start out with two lead off singles, but a Glen Beckert to Don Kessinger to Ernie Banks double play erased that. That Cubs infield was a good defensive one. Kessinger made six All Star teams & Beckert made four straight All Star teams himself.

In the 2nd, the Cubs struck as catcher Randy Hundley singled & Al Spangler tripled to center. Spangler batted just .211 in 82 games, but did have 26 career triples, although just one that year at the age of 35.

In the 3rd inning, things got interesting, Hands hit Tom Seaver with a pitch. Seaver who never took any crap, immediately retaliated by hitting Hands with a pitch as he led off the bottom of the 3rd inning.

In a time where this was common, the home plate umpire Frank Secory, shook his finger at Seaver getting manager Gil Hodges all upset as he came out of the dugout to defend his pitcher. Things settled down & moved along. 

Kessinger then doubled, putting runners on second & third with no one out. Seaver got Beckert to ground out to the mound, Seaver held the runner to third. He then walked Billy Williams intentionally, loading the bases. Seaver arguably the games best pitcher, struck out Santo & got Ernie Banks to pop out.

In the 4th, Ed Kranepool hit his third HR of the season, tying up the game at one.

In the 5th the Mets struck again, with one out, Seaver drew a walk. Rod Gaspar then singled to left field. Ken Boswell then singled to right field scoring Seaver. A Ron Swoboda sac fly scored Gaspar giving New York a 3-1 lead. 

In the bottom of the inning two Cub base hits & a Billy Williams ground out brought the Cubs to within a run 3-2.

Seaver would go the distance, although he scattered nine hits, he gave up just the two runs, walked two & struck out seven batters. This got Seaver to a 3-2 record with a 2.28 ERA. Hands exited in the 5th inning & took the loss getting to a 3-3 record.


Nightcap: The scheduled starter, Gary Gentry was scratched from his start & reliever Tug McGraw was penciled in as the starter. Making Gil Hodges look like a genius once again, McGraw was sensational. He would pitch the entire game, scattering nine hits, allowing two runs, striking out eight batters & walking two. 
 
Former Met & Tom Seaver's old friend from Fresno, California, Dick Selma took the mound for the Cubs. Selma was drafted away from the Mets in the 1968 expansion draft by the San Diego Padres. He was then sent to the Cubs for Joe Niekro, Gary Ross & Frankie Libran.

Starting Lineups



The Mets started hitting right out of the gate. After Rod Gaspar walked & Wayne Garrett struck out, Ken Boswell doubled to centerfield bringing in Gaspar. Cleon Jones who was batting .400 at this time in the season, as the leagues leading hitter, then drove a single to center giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

But the Cubs struck back, Kessinger led off with a double, then Beckert singled, putting two men on. Billy Williams singled & Ron Santo grounded into a double play bringing in the Cubs second run. It was a 2-2 game.

Selma got out of jams, the first in the 3rd inning, after a wild pitch put runners on first & third but Boswell grounded out to end the inning. In the 6th inning, with two on he got Jones to ground into an inning ending double play.

In the 7th inning, Ron Swoboda walked & with two outs Al Weis singled. Selma then threw a wild pitch to McGraw at the plate. Swoboda came scampering home with what was to be the winning run.

For Tug McGraw he rolled along easily to the 7th inning. With two men on, McGraw got Hickman to ground out & the struck out Don Young. In the 9th inning, McGraw gave up two singles but struck out pinch hitter Gene Oliver to end the game. The win got McGraw to a 3-0 record while owning a fantastic 1.61 ERA.

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 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

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 lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1979) SNL's Chico Escuela Visits Mets Spring Training & Attempts a Career Comeback

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Garrett Morris was posing as  the fictional Mets player, Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was doing his famous spoof of the Latin players of the time, posing as a popular infielder from the Dominican Republic that didn't speak much English. His legendary catch phrase was "baseball been berry- berry good to me". "baseball been berry-berry good... to me" The Chico Escuela character appeared nine times during on SNL's fourth & fifth seasons. He debuted on December 9th, 1978, in a Knight of Columbus sketch as a guest speaker. He then became the Weekend Update Sports reporter, where after being introduced by Jane Curtain, he would reply "tank you Hane". Chico woul
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 hyphenated. I
Read more