Remembering Mets History (1968): Jerry Koosman Tosses Back to Back Shut Outs As Mets Win 1st Home Opener

-

Wednesday April 17th 1968: At the time no one could have possibly known that the Mets were one season away from being the Amazing Mets & winning a World Series. But there were early signs as they opened the 1968 season, when one of their young star pitchers, tossed back to back shut outs.

 Gil Hodges, the new Mets skipper was on hand for his first Opening Day at Shea Stadium. His team hosted the former New York National Leaguers, the now San Francisco Giants, managed by Herman Franks. This year marked the Giants tenth year on the West Coast.

The Giants always drew well returning to New York & on this day 52,079 were on hand at Shea Stadium. Hodges sent his young lefty, Jerry Koosman to face the Giants' Mike McCormick. McCormick was the NL leader in victories the previous year, posting a 22-10 mark with a 2.85 ERA.

Starting Lineups


Mets
1Al WeisSS
2Ken Boswell2B
3Tommie AgeeCF
4Ron SwobodaRF
5Cleon JonesLF
6Ed Charles3B
7Art Shamsky1B
8Jerry GroteC
9Jerry KoosmanP

The 1968 Mets Opening Day line up were soon to be all key players for the Miracle of '69. 

In the home 2nd it was Cleon Jones who got the Mets off to a 1-0 lead with his first HR of the season. The score would stay that way until the 6th, when Ken Boswell singled & advanced, scoring when "The Glider" Ed Charles doubled to left field.

The final Met run came in the 7th, reliever Bobby Bolin surrendered a double to catcher Jerry Grote. Bolin then booted a grounder hit by Koosman putting two men on for the Mets with no outs. Al Weis would then single to left field bring home Grote to top off the 3-0 win.

As for Koosman, he was excellent, scattering seven hits, walking two & striking out ten batters. He would strike out eleven in his next start. In the 7th he struggled a bit giving up a hit & a walk but then ended the inning when he struck out Jim Davenport for the third time on the day.

Koosman would start out the year at 4-0 & finish up at 19-12 on a team that was 73-89. His 19 wins were 4th best in the NL. He struck out 178 batters but incredibly he kept an ERA under two all season until September 24th. That day he gave up five earned runs to the Atlanta Braves, putting his ERA at 2.12, the first time it was over two all season.

He ended the year with a 2.08 ERA (4th best in the NL).


Thursday April 11th, 1968: In his first start,
Koosman pitched the second game of the '68 season, He threw a four hit shut out in Los Angeles, beating the Dodgers 4-0. He struck out just three & walked four, in the complete game effort.

Koosman & Bill Singer matched zeroes until the 8th inning, when Ken Boswell tripled & Singer walked Ron Swoboda then Ed Kranepool. Art Shamsky then delivered a two run single. 

In the 8th, Tommie Agee got all the way to third base on an outfield error to lead off the inning. Swoboda then singled him in. Ken Boswell's 8th inning sac fly gave New York their forth run. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The Story of the New York Mets Logo

-
Image
On November 16, 1961 cartoonist Ray Gotto (1916-2003) unveiled the circular New York Mets logo, a symbol which has virtually gone unchanged since its birth 55 years ago. Gatto was the illustrator of the "Ozark Ike" & "Cotton Woods" comic strips as well as having drawn many classic sports cartoons for the Sporting News. He won a contest that the club sponsored in order to start up a fan base beating out over 500 other entries for his design. The prize was not only to have his logo used but also $1000.  Artist Ray Gotto The original New York Mets team colors are blue and orange, the colors represent the two former National League teams who left New York for the West Coast. The orange represents the former New York Giants & the blue represents the Brooklyn Dodgers. Blue & orange are also the official colors of New York State. T he logo design is a round baseball with orange stitching and the Mets orange script lettering outlined in white ac
Read more

Steve Dillon: Former Bronx Native Who Pitched in The First Night Game at Shea Stadium Then 58 Years Later at Old Timers Day at Citi Field (1963-1964)

-
Image
Stephen Edward Dillon was born on May 20th, 1943, in Yonkers, New York. He was raised in the Bronx & attended Cardinal Hayes High School.  T he five-foot ten left-handed pitcher was originally signed by the A.L. New York club in 1962. That year he was 14-7 in the Florida State League at Fort Lauderdale. In November of 1962 he was drafted away by the new National League team, the New York Mets in the first-year draft.  He pitched at AAA Buffalo going 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA in 31 games, making 22 starts.  Mets Debut: He got a September call up making his MLB debut on September 5th, 1963, in St. Louis. Dillon came in relief of Roger Craig the 6th inning with two men on & one out. He got Dick Groat & Bill White to both ground out.  In the 7th, he gave up three hits including a two-run triple to Tim McCarver, in the Mets 9-0 loss to the Cardinals. In 1964 he found himself on the Mets staff at the start of the year. He pitched one inning of relief at Pittsburgh on April 24th,
Read more