Remembering Mets History: 1969 NLCS Preview

-

1969 NLCS Preview: New York Mets vs 

Atlanta Braves: during the regular season, the Mets had taken eight of twelve games from the Braves. The Braves entered the first ever NLCS as favorites with 13-10 odds. 

 When the 1969 season began, the Mets were rated 100-1 to win the NL East & the Braves were 50-1 to win the NL West.

Pitching: The Mets are all about pitching, this is why they got here & this is why they have the advantage. Cy Young Award Winner- Tom Seaver (25-7 / 208 Ks / 2.21 ERA) Jerry Koosman (17-9 / 180 Ks / 2.28 ERA) Gary Gentry (13-12 / 154 Ks / 3.43 ERA) Nolan Ryan (6-3 / 92 Ks in 89 innings / 3.53 ERA)

Ron Taylor (9-4 / 13 saves / 2.72 ERA) & Tug McGraw (9-3 / 12 Saves / 2.24 ERA) leading the bullpen.

For Atlanta, Hall of Famer Phil Niekro (23-13 / 193 Ks / 2.56 ERA) led the way. Ron Reed (18-10 / 160 Ks / 3.47 ERA) Pat Jarvis (13-11 / 123 Ks / 4..43 ERA) George Stone (13-10/ 102 Ks / 3.65 ERA). 

 Their bullpen was led by Cecil Upshaw 27 saves/ 6-4 / 2.91 ERA) & Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm who came over late in the year (in 8 games  was 2-02 with 4 saves. 0.73 ERA).

New York Mets / Atlanta Braves 1969 Match Ups

First Base: The Braves future Hall of Famer, Orlando Cepeda (22 HRs 88 RBIs .257 Ave) had the advantage of the Mets platoon of Ed Kranepool (11 HRs 49 RBIs .238 Ave) & Donn Clendenon (12 HRs 37 RBIs .253 Ave.) 

Second Base: Defensively & offensively the Braves Gold Glover in 1969, Felix Millan (6 HRs 57 RBIs 174 hits 23 doubles 98 runs scored) was far superior than Ken Boswell (3 HRs 32 RBIs 101 hits in 102 games & .279 Ave). In 1973 Millan would take Boswell's job as the Mets everyday second baseman.

 Short Stop: The Mets Bud Harrelson (0 HR 24 RBIs 42 Runs scored .248 Ave.) was by far one of the leagues best defensive short stops & his guts & gritty play made him far superior than the Braves Gil Garrido (0 HR 10 RBIs .220 Ave.)

Third Base: Another big advantage to the Braves. Clete Boyer (14 HRs 16 doubles 57 RBIs .250 Ave) was nearing the end of his career but was still a good bat & won the Gold Glove at third that season. 
The Mets were platooning veteran Ed Charles (3 HRs 18 RBIs .207 Ave in 61 games) & Rookie Wayne Garrett (1 HR 11 doubles 39 RBIs .218 Ave. in 124 games).

Centerfield: The Mets Tommie Agee was one of the leagues best (winning a Gold Glove in 1970) as he would prove in the World Series. Agee could hit for both power & average (.271 Ave.) leading the Mets in HRs (26) RBIs (76). 

 He also had great speed & stole bases (12 steals in 21 attempts). In Atlanta Tony Gonzales (10 HRs 50 RBIs .294 in 89 games) came on to fill in for an injured Felipe Alou.

Left Field: The Mets left fielder Cleon Jones, had the leagues third best average (.340). Jones led his team in hits (164) walks (64) on base % (.422%) doubles (25) & stolen bases (16). He was second in RBIs (75) & had hit 12 HRs as well. The Braves, Rico Carty did not qualify for the batting title, as he played in 104 games (.342 Ave. 16 HRs 58 RBIs). Carty would win the 1970 batting title (.366) & bat .299 life time.

Right Field: In right it was Braves all the way- Hall of Famer-Hank Aaron (44 HRs 30 doubles 97 RBIs .300 Ave.) In five years time he would become the all time HR leader. The Mets platooned Ron Swoboda (9 HRs 10 doubles 52 RBIs & a .235 Ave in 109 games) & Art Shamsky (14 HRs 47 RBIs .300 Ave in 100 games).

Catcher: Jerry Grote (6 HRs 12 doubles 40 RBIs 252. Ave.) certainly gets the nod over Bob Dider (0 HRs 32 RBIs .256 Ave in 114 games) both defensively & offensively. Grote threw out 56% of runners trying to steal on him.

Bench: The Mets get the edge on the bench too, since they will be platooning most of their position players.

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