I saw Ron hit his first home run on TV – a pitch hit homer against Houston in, if I recall, the second game of the season in a losing cause against Houston.

He quickly caught on as a hero for us new breeders with his quick start. Saw him hit two and almost a third on a Saturday afternoon against Milwaukee (the Braves – one year before moving to Atlanta) and the next day the Daily News called him “Swat Boda”. But his fielding was really pathetic – with two outs in the ninth inning with the bases loaded in St. Louis and the Mets leading by three runs, he dropped the final out and the game was tied (we eventually lost in eleven innings). The next day our future nemesis Dick Young opened his article with “Ron Swoboda, who hits home runs with his bat and triples with his glove”.

At the end of the ’65 season the Mets still hyped up Ron and the fact that he hit more home runs his rookie season than Mantle and Mays although even us young new breeders saw him as a bust by mid-June. What we didn’t understand is that he was absolutely not ready to be in the major leagues but because of the rules in those days, any minor leaguer with one year experience and not on the major league roster could be taken by any other club. That’s why both Ron and Ed Kranepool were rushed up so fast along with other less notables.

Too bad for who knows how his career might have been had he been able to develop his skills in the minors. In 1967 Ron had a breakout year and was deemed one of the three Mets “untouchables” along with Seaver and Harrelson. He started off hot in 1968 – the year of the pitcher – but then fizzled. By that time he also had to re-earn the respect of his new manager, Gil Hodges. When Gil wanted him to pinch hit in a spring training game he found Ron had left the dugout to the bathroom without letting him know. When Gil suddenly passed away, Ron was on the plane accompanying his final trip home.