50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets"
Saturday August 16th, 1969: A big crowd came out to Shea Stadium to see Gil Hodges second place Mets (63-51) host Preston Gomes last place San Diego Padres (35-82) in a afternoon doubleheader.Tom Seaver took the mound, shutting down the Padres for eight innings allowing no runs on four hits with four strike outs. Ron Taylor closed the door in the 9th with his 11th save, securing Seaver's 17th win (17-7).
In the Mets 5th, Tommie Agee singled in Baud Harrelson for the first run. Bobby Pfeil singled in Jerry Grote for a 7th inning insurance run. The Padres Tommie Sisk took the loss (0-7).
In the night cap, another fine Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew won his fourth game, pitching seven innings allowing just one run on three hits, striking out seven Padres. Tug McGraw came on for two scoreless innings of relief sealing the double header sweep.
The game was tied going into the 7th inning, when Ron Swoboda reached on an error. With two outs, Bud Harrelson drew a walk & then Jerry Grote singled, bringing in the winning run.Sunday August 17th, 1969: As the Woodstock Festival was going into it's third day in Upstate New York the Mets hosted the Padres & swept them once againin a Twin Bill at Shea Stadium.
In the first game Jerry Koosman tossed a complete game victory, allowing two runs & five hits. He went to 10-8 on the year defeating Joe Niekro. A Duffy Dyer three run HR in the 5th was all the offense needed.
In the night cap, Don Cardwell beat Clay Kirby in another 3-2 squeeker. Cardwell threw seven shut out innings, he was relieved by Cal Koonce & Ron Taylor who pitched the final two innings. The two Padre runs were both unearned, coming on two Mets errors in the 8th.In the 7th inning, Ed Kranepool singled & Jerry Grote walked. Bud Harrelson followed with a triple bringing both runners in. J.C. Martin followed with a sac fly for the game winning run.
Tuesday August 19th, 1969: The third place San Francisco Giants (64-56) came to Shea Stadium for a mid week series. As usual all the old NY Giants fans came out & a big crowd of 48,968 settled in for what was to be a great game. The Mets sent young Gary Gentry to the mound to face off against future Hall of Famer; Juan Marichal.
Starting Lineups
| San Francisco Giants | New York Mets | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Bonds | RF | 1 | Tommie Agee | CF | |
| 2 | Ron Hunt | 2B | 2 | Bobby Pfeil | 3B | |
| 3 | Willie Mays | CF | 3 | Cleon Jones | LF | |
| 4 | Willie McCovey | 1B | 4 | Art Shamsky | RF | |
| 5 | Bob Burda | LF | 5 | Wayne Garrett | 2B | |
| 6 | Bobby Etheridge | 3B | 6 | Ed Kranepool | 1B | |
| 7 | Bob Barton | C | 7 | Bud Harrelson | SS | |
| 8 | Hal Lanier | SS | 8 | Duffy Dyer | C | |
| 9 | Juan Marichal | P | 9 | Gary Gentry | P |
Gentry was excellent going a full ten innings shutting out the mighty Giants, on just four scattered hits. He walked four & struck out five. The only problem for the Mets was Marichal was just as good, Marichal stayed in the game pitching all the way into the bottom of the 14th inning. Up to that point he allowed no runs on just five hits, walking one & striking out 13 Mets.
With one out in the 14th, Tommie Agee stepped in & hit a dramatic walk off HR off Marichal, his 21st HR of the year. It was an exciting win for the Mets, as the win streak went to five games. Although they were still eight games out of first, the Mets were already the Amazing Mets & believed they could win this thing. Now they were proving it to the world.
Wednesday August 20th, 1969: In this game it was Jim McAndrew's turn to shine once again, in this outstanding week of Mets pitching. In the 1st inning McAndrew allowed a double to Don Mason & then a triple to Mason in the 3rd inning. Out of all the powerful hitters in the Giants line up, like; Willie Mays, Willie McCovey & Bobby Bonds, it was Mason (a career .205 hitter) who got the only two hits of the day off McAndrew.
McAndrew was outstanding, shutting out the Giants on two hits, six strike outs & three walks. He bested his record on a star studded staff to 5-5 as a quality fill in guy during the 1969 Miracle Mets season. McAndrew would also be a part of the 1973 Mets Pennant winning staff. On this day he beat another Hall of Famer; Gaylord Perry.The Mets got to Perry for six runs, led by an Art Shamsky three run HR & RBI double. Another Bud Harrelson RBI triple accounted for a run, along with a Tommie Agee RBI.
In this week of great Mets pitching the staff allowed just three earned runs in 54 innings of work. The Mets won six straight, and 14 of 16 games going into September. They were now just four games behind the fading Chicago Cubs.
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