The Miracle Mets of 1969: Putting teamwork over ego to win the World Series

For the New York Mets’ first seasons in Major League Baseball, losing seemed part of their DNA. The Mets debuted in the big leagues as an expansion team in 1962 and regularly stunk up stadiums on their way to a record 120 losses that first year. The following seasons weren’t much better, losing at least 100 games five times during their first seven years. The Mets were so chronically bad it would’ve been an epic understatement to say they had even a slim chance of a championship run in 1969. But under the leadership of manager Gil Hodges, the perennial whipping boys became World Series winners after an astonishing regular season and nail-biting playoff games. The stars, and the players,” had finally aligned.

The Mets relied on pitching to make the dramatic turnaround. A young staff, steady starters Tom Seaver (24 years old) and Jerry Koosman (26) and bullpen aces Tug McGraw (24) and Nolan Ryan (22), all came of age at the perfect time. Meanwhile, Hodges devised a plan to blend the roster’s youth with experienced vets. He sought to maximize every player’s strengths depending on the competition, engineering just enough offense in the process. Hodges implemented a platoon system, where left and right-handed players at the same position alternated games depending on the opposition’s pitcher. It was the essence of teamwork, a concept that trumped ego and put winning in the foreground.

For example, Ron Swoboda and Art Shamsky operated like a joint switch-hitting right fielder, combining for 23 homers. Ed Kranepool and Donn Clendenon (acquired via midseason trade from the Montreal Expos) shared first base duties and together smashed another 23. In addition, outfielders Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee, the only two field players not to platoon, chipped in their respective abilities to bat for average (.340) and hit for power (26 home runs). Transforming from underdog to top dog, the Mets surged to win 38 of 49 games in the final months of the season and leapfrog the Chicago Cubs in the standings. That hot streak helped secure first place in the National League’s Eastern Division with a 100-62 record.

The Mets were on a roll leading into the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. But their underdog status was still hard to shake. The Braves were stacked with players who had superstar pedigrees and post-season experience. Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Felipe Alou had led their offensive charge all season, and hurler Phil Niekro was known to silence any team’s bats. But the Mets managed to out-score the heavily favored Braves to win the pennant in three straight games.

Then the boys from Queens faced off against the vaunted Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. The American Leaguers battered the unlikely upstarts to win the first game. But there was no denying destiny. The Mets completed an exciting comeback, racking up four straight wins to lift the World Series trophy.

“There are a lot of teams in all sports who have come from nowhere to somewhere, but a lot of them haven’t closed the deal,” said Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson. “We closed the deal.” The teamwork was amazin’.