26
2013
How The Miracle Mets Were Built: The 1968 Off-Season
An article by Barry Duchan
Welcome to Part Two of my series entitled, How The Miracle Mets Were Built. You can read Part One by clicking, The Spring Of 1968.
The 1968 Off-Season
The Mets had just completed their most successful year winning 73 games and finishing in 9th place under new manager Gil Hodges. Even though it wasn’t that much of an improvement over previous years, there were definitely some positive developments in ’68. Second-year man Tom Seaver and rookie Jerry Koosman won 16 and 19 games respectively to give the Mets two reliable young pitchers to head the rotation.
Nolan Ryan was inconsistent and plagued by blisters, but showed great potential. Cleon Jones was solid in left field raising his average from .246 in 1967 to .297 and driving in 55 runs. Jerry Grote at catcher and Bud Harrelson at shortstop excelled defensively and Grote also hit well enough to solidify himself as the undisputed #1 catcher on the team. Unheralded Jim McAndrew came up from the minor leagues and showed that he could be a useful 4th or 5th starter. On the farm, although Les Rohr had an injury-plagued and wasted year , the Mets were developing another good crop of young pitchers such as Rich Folkers, Jim Bibby, Barry Raziano, and Steve Renko and both Gary Gentry and Tug McGraw pitched well enough at AAA Jacksonville to contend for major league jobs in 1969. But there had also been many disappointments in 1968.
For the third year in a row, it seemed like the Mets had traded for a centerfielder who was a complete bust. Following in the footsteps of Billy Cowan and Don Bosch, Tommie Agee, playing in 132 games batted .217 with five home runs and 17 RBI, while striking out 103 times. Would Agee get another chance ? Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda who had once been hailed as the future hitting stars of the team, disappointed once again. Nobody on the team had more than 15 home runs and that was old man Ed Charles who won the third base job in spring training. Nobody on the team drove in as many as 60 runs.
The good news was the Mets had to finish better than ninth in 1969 because divisional play had begun and the worst the team could do was finish 6th. The first order of business was to prepare the list of eligible players for the expansion draft to stock the new Montreal and San Diego franchises. Although the Mets’ full list was never divulged, I read that Ed Kranepool was eligible, but was withdrawn after the Expos picked Don Shaw because Shaw and Kranepool were 2 of M. Donald Grant’s favorites and the Mets weren’t about to give up both.
The Mets also wound up losing Dick Selma who had been a useful swing man, but never really established himself, as well as several minor leaguers including outfielder Jerry Morales and pitchers Ernie Mc Anally and John Glass. Following the draft, the Mets sold Don Bosch to the Expos. In the Rule 5 draft, the Mets selected infielder Wayne Garrett. Before spring training, the Mets sent one-time stellar catching prospect Greg Goossen to the expansion Seattle Pilots for veteran minor leaguer Jim Gosger. Other than that, the Mets did not make a single deal in the off-season. Most experts thought that the Mets had a good shot at beating out the expansion Expos, although even that was In doubt because in Rusty Staub and Donn Clendenon, Montreal had 2 professional hitters the Mets couldn’t match.
Optimistic Mets fans saw Nolan Ryan joining Seaver and Koosman in the regular rotation possibly along with Gentry or McGraw to give the Mets an outstanding young rotation. Gentry had been making steady progress ever since the Mets signed him out of Arizona State in 1967, but was he ready for the major leagues? McGraw was definitely ready for another shot, but would he stick this time, and would he start or relieve?
Personally, I thought that the Mets had a chance to possibly beat out both the Expos and Phillies, and maybe even the Pirates, but the Cubs and defending league champion Cardinals looked like they would dominate the division. As we all know, things fell into place very nicely for the 1969 Mets. More in my next post.
About the Author: Barry Duchan
I've been following the Mets since 1962. Have to admit I was a Yankee fan as a kid, but I found it to be so much more interesting to see how a young team could build itself up rather than following a team where the season didn't really begin until October. I remember them all - Casey, Marv, ChooChoo, Don Bosch, The Stork, etc. As the years went on, I became more and more of a Mets fan, and a Yankee hater once Steinbrenner and Billy Martin entered the picture. After retiring, I relocated with my family from Long Island to Chapel Hill, NC in 2005. I spend a lot of my time now checking out all the various Mets blogs. Fortunately, I still get to watch almost all of the Mets games (except those that are blacked out here).
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Hi Barry,
A continued great read. Remember how Ryan dipped his fingers in pickle juice to deal with those blisters?
I was hoping for better hitting simply because 1968 was the year of the pitcher and so many hit poorly. The lowering of the pitching mound by six inches and the reduced strike zone I felt could only help us. But by the same token, I was also afraid the improved hitting would be offset by the edge the pitchers no longer had. We would hit better but our pitching , while still great, would also be giving up more runs and so the discrepancy between the two would still be there. No doubt we had a top flight young pitching staff but with a 2.72 team ERA only being fourth best in the league showed how lopsided the new strike zone implemented in 1963 was, with the downhill slide reaching rock bottom five years later.
I was hoping for more improvement in 1969 under Gil. Rod Gaspar was touted as the new right fielder and I had hope for Agee. Cleon was in left. But that was hope and we did have to deal with three big holes in the major power spots – center, right and first (poor Eddie was considered a bust by most of us by that time). Charles was also a year older at third. Those were major problems to overcome.
Fortunately, as we know, the Met hitting improved enough (after getting Clendennon) and the pitching only gave up a quarter more earned run per game that the discrepancy I was worried about never came about. And, of course, nobody was prepared for the angels in the outfield type miracles we saw day in and day out over the entire length of the diamond. Had never seen such mind boggling impossibilities happen on a near daily basis for any team before or since.
Gil admitted he was hoping for maybe 85 wins that year. I was thinking more of .500 as a reasonable goal and prior to 1969, that would have been like heaven.
BARRY, RYAN’S ROUTINE WAS THE RECOMMENDATION OF JOE PIGNATANO & INVOLVRE MUCH MORE THAN “DIPPING” HE ACTUALLY SLEPT WITH HIS HAND SUBMERGED IN PICKLE BRINE AS I RECALL; THE POINT WAS TO TOUGHEN HIS SKIN MAING IT MORE PRONE TO CALLOUS THAN BLISTER.
BTW, FEW HAVE EVER CASTIGATED THE ORGANIZATION FOR ALLOWING TORRE TO ABSCOND WITH NEARLY HE ENTIRE COACHING STAFF, GIL CONSTRUCTED RUBE, PIGGY, YOST ALL FOLLOED JOE TO ATLANTA
Jerry Morales was a met farmhand? thats another who got away. I remember him being a very good player for the cubs in the mid seventies, sure could have used him in center when agees knees gave out, They brought him back at the end off his career but he was done,
Damn Barry, you making me feel like a kid again when I read your blogs. I’m glad there’s some guys on this site that can remember the glory days like you can. I can see the puppies here don’t have the stomach or interest for stories like this, but I for one appreciate it.
I know the young ones loved Kranepool in his late years because of a few pinch hits, but man what a bust he was. I never saw a worse player keep his job for as long as Krane did. Do you remember the big rumor when we were going to get Lee May for Krane and Cardwell? A year later May became a stud for the next 7-8 years. We would have made many more trips to the post season in the seventies with him had that deal gone through. Cardwell was big, dont get me wrong, but Ryan could have slotted right in at #3 and replaced him in the rotation and McAndrew would have picked up the slack at #5. He was a very underrated pitcher until the arm troubles.
Hi Maniac (or should I say fellow original new breeder
)
Though Ed never reached the heights we hoped for him, he did have a few very good seasons sandwiched in between the yeas 1971 through 1976 when he the semi-regular first baseman. Actually, the worst of those seasons was in 1973 – so go figure – we win when he doesn’t hit!
I was at a game in 1969 – you might remember, it was when the Mets had that eleven game winning streak – when Kranepool homered twice against L.A.
Actually, I was at four of the six games that the Mets took from the Giants and Dodgers in route to that eleven game streak. While everyone from our time talks about the Al Weiss force at home plate in the 12th inning, it also shows how sitting field level is not often the best way to watch the game – though it is the closest. From my vantage point in the lower left field boxes I was unable to see that the ball bounced off the pitcher, changed direction, and that the mighty-might changed direction himself and was still able to get the runner out at the plate. Part of it is, of course, because it happened so fast, however, if I was sitting in the general admission upper deck, I would have been high and away but would have seen the play perfectly!
I know – it seems like only yesterday and can’t believe it is over 43 years since all New York was glued to the Mets that summer. It was so unreal and nothing one will ever experience today – even if this team wins the world series – because, if anything else, the youngsters won’t experience it as a pennant race where winner takes all. With two wild cards, that type of regular season pressure is limited to the also rans trying to make it into a post season they really have no business being in.
LOL Whats funny about that 11 game win streak was that during one of those days, a Sunday, I was at Yankee Stadium with my father for Mickey Mantle Day. He was a die-hard Met fan but told me even a Met fan makes an exception to see the Yankees when a player like the Mick is honored. It was packed and it was also a scheduled doubleheader, remember those? Of course the Skanks swept. Anyway, I know Krane had a few decent but never great seasons but still he was a bust to me. Think of all the other first baseman in the NL all those years.
Hi fellow old timer…., err, I mean Maniac LOL
Glad to know your recollection is sharper than mine. I was ready to write back that Mickey Mantle Day was on a Saturday in July till I found you were absolutely right – it was on Sunday, June 8th as the Mets were winning number ten in San Diego. I believe I must have been thinking of the Yankees Old Timers day which was held on a Saturday afternoon in July when Mickey Mantle first came to participate in that – and the handout was a vinyl recording of Mantle’s speech the month before.
Your dad is right. Of the many thrills I actually got to see, the biggest is still seeing a Mickey Mantle home run against the California Angeles in the first inning of the second game of a Friday twilight doubleheader – the day before Robert Kennedy’s funeral. I still remember it, a line drive coming off the bat of Mick batting left handed, going maybe ten rows into the lower right field stands as the Angels left Fielder tried to jump on top of the fence and then decided not to. I remember as the ball was being hit that maybe this was a home run – and as it was, I couldn’t believe I was seeing the Mick rounding the bases. I was in the lower right field seats, section 19 of the old stadium and had a great view. And at that time, Mantle was a legend and to see him homer at that point was a great thrill.
Besides the games I talked about, I was also at that 14 inning game when Agee beat Marichal with a home run (after Jones saved the game by making a leaping catch with his glove actually over the fence in left) plus Tom Seaver’s 20th victory. A lot of great radio broadcasts of games are now on CD so if you are into that look for the Milley Collection – got the Seaver near perfecto, the game Koozman retaliated by smashing Santo on the hands, the division winner and the league championship game. Also have them from other years too. Close your eyes and you’re back in time – and a lot younger too! LOL
Love these conversations. Nighty night.
Gill Hodges….they just don’t make managers like that anymore. No way he was humoring big egos on his team. Even with their pitching in ’69, I don’t believe they get to the WS, let alone win it without him.
Still think he should be in the HOF.
Great read! As a 24 years old Mets fan, I’m optimistic about the Mets’ future. I’m hopeful that the Mets will win the NL East against overrated National and Braves just like they did in 1969 against Cubs and Cardinals!
Maniac, I don’t ever remember the rumor that the Mets were getting Lee May and certainly not just for Kranepool and Cardwell. That sounds like an offer the Mets might have made only to be countered with a demand for Otis and Ryan or Gentry. My next installment includes discussion of another rumored trade that fell through.
I know who it was but i wont ruin the surprise. He did become a met later on.
Enjoyed reading both installments. Thanks.