Remembering Mets History (1966): Jack Hamilton Tosses A One Hitter

Wednesday May 4th,1966: A small crowd of 7,924 came to the newly opened Busch Stadium in St. Louis, to see Wes Westrum's New York Mets (6-8) take on Red Schoendienst Cardinals (8-11).

In a year where the Mets went 62-99, this night was one of the few early team highlights the team had. In that 1966 season, they put up what was the best record they had had had in their brief five year history. This was just three years prior to the Amazing Mets & the Worlds Championship Miracle of 1969.


This game would be Jack Hamiliton's Mets gem. Hamilton spent parts of two seasons with the Mets, posting a 6-13 record in 1966 with a 3.93 ERA.

After going 2-0 in 1967, he was traded to the California Angels where he would famously hit Boston's Tony Conigiliaro in the head with a pitch, ruing his career. The beaning was one of the worst & most infamous in modern baseball history & Hamilton could never get over it.

On this day he allowed a 3rd inning single to pitcher Ray Sadecki (a future Met) & then a walk to Hall of Famer; Lou Brock. From then on in he retired the next 19 batters in a row, completing a one hit, one walk shut out. Along the way Hamilton struck out six batters.

Mets

1	Eddie Bressoud	2B
2	Roy McMillan	SS
3	Ken Boyer	3B
4	Jim Hickman	RF
5	Ron Swoboda	LF
6	Ed Kranepool	1B
7	Jerry Grote	C
8	Billy Murphy	CF
9	Jack Hamilton	P

Cardinals

1	Lou Brock	RF
2	Alex Johnson	LF
3	Curt Flood	CF
4	Tito Francona	1B
5	Charley Smith	3B
6	Julian Javier	2B
7	Dal Maxvill	SS
8	Pat Corrales	C
9	Ray Sadecki	P

It was a big day for the Mets offense, starting in the 1st inning when young slugger Ron Swoboda socked a three run HR making it 3-0. In the 2nd inning, Billy Murphy walked & advanced on a botched pick off play. Eddie Bressoud then singled him home. Later that inning, Ken Boyer brought him in with an RBI single to left making it 5-0.

Bressoud continued with his big tree hit day, hitting a solo HR in the 4th inning (6-0 Mets). In the top of the 8th, Jim Hickman singled & Ed Kranepool walked. Then another botched pick off  attempt brought home Hickman with the seventh Mets run. Ron Hunt then hit a grounder to first that was misplayed, causing Kranepool to score. This iced the Mets 8-0 win.

Trivia: The one hitter was the second of the 39 one hitters thrown in Mets history.