1969 Mets World Series Hero: Ron Swoboda (1965-1970)

Ronald Alan Swoboda was born on June 30, 1944 in Baltimore, Maryland. He played three sports in high school, basketball, captain of his soccer team & of course baseball which he stuck with. “Swobo” or Rocky as he became known,was signed out of Maryland University as an amateur free agent in 1963, for $35,000 after a strong AABA tournament performance. He only played minor league ball for two full seasons, impressing the Mets with his power.

He made the 1965 Mets team out of Spring Training and made his big league debut as a pinch hitter on Opening Day ‘65. In the the second game of the year he hit his first career HR, a pinch hit blast over the bullpen wall, against the Houston Astros at Shea Stadium. He later claimed it was the longest shot he ever hit in his career. He got his first start against the San Francisco Giants in right field on April 18th & hit another HR that night off Gaylord Perry.

Rocky hit two more HRs on the road in San Francisco the next week finishing up April with 4 HRs batting .333. At the end of May he had already hit 11 HRs & was amongst the league leaders. It was quite a start for a team looking for a new star, & Swoboda became very popular very quick.

He won over the fans hitting HRs & working hard to be a better player. He started out with uniform #14 until the Mets got veteran Ken Boyer & he then switched to #4. Next Gil Hodges arriver & tool over uniform #14 & Swoboda was permanently #4.

Swoboda finished the year leading the team in HRs with 19, a Mets rookie record until Daryl Strawberry came along. Although he only hit .228, striking out over 100 times, he drove in 50 runs & hit 12 doubles, becoming one of the better hitters on the weak hitting team. He had the honor of making the Topps All Star Rookie team & was touted as having a bright future. He became known as a below average fielder with good power.

Casey Stengel said of him “He will be great, super, even wonderful, if he can learn to catch a fly ball”. Bud Harrelson once said he was afraid to go back on fly balls with Swoboda behind him, because Ron would get confused and run him over. In a game against the St. Louis Cards in May, the bases were loaded late in the game with the Mets ahead 7-2. Dal Maxvill hit a fly ball Swoboda lost in the sun, all the runners scored. He struck out when he came up to bat in the next inning & was clearly frustrated. He stomped on a batting helmet coming out of the dugout and crushed it as it got stuck on his foot. Casey Stengel came out, grabbed him & removed him from the game.

The next season he struggled at the plate, not staying above the .200 batting mark until late July. That month he hit five HRs, one was a massive blast on the roof of Philadelphia’s old Connie Mack Stadium on the fourth of July. Another memorable blast was a two run 8th inning HR in Los Angeles off Claude O’Steen, securing a rare Mets 3-0 shutout against the reigning NL Champions.

He only hit one HR in August but it was another memorable one against an old New York club. On August 4th the Mets were trailing Juan Marichal & the Giants 7-1 in the 8th inning. They made a remarkable comeback topped off by Swoboda’s three run 9th inning walk off HR giving the Shea Stadium fan a huge thrill. He saw less playing time on the year, playing in 112 games, with 8 HRs 9 doubles & 50 RBIs batting .222 while striking out 76 times in 342 at bats.

In 1967 he started out slow again, not hitting his first HR until June 6th. That was a 10th inning shot in Pittsburgh off Roy Face giving the Mets a 3-2 win. He would hit two more that week against the Cubs & Reds going on a hot streak where he raised his average up twenty five points that month. In August he hit safely in 17 of 18 games, driving in 15 runs in the first two weeks of the month. He finished the year with career highs in batting (.281) & doubles (17), hitting 13 HRs while leading the team with 59 RBIs and six triples.

In 1968 he started out the year with a bang, hitting a HR on Opening Day,driving in all four Mets runs. Later that month he hit four HRs over four consecutive games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He closed out the month of April among the top in the league with seven HRs & 16 RBIs.

He got some national media attention, making the cover of a May 1968 Sports Illustrated with the title "Slugger Ron Swoboda." He always seemed to hit well against the old New York teams, that departed to California, the Giants & Dodgers. He helped the Mets to wins against both teams by having two more multiple RBI games against them that summer.

On August 20th he had a five RBI day against the Giants at Shea Stadium topped off by a two run HR. In Philadelphia he hit a one to give the Mets a 1-0 win, in August he broke up the Dodgers Mike Kekich’s no hitter, with the only hit of the day. That season he led the club in RBIs (59) triples (6) & walks (52) hitting 11 HRs with 14 doubles. But he also struggled striking out 113 times, grounding into 14 double plays & batting .242.

After the hot start he began to hear the boo birds at Shea by summertime. Once with an 0-2 count he watched a third strike right down the middle. When he got back to the dugout, Gil Hodges asked him why he didn’t swing; Ron replied “I was guessing ball?” 

In one game Swoboda struck out five times, the fans cheered as he came up again. They cheered because they wanted him to break the record of striking out six times. He was quoted as saying “I should go home and blow my head off” in reply coach Rube Walker said “You’d probably miss”.

That off season Swoboda participated in the annual sports writers show putting himself in a straight jacket and promised to break free in 10 seconds. After eating his “Yaz” bread (named for Carl Yastrzemski in his Triple Crown season), he attempted to escape, but couldn’t. Ron never became the superstar he was expected to be but hit some memorable HRs & had a decent career.

Quotes: After striking out five times in one game, Ron Swoboda said, "They booed the hell out of me and if I was them I would have followed me home and booed me there, too.”

By the miracle year of 1969 Swobo was being platooned in right field. He shared time with Art Shamsky who hit .300 & the solid defensive late inning replacement, Rod Gaspar. In April when he did play (16 games) he hit well, batting .320 with seven multiple hit games & nine RBIs.

On May 20th he hit an early HR, then tied the game with a two run single against the Giants at Shea Stadium, the Mets went on to win the game on Duffy Dyer’s base hit which scored Swoboda.

Two days later in the last game of the series, he walked in the bottom of the 9th inning with the bases loaded scoring Bud Harrelson for the game winner & series sweep. When the California teams came to Shea in late August Swoboda got hot again. He drove in two runs against the Giants then the as the Dodgers rolled in, he greeted them with a two run HR in the first game. Two days later he drove in four runs helping the Mets sweep the serie in the midst of a long win streak.

On September 13th he hit a grand slam HR in Pittsburgh, helping the Mets get closer to clinching the NL East. On September 15th, he hit another of his memorable HRs, this time off the Cardinals Steve Carlton at Busch Stadium.

That night Carlton set a record by striking out 19 batters, Swoboda being a victim twice himself. But he also spoiled Carlton’s effort by hitting a pair of two run HRs, driving in all four Met runs, in the 4-3 victory. During the Mets August & September stretch drive, Swoboda drove in 30 runs, more than half of his season RBI total. He finished the year with 9 HRs 8 doubles two triples & 52 RBIs batting .252 playing in 115 games.

Post Season: He did not play against the right handed pitchers of the Atlanta Braves in the 1969 NLCS. But in the World Series he got to play against the Baltimore Orioles left handers. He arrived back in his home town of Baltimore, to play in the World Series, a huge thrill for the young outfielder. He had many friends & family in the stands cheering for him that day. 

As the Series opened Don Buford hit a HR over Swoboda’s head in right field as he fell back into the fence, on ball he may have been able to catch. In the 9th inning he got his first World Series hit off Mike Cullear.

In Game #4 back at Shea Stadium he had three hits off Culler and then two more in Game #5 against Dave McNally. His biggest came in the 8th inning of the clincher, Game #5, when he doubled home Cleon Jones with what turned out to be the winning run, sealing the championship. In the World Series, Swoboda hit .400, and his six hits were the most by any player on either team. But his not remembered for his hitting, it was his great catch in Game #4.

In the top of the 9th inning, Tom Seaver was tiring and the Mets holding onto a 1-0 lead. Frank Robinson and Boog Powell each singled for the Orioles, bringing up Brooks Robinson. Brooks blasted a drive toward right center that Swoboda raced for. He ran as far as he could, stretched, and made a full length diving backhanded catch. Swoboda looked in his glove, and there was the ball. He said to himself “that was one hell of a catch, and this is the World Series”.

The Shea crowd roared, and Tom Seaver sighed. Although Frank Robinson tagged and scored the tying run, Swoboda's catch stopped the go-ahead run from scoring. The Mets won the game in the 10th inning, Baseball Weekly later ranked the catch as one of the "10 Most Amazing Plays of All-Time."

After all the years of poor play in the outfield and earning the name Rocky due to it, Swoboda had worked hard to get better. It all paid off in the big spotlight. Seaver and Swoboda never had the greatest relationship neither, it was ironic the play took place during his only World Series victory.

Swoboda played 115 games in his last season as a Met in 1970, only hitting .223, 2 HRs, 26 RBIs in 245 at bats. That winter the Mets decided young Ken Singleton was getting the right field job. Swoboda was traded to Montreal for young centerfielder Don Hahn just before the start of the 1971 season. Later that year, the Expos traded Swoboda to the cross town rivals. In 43 at bats he hit only .116 and played his final game on September 30, 1973.

Swoboda finished his nine-year playing career playing in 928 games, batting.242, with 624 hits 73 HRs 344 RBIs 84 doubles, 24 triples and 285 runs scored. His lifetime slugging average was .379 and he averaged a home run in every 36 at bats for the Mets.


Retirement: After his retirement he worked as a television sportscaster in New York on WCBS-TV and in later in New Orleans on WVUE. Ron is currently the analyst for the New Orleans Zephyrs, the AAA affiliate of the New York Mets. He appears at baseball card shows and various Mets events. He was at the closing ceremonies of Shea Stadium & the 40th anniversary of the 1969 team. A silhouette of Swoboda making his famous catch is featured at the right field gate section of Citi Field in his honor.