Remembering Mets Opening Days (1965 / 1966) The Mid Sixties Seasons Open at The Grand New Shea Stadium

 Opening Day April 12th, 1965: The Mets "New Breed" opened up their second season playing in Shea Stadium hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of 37,999 fans in an afternoon game. 

Al Jackson made his second consecutive Opening Day start for the Mets, his 11 wins were best on the 1964 staff.

The Dodgers would go on to win the 1965 World Series defeating the Minnesota Twins in seven games. Dodgers star Sandy Koufax was scheduled to start but suffered from arthritis which would eventually cut his career short the following season at age 31.

The Dodgers Don Drysdale made the start instead, a future Hall of Famer himself. He held the Mets to one run on four hits as he threw the complete game victory. Drysdale struck out nine & walked just one along the way. In the 4th inning the Big Drysdale hit a two run HR as well. 

Drysdale would hit a career high seven HRs that season & drive in 19 runs. He would hit 29 HRs with 113 RBIs in his 14-year career.

In the 1st inning, Maury Wills led off with a base hit then stole second. Willie Davis doubled ringing in the Dodgers first run. He advanced on Tommy Davis's base hit & scored on John Roseboro's foul pop fly to the catcher. 

Roseboro drove in another run on a fielder's choice in the 5th inning. Willie Davis would add a solo HR in the 3rd inning.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Mets put up their only run as Roy McMillan singled & Johnny Lewis collected an RBI double. The other two Mets hits came from Ed Kranepool & Joe Christopher.

In late July manager Casey Stengel would fall & break his hip which would lead to his eventual retirement from the game that year at age 75. 

Former New York Giants catcher Wes Westrum took over as the Mets second manager the rest of the way. The Mets finished last for the fourth straight season (50-112). 

But their loyal fan base put them in third place with 1.7 Millon fans going to Shea Stadium that year. Only the World Chmpion Dodgers & Astros playing in the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Astrodome drew more fans.

Opening Day April 15th, 1966: On Friday April 15th, an excited Mets crowd of 52,812 showed up at Shea Stadium to watch the Mets start their sixth ML season. 

That off season the Mets acquired 11 time All Star Ken Boyer, from the St. Louis Cardinals to play third base. Catcher Jerry Grote also came over in a trade from the Houston Astros. For the next decade he would be the Mets main catcher & one of the best defensive backstops in the game. 

Youngster Bud Harrelson also made his debut along with pitcher Nolan Ryan. Ron Swoboda & Cleon Jones were both coming off exciting Rookie seasons as well. Dick Selma who was Tom Seaver's childhood friend was also looked at as a promising young pitching star.

On Opening Day 1966, the Mets hosted the Atlanta Braves who had just moved to the state of Georgia after playing 13 seasons in Milwaukee. As the team fell out of contention is the early sixties, attendance declined in Milwaukee as well. The team's new ownership wanted a larger TV market & a new stadium which they got in Atlanta. So the Atlanta Braves first game was played against the New York Mets.

Pitcher Jack Fisher in his third year with the Mets got the Opening Day Start. in 1964, Fisher had started the first game played in Shea Stadium. He credits himself with beginning the tradition of a pitcher warming up in the bullpen. 

On that day in 1964 he asked Casey Stengel if he could throw his warms ups in the bullpen due to the noise of excitement on the field. Fishers' opponent on this Opening Day was Denny LeMaster.

In the bottom of the 1st, the Mets scored first when Ron Hunt drew a walk, stole second base & advanced to third on a bad throw. The newly acquired Ken Boyer then hit a sac fly bringing in Hunt with the first run.

After a leadoff single by Felipe Alou to start the game, Jack Fisher retired the next 15 Braves in a row, before hitting Woody Woodward with a pitch to start the 6th inning. He would walk Felipe Alou & surrender an RBI single to Henry Aaron to tie up the game.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 8th inning, when Cleon Jones hit a two run HR off Lemaster giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. Prior to the Jones HR, Roy McMillan had doubled & Dick Selma a pitcher was put into to run for him. Selma got picked off second base for the first out.

In the top of the 9th, Jack Fisher couldn't close out the game. With one out, local New Yorker Joe Torre doubled. Lee Thomas singled scoring pinch runner Marty Keough with the tying run. Fisher also made a throwing error on the play. Next Denis Menke bunted & Thomas scored on the fielder's choice, with the run being unearned.

In the bottom of the 9th, with one out Ed Kranepool singled. Lemaster was relieved by Billy O'Dell who got the final two outs, giving Atlanta their first win in team history. 

Denny Lemaster got the win allowing a run on six hits in 8.1 innings. Jack Fisher took the loss allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out three & walked one.

Trivia: The loss was Fisher's ninth straight losing decision dating back to August 29th, 1965. He would lose 12 straight decisions until finally earning a win over the Giants on May 14th, 1966.

Wes Westrum's 1966 Mets finished ninth (66-95) in the NL avoiding last place for the first time in their five-year history, finishing ahead of the lowly Cubs (59-103). The wins were a 16-game improvement & the most the young franchise had ever won.