centerfield maz

Sunday October 12, 1969-Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland: After all the hype & excitement of getting to the World Series had worn off, the Mets found themselves down one game to nothing to the Baltimore Orioles. The O's felt they were right where they were supposed to  be. Baltimore & rest of the world believed that the Mets had run out of gas having now met their match against their mighty lineup. In the first game, Baltimore beat the Mets ace Tom Seaver, that years NL Cy Young winner scoring four runs on six hits in five innings of work. Mike Cuellar held the Mets to one run, a sac fly from Al Weis, on six hits. Mets Lefthander Jerry Koosman (17-9 / 2.28 ERA / 180 Ks) took the mound against Dave McNally (20-7 / 3.22 ERA / 166 K's).  McNally won twenty games for four straight seasons, having gone 20-7 that season. In the ALCS he pitched an 11 inning three hit shut out over the Twins. One of the best pitchers of his era, McNally lost his fastball by ...

Saturday October 11th, 1969- Memorial Stadium, Baltimore Maryland:  It was finally here, after a Miracle season, an Amazing NLCS sweep & five days of anticipation, the New York Mets were playing in the World Series.  New York was a huge underdog to the Mighty Baltimore Orioles. Not many people thought they had a chance against the team that had won 109 games, swept the Minnesota Twins in the ALCS. The Orioles team featured three future Hall of Famers, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson & Frank Robinson. F. Robinson & Boog  Powell had both hit over 30 HRs, driven in 100 plus RBIs & batted over .300.  Brooks had hit 23 HRs with 84 RBIs; Paul Blair hit 26 HRs drove in 76 runs hit .285 & stole 20 bases. The pitching staff had two twenty game winners in Mike Cuella (23-11) & Dave McNally (20-7) Jim Palmer added 16 wins (16-4) with a 2.34 ERA. In the bullpen Eddie Watt had 16 saves with a 1.65 ERA & Pete Richert had 12 saves with a 2.20 ERA. The Oriol...

Phyllis McGraw  In October of 1969 a New York paper ran a special article on the Mets wives as they were about to head off to Baltimore to meet up with their husbands. The Mets were now a household name; they were no longer loveable losers but the Amazing Mets & on their way to the World Series.  Some of the wives gathered on 94th St near LaGuardia airport, in a small Queens house that was the home of Tug & Phyliss McGraw for the interview. The wives were to leave Shea Stadium by bus at 1PM, the day before the World Series Game #1 was to begin. The wives liked to dress well going to the games, with the latest fashions of the swinging sixties, such as miniskirts & pants suits. But the times were still conservative, especially in baseball. For instance, they mentioned that they could not adopt the latest no-bra look having to consider what the fans may think & it probably wouldn't make the husbands happy either. Lyn McAndrew Lynn McAndrew wife of Mets pitcher Jim...

Monday October 6th, 1969, NLCS GAME #3- Shea Stadium, New York: There is no doubt that Shea Stadium in New York City was the place to be on this historic day in Mets history. 54,195 excited Amazing Mets fans filled Shea Stadium with the hottest ticket this side of the moon. Mets Trivia: This was the Mets first post season home game in franchise history, played at Shea Stadium.  The Mets had taken the first two games of the series in Atlanta putting up twenty runs in an incredible offensive break out where they had collected 23 hits in the first two games as well.    On this afternoon they were looking to clinch the series & the pennant in a sweep at home.  Mets Manager  Gil Hodges sent young rookie pitcher, Gary Gentry (13-12 / 3.43 ERA / 154 Ks) to the mound, as Atlanta Braves Manager; Lum Harris sent Pat Jarvis (13-11 / 4.43 ERA / 123 Ks) to oppose him.   All the world tuned in to NBC to watch the Amazing Mets make history as Curt Gowdy ...