Felix Millan: 1973 N.L. Champion Mets Second Baseman (1973-1977)

Felix Bernardo Martinez Millan was born on August 21, 1943, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. He earned the nicknamed “the Cat” for his quickness & a reference to the cartoon character Felix the Cat.

The five foot eleven, right hand hitting second baseman was first signed by the Kansas City A’s at the start of the 1964 season.

He was then chosen by the Milwaukee Braves in the first-year draft, later that season. The solid hitting Millan hit .290 at A ball Daytona Beach, followed by two seasons batting over .300 at the next minor league levels. 

MLB Debut: He made his MLB debut on June 2, 1966, with the newly relocated Atlanta Braves, batting .275 the rest of the season.

After the 1967 season he took over the Braves regular second baseman position from Woody Woodward. In 1968 Millan established himself as a regular, he was an outstanding infielder, batting .289 playing in 149 games, hitting over 20 doubles for the first of four straight years.

In 1969 the steady Millan played in every regular season game becoming one of the league’s best defensive second baseman. He won his first Gold Glove that year leading all N.L. second baseman in put outs (373) & assists (444) while posting the league’s second-best fielding percentage (.980%).

He had 174 hits (9th in the NL) with 23 doubles, 6 HRs 57 RBIs & 11 sacrifice hits (6th in the NL) while batting .267.

All Star: That year he also made his first of his three straight All-Star teams. In the Mid-Summer Classic played in the Nation's Capital, Washington D.C.

Millan hit a third inning double off the Oakland A's Blue Moon Odom. The double drove in the Mets Cleon Jones & Cincinnati's Johnny Bench, putting the NL up 5-1 on their way to a 9-3 victory. He would have no official at bats in his next two All Star Games.

1969 NLCS: The Atlanta Braves won 93 games & won the NL West in 1969. They faced the New York Mets in the first ever NLCS. Millan collected double off Tom Seaver in the first game. He collected two hits in both of the first two games. In Game #2 he also drew three walks. Millan batted .333 in the series, with a .467 on base percentage. The Mets swept the Braves in three games.

In 1970 he began the first Braves player to collect six hits in a game. It would be 37 years later until it was done again. Millan had career highs in batting with a .310 average, on base % (.352%) runs scored (100) & stolen bases (16). He also hit 25 doubles with 5 triples 2 HRs & 37 RBIs as the Braves fell to a fifth-place finish.

After hitting .289 in 1971, his average dropped to .257 in 1972 and despite winning another Gold Glove the Braves decided to trade him for some pitching to help out their staff.

On November 1st, 1972 the Mets made one their best trades of that era, acquiring Millan & pitcher George Stone in exchange for Gary Gentry & Danny Frisella. 

Mets Career: Millan would become a large piece of the 1973 Mets NL Pennant team, solidifying the middle infield with double play partner Bud Harrelson.

The Cat was always one of the toughest men in baseball to strike out, he would average the fewest strikeouts per at bat in the league, from 1973-1975. 

He would never strike out more than 28 times in a season while wearing a Mets uniform & in those years he averaged well over 600 at bats per season. 

Millan had a strange batting stance where he would use a small bat and choke way up on the handle in order to make contact. It almost looked as though the bottom of the bat would hit him in the stomach. Millan was just what the Mets needed in 1973, a solid #2 hitter who played every day & got on base a lot.

1973 NL Pennant Season: On Opening Day 1973 he doubled to lead off the 4th inning & was the first Met to cross the plate for the season when he scored on Cleon Jones two run HR in Tom Seaver's 3-0 shut out against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

He collected four hits in the first three games of the year, including an RBI triple in the Mets 5-4 win over the Cardinals. But in his first month in New York, he struggled batting just .158 through April. 

Millan went on a ten-game hit streak in May, gathering thirteen hits from May 7th through May 12th before missing two weeks due to injury.

In June he had a nine-game hit streak & peaked his average over .300 mid-way through the month. 

He won the Player of the Week award, for the week of June 17th, with an incredible 16 hits batting .533 with three RBIs raising his season average to .300. That week he enjoyed a four-hit day against the San Diego Padres in a 10-2 Mets win, where he scored two runs. 

On that home stand he had back-to-back three hit days against the San Francisco Giants. On June 12th his RBI single off Juan Marichal in the 7th inning proved to be the games winning run. On June 13th he hit a rare HR, helping Tom Seaver & the Mets to a 3-1 win against Tom Bradley & the San Francisco Giants. On June 16th he had his first four hit game of the season. 

On July 3rd he had a four-hit game in the Mets 19-8 loss at Montreal.

Walk Off Hit: On July 9th, the Mets Tom Seaver gave up a HR to Lee May, it was the only run of the game for Houston. Don Wilson held the Mets scoreless until the bottom of the 9th inning, when Jim Beauchamp's pinch-hit single tied up the game at one. In the bottom of the 12th, Willie Mays singled to left field with one out. He advanced on Wayne Garrett's grounder. Felix Millan then delivered the game winning hit off Jim York, driving in Willie Mays for the 2-1 win.

Game Winning HR: On July 14th the Mets were tied 2-2 in Cincinnati going into the 9th inning, when Jerry Grote tripled. Ted Martinez came in to pinch run & scored on a Passed ball from pitcher Don Gullet that got by Johnny Bench. Wayne Garret then singled & Millan blasted a HR, his second of the year sealing the Mets 5-2 win. He had driven in a run earlier in the game as well.

On July 11th he another four-hit game in a loss to Houston. Felix then had an 18-game hitting streak from July 13th to August 1st. In that stretch he had eleven multi-hit games. He enjoyed ten different games where he had three hits or more in the summer alone. He was batting over .300 into early August.

On August 1st he just one of three Mets hits & drove in one of the three runs off Pittsburgh's Steve Blass to help in Tom Seavers 3-0 shut out of the Pirates. Seaver also had a hit & an RBI in his victory.

On August 22nd, he singled to score Cleon Jones tying up the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the 9th inning. He advanced to second base & scored the winning run-on John Milner's base hit.

Pennant Stretch Run: The Mets who were in last place in late August would win 24 of their last 33 games to capture the NL East. Millan had a great stretch run to the NL East title, hitting safely in eight of the first ten games of September. Each of those games were multi-hit games, including his fourth four hit game of the season, coming on September 7th, in the second game of a twin bill in Montreal. 

Bench Clearing Brawl: Back on September 2nd, he hit his third of the three HRs he would hit on the season, although the Mets took a late heart-breaking loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis. This game featured a bench clearing brawl starting with Millan & Cardinal's catcher Tim McCarver.

On September 18th in a key divisional game in Pittsburgh , Millan came to bat with two on in the top of the 9th inning & the Mets down 4-1. He tripled off Ramon Hernandez driving in two runs & then scored the go ahead run on a Ron Hodges pinch hit single. The win brought the Mets within 2 1/2 games of the first place Pirates. 

The Mets faced the Pirates five straight games that week, starting out three & half games out in fourth place when the series began.

They would take four of five in the series & win six straight that week to take over first place. Millan hit safely in all four games, drove in & scored two runs.

On September 20th in the famous, Ball on the Wall game, Millan had two hits & drew a walk in
the Mets 4-3 win as they were now just a half game behind the Pirates in second place. 

The next night the Mets took over first from the Pirates in a 10-2 win. Millan singled off John Lamb in the 8th inning scoring Tom Seaver in what was his 18th win of the season. Millan scored on Rusty Staub's HR in the next at bat.

On September 25th, Millan's sac fly in the 5th inning off the Expos' Steve Rogers was the first run of a key matchup with Rogers & Jerry Koosman. Cleon Jones 6th inning HR was the difference in the 2-1 win at Montreal keeping the Mets 1.5 games up with just five more to play.

Mets Clinch NL East: In the final series at Wrigley Field in a rainy Chicago, the Mets needed to win two games to clinch the NL Eastern title. Millan hit safely in all three games, He went 2 for 5 scoring a run in the clincher on October 2nd, the last game of the regular season. 

In the final month of the 1973 regular season, he had 34 hits, including 14 multiple hit games. Millan also drove in nine runs, scored ten runs & as usual played a solid defense.

He was primarily a singles hitter, gathering 155 singles in 1973 (2nd in the NL). He led the team in batting average (.290) games played (153) at bats (638) hits (185) triples (4) hit by pitches (6) & sacrifice hits (18). 

His 18 sac hits were second most in the league. He also hit 23 doubles, with three HRs 35 walks a .332 on base % & 37 RBIs. 

Honors: The New York sports writers voted him the “1973 Met of the Year” and he even earned some votes for the NL MVP. 

#1 AB to SO Rate: Millan was the toughest man to strike out in the league, as he only struck out 22 times in a Mets record setting 638 at bats. He would lead the NL in that category for three straight seasons.

1973 Post Season- NLCS: In the 1973 NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds, Millan batted .316 (6-19) scoring five runs, drawing two walks with a .381 on base percentage.

He was hitless in the Game #1 Mets 2-1 loss at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. 

In Game #2, Millan singled in the top of the 9th inning off Reds' pitcher Tom Hall. He then scored the Mets second run of the game on Cleon Jones base hit. The Mets would go on to win the game 5-0, riding on Jon Matlack's two hit shutout, evening the series at one game each.

In Game #3 at Shea Stadium, Millan’s, 2nd inning single to right field, scored Don Hahn to give the Mets a 3 -1 lead. Millan also walked twice in the game as the Mets beat the Reds 9-2. 

This was in this game Bud Harrelson & Pete Rose had their famous fight & bench clearing brawl. After watching the double play get turned, Millan headed toward the dug out only to find his teammates running out of it. He turned around to join them in the scuffle.

In Game #4 four Reds pitchers held the Mets down just three hits, in their 12 inning 2-1 win. Millan had two of those hits. 

In the 3rd inning he singled off Fred Norman to drive in the Mets only run. He led off the 9th with a base hit off Don Gullet but was left stranded on 1st.

In the Game #5 Mets series clincher, Millan singled to center in the bottom of the 1st inning, starting a two-run Mets rally, off the Red’s Jack Billingham. Millan scored on Ed Kranepool’s two run single.

 In the 5th inning he added a sacrifice bunt advancing Wayne Garrett, in the Mets four run inning. They went on to win the game 7-2 & were headed to the World Series.

1973 World Series: The Mets went out to Oakland, California to face the reigning World Champion Oakland A's. In the 3rd inning, opening game of the 1973 World Series at Oakland Alameda Coliseum the sure handed Felix Millan let a Bert Campaneris ground ball roll under his glove into right field. 

He anticipated a bounce that never came, pitcher Ken Holtzman who had just doubled scored putting the A’s up 1-0. It was so shocking because Millan had only made seven errors all year.

Next, Mets pitcher Jon Matlack attempted to pick off Campaneris, but botched the throw, allowing Campy to steal second base. He would score on Sal Bando’s base hit, in what would be the games winning run as the Mets lost the Opener 2-1.

In the extra inning Game #2 classic, Millan went 0-6, but he hit a 10th inning fly ball to shallow left field which should have scored Bud Harrelson for the go ahead run. 

Harrelson tagged up from third & was called out at home plate, on a bad call from umpire Augie Donatelli.

The controversial play is still legendary in Mets lore, as the usually calm manager Yogi Berra came running out of the dugout screaming in a tirade at the umpire. 

Berra was also micked up for the MLB highlight film which made it more memorable. Veteran Willie Mays, the on-deck batter, stayed on his knees wondering in amazement how Donatelli missed the call. Video replay shows the tag was never made. Donatelli had fallen down & was out of position to see the actual play unfold behind Harrelson's back.

The Series moved to New York for Game #3. Millan had two hits off Catfish Hunter in the game. After Wayne Garret led off the 1st inning with a HR, Millan singled in the next at bat. He advanced to third on a Rusty Staub single & then scored on Catfish's wild pitch.

Shockingly Millan made two more errors on the field, but none that caused any damage. 

In Game #4 he singled in the first inning off A's starter, Kenny Holtzman. He scored on Rusty Staub’s three run HR in the next at bat. Millan went hitless in the Mets 2-0 Game #5 win.

In Game #6 back at Oakland, Millan drove in the only Mets run of the game with an 8th inning single off Darold Knowles, bringing them within a run. 

They would go on to lose the game 3-1 and move on to a Game Seven where they fell short of a championship losing 5-2.

Millan went 1-4 in the final contest. 

Overall, at the plate he only hit .188 in the World Series, going 6 for 32 with two extra base hits, a walk & a run scored.                                                           

After the Pennant Season: In 1974 he started out well, collecting two hits & an RBI on Opening Day in Philadelphia, although New York fell short to the Phils 5-4. On April 29th he hit his only HR of the season, a two-run shot off the Dodgers Don Sutton in a 8-7 in LA. 

He had five straight multi-hit games from May 5th to May 8th & was batting .357 by early May, but he struggled from there & was down to .253 by the end of June. Millan then missed over two weeks of action in July due to injuries. By then the 1974 Mets were in fifth place 8.5 games out & there no miracle comebacks to be had.

In August he drove in runs in three straight games & on August 26th his 9th inning bunt single, scored Teddy Martinez with the tying run. Rusty Staub then came up with a walk off game winning single to beat the Houston Astros 5-4.

Record Breaker: In a classic 25 inning game on September 11th, Millan set a record with 12 plate appearances. He had four hits with a walk & a run scored.

On the season the Mets finished a disappointing fifth place. Millan played in 136 games leading the league in sacrifice hits with 24. His average fell off to .268, with one HR 15 doubles 2 triples 33 RBIs, a .317 on base % & 50 runs scored. 

At second base he was third in the NL in put outs (374) fourth in games played (134) fifth in errors (15) posting a .979 fielding % while turning 81 double plays.

1975: He rebounded to have a good 1975 season, becoming the first Met in history to play in all 162 regular season games. He also set a Mets record for hits in a season at that time with 191.

That year the Mets brought in Dave Kingman & Joe Torre for run support. 

On April 27th the Mets came back from six runs down, sending eleven men to the plate scoring six runs in the 7th inning, for an 8-7 win over Montreal. Millan had a two-run single off Dave McNally in that 7th inning.

Although Felix started out slow, he picked things up as the summer came on. On June 12th in Los Angeles, he helped Jon Matlack in his three-hit shutout by driving in the only two runs of the game, with a pair of RBI doubles off Dodger ace Don Sutton. 

On July 2nd, Millan drove in four runs with a two run double & two run single in a 7-2 win at Shea over the Chicago Cubs. He began July hitting safely in 23 of 24 games with a 19-game hitting streak, that included ten multi-hit games & two four hit games as well.

Torre Sets Record for Most Double Plays Grounded Into: On July 21st, Millan singled four times against the Houston Astros, Bob Forsch in a 6-2 loss at Shea Stadium. Each time after Millan's hit, Joe Torre grounded into a double play, setting the MLB record. After the game Torre joked to the press "I'd like to thank Felix Millan for making this all possible".

On July 26th he had another four-hit game (all singles) with four RBIs in a 9-8 Mets win at Wrigley Field. In August he was back over the .300 mark & drove in ten runs in the month. He entered September with a 13-game hit streak driving in another ten runs.

On September 20th, he cleared the bases with a three run double off Tom Hilgendorf in a 9-7 Mets win over the Phillies.

In 1975 Millan lead the club with 191 hits, 5th in the NL & the most any Met had had in a season up to that point. He also led the team in at bats (676) second most in the league & 37 doubles (6th most in the league). He hit .283 on the season, driving in a career high 56 runs.

He was the toughest man to strike out in the league for the third straight year with a 24.1 AB to SO rate.

He led the league in getting hit by pitches (12) finished third in the league with sac hits (17) & singles (151). He posted a .329 on base %. 

At second base he turned his Mets' career high 95 double plays, posted a .972 fielding % making a career high 23 errors (5th most in the NL).

Bicentennial 1976 Season: Millan started out hot, hitting safely in 15 of the first 20 games, batting .346 at the end of April. On April 17th the Mets clobbered the Pirates 17-1, Millan had three hits with two runs driven in.

On April 20th, he hit his only HR of the year, it came off the Cardinals Lynn Mcglothen in an 8-0 Mets win at Busch Stadium. 

He had a twelve-game hit streak in June, and then a ten-game hit streak in August.

He only had 21 runs driven in going into September, but that month, he drove in 13 of his 35 RBIs on the year. He had another ten-game hit streak that month as well.

The Mets were out of contention by summer as they would finish third 86-76 under manager Joe Frazier.

On the season Millan led the team with his .282 batting average, 150 hits, seven hit by pitches, and 139 games played. He hit 25 doubles, with one HR, 35 RBIs a .341 on base % & 55 runs scored. He struck out only 19 times in 530 at bats for a 27.9 AB to SO rate, second best in the NL.

 At second base he made 15 errors & posted a .979 fielding percentage.

1977: In this dismal season, his season was cut short after 91 games.

July 12th would be the last game Tom Seaver would pitch before getting traded on the June 15th deadline. Millan got a hit & scored a run in Seaver's 3-0 shut out. 

On July 15th he homered, his first of the year in the second game of a double header at Pittsburgh. He found power again on July 27th in a win over the Giants.

 

Fight With Ed Ott: On August 12th, in Pittsburgh, Pirates catcher Ed Ott slid hard into Millan at second base, trying to break up a double play. Millan shouted something at him, and the big catcher went after Millan.

 He grabbed him & slammed him hard into the Three Rivers Stadium Astroturf. His shoulder was seriously injured, and he would be out for the rest of the year.

He finished the season batting .248 the worst mark since his 1967 season with two HRs 11 doubles two triples a .294 on base % & 21 RBIs. That August 12th game would turn out to be his last MLB game.

Retirement: After the Mets dismal 1977 season, Millan felt it was time to move on.

Mets All Time List: Millan is second on the Mets all-time list in games played at second base (674) just six games behind leader Wally Backman. In his five-year Mets career, he is a .278 hitter, striking out only 92 times in 2677 at bats.

Millan has 743 Mets hits (17th on the All Time Mets) He was hit by pitches 36 times (10th) has 2677 at bats (20th) 111 doubles (23rd) & has played in 681 Mets games (30th all time).

Japan Baseball: In 1978 he went to play in Japan, having his contract bought by the Taiyo Whales. 

The following year he went on to win a Best Nine Award while winning the batting title in Japan, hitting .346.

After another good 1979 season, he had a bad year in 1980 & was released. In his three years in Japan, he struck out just 52 times in 1139 at-bats.

Honors: In 1989 he played in the Senior Professional League in Florida. 

Back in the 1970's he founded the Felix Millan Little League in lower Manhattan. In 1993 that league won the New York State Little League World Series. 

Jon Matlack, Felix Millan & Ron Swoboda

Millan was on hand for the 20th Anniversary of the 1973 Mets Pennant team in 1993 as well as the closing ceremonies of Shea Stadium in 2008.

He has appeared at baseball card shows, memorabilia events & at Mets Fantasy Camps thru the years.

In 2013 he was on hand representing the New York Mets alumni, at the All-Star Game Fan Fest as the Mid-Summer Classic was held at Citi Field.

Millan has made alumni appearances at Citi Field & has done a One on One with Howie Rose.

Career Stats: In his 12-year career, Millan played in 1480 games, batting .279 with 1617 hits, 229 doubles, 38 triples, 22 HRs 403 RBIs 318 walks 700 runs scored & posted a .322 on base %. 

Trivia: Overall, in his career he averaged a strike out every 23.9 at bats which is the 65th best rate of all time.

At second base he played 1450 games (47th most all time) with 3495 put outs (33rd all time) 3846 assists (56th all time) posting a .980 fielding % turning 855 double plays.

Family: Felix & his wife Merci have been married for sixty years. They have two children together a son & daughter. Felix & his wife live between Florida & Puerto Rico.