1969 New York Mets

The words on the giant Shea Stadium scoreboard captured the seminal moment: “Look Who’s No. 1.”

The Mets swept a doubleheader from the Montreal Expos and got a solid from the Philadelphia Phillies as they beat the Chicago Cubs. On the board in right-center field, a snapshot of the up-to-date standings with the accompanying headline.

Just a night earlier, the Cubs had left New York humbled. They dropped two in Queens to be on the precipice of being overtaken after having as large as a nine-game edge in mid-June. Now they were hanging on to first place by a thread. The ladder Mets victory was highlighted by a black cat scurrying near the visiting dugout. So if symbols were any indication, the Cubs were doomed.

But a Wednesday night in New York officially confirmed it.

The same expansion club that took care of New York in its inaugural game on Opening Day had dropped 97 since. The Mets used to know that feeling. No longer. They had already clinched their first winning season and were 25 above .500 after seven seasons of never coming close to breaking even.

Montreal’s Mike Wegener and New York’s Jim McAndrew stayed on the mound for 11 innings. They gave up two runs each, except Wegener struck out 15 and the pair scored on him were the results of fielding errors. McAndrew only allowed four hits and worked around five walks.

The Expos appeared to be taking the lead on a 12th-inning single, but a heady play by reliever Ron Taylor kept it tied. He retrieved a poor throw from center fielder Tommie Agee and put the tag on Remy Hermoso before he touched home plate.

Taylor’s remarkable effort was rewarded in the bottom half. After Bill Stoneman retired the first two batters, Cleon Jones singled and came around after Rod Gaspar walked and Ken Boswell singled to center.

They needed only one pitcher and nine innings to complete the sweep. Nolan Ryan went the distance—striking out 11 and lowering his ERA to 2.93. New York exploded with six runs in the second behind Wayne Garrett, Jones, and Boswell producing RBI singles.

With a 7-1 victory, the Mets were where nobody expected them to be at the start of the season and position they wouldn’t give up for the remainder of the season.