Remembering Mets History (1962) Mets Win First Game in Team History

 Monday April 23rd, 1962: In this night game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Casey Stengle's New York Mets (0-9) went up against Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were the World Champions of 1960 but had fallen to sixth place the next year.  

Tonight, was a historical game for the New York Mets, because it marked the first win in the young team's history.

25-year-old Jay Hook took the mound for the Mets. Hook had been with the Reds for five years going 17-28, with a 5.23 ERA, winning a career best 11 games (11-18) in 1960. He would spend three seasons with the Mets going 12-33 with a 5.22 ERA. But Jay Hook is now the answer to the Mets trivia question, who was the winning pitcher in the Mets first ever win?

Hook took on the Pirates' veteran lefthander, Tom Sturdivant. Sturdivant was a two-time 16 game winner with the AL New York club in 1956 & 1957. He would finish his career with the 1964 Mets as a reliever.

The Mets got to Sturdivant right away, as Felix Mantilla & Elio Chacon both singled. Sturviant
then threw a wild pitch advancing the runners. Next Gus Bell & Frank Thomas both hit sac flies, making it 2-0 Mets.

In the 2nd, Charlie Neal doubled to lead things off. Strurdivant walked Jim Hickman & Chris Cannizzaro, which was enough for manager Danny Murtaugh who replaced him with Diomedes Olivo. 

The Mets pitcher- Jay Hook, greeted him with a base hit scoring two more Mets runs, Elio Chacon's sac fly made it 6-0 Mets.

Hook retired the first six batters. In the 3rd, he allowed two hits, but a double play helped erase any chance of a threat. 

Over the next two innings, the only base runner the Pirates had was from a walk to Don Hoak.

In the 6th, the Pirates' got on the board, with a pair of singles & a run scored on Bob Skinners ground out. But that was it, as Hook retired 10 of the next 11 batters, to earn the historic win. It was a complete game win 9 innings, one run on five hits, one walk & two Ks.

The Mets tacked on another run in the 8th, as Bobby Smith's triple brought in Felix Mantilla who had singled. Mantilla & Chacon led the Mets offense with three hits each. Between the two, four runs scored & three driven in.